Post by Jimbo on Mar 10, 2024 4:33:20 GMT -5
BEDBUGS AND BALLYHOO
The campsite is quiet save for the crackling embers of the dying fire. The people have returned to their tents and bedrolls, those who couldn't make it that far lay passed out where they fell. Beer bottles, cans, and empty cups litter the campground. At the main campfire sits a man on a large log. Beside him sits a woman, resting against his shoulder. The TAPOUT Openweight Championship rests in his lap.
“We're all proud of you, y'know?”
Her soft drawl hits his ear and fills him with an odd feeling. A warmth. Like a soft blanket.
“Really proud. State we found you in, you weren't good for much other'n moanin’ and groanin’. You gave us hope.”
He looks down at the gold plate on the black leather and smiles.
“I owe it to you. All of you really…”
Looking out across the camp, NOMAD smiles again as his eyes fall on the two heavy set bearded men who passed out wrestling each other on the grass.
“For the first time in my life I have somethin’ to fight for. Somethin’ real, you know? Like a family. I just always believed I was destined to be on the outside lookin’ in. But I feel like I found my place here. All it took was a change of perspective.”
He taps his hand down onto the belt.
“Made me wish I had done it sooner.”
He looks up and watches the embers pop and spiral upwards from the fire.
“That’s one of them things that makes life… Oh, I don't know…”
She searches for the word.
“Painful?”
The soft spoken woman sighs, furrowing her brow.
“Magical.”
She smiles at him and he is compelled to smile back despite the confusion on his face.
“Life is final. You make your choice, you lay with it. Regret? That's a fool's game. Not one of us here regret the choices we made. We are who we are. Who you used to be, a man haunted by so much regret, couldn't have done what you did on Sunday. You're livin’ proof of it. You coulda given up and you'd have tortured yourself over it ‘til the day you died. But you made your mind up, you got your shit together, and you did everything you said you would do.”
The red orange hue of the fire dances and sparkles in her eyes as she looks up at him.
“You did it!”
NOMAD looks down at the championship in his lap before turning with a slight concern on his face.
“I appreciate that. But just because I got this ten pounds of gold to carry doesn't mean it's all over. I'm happy. 'm proud that I finally reached this height. But…”
She sighs.
“I hate when you say ‘but’, it always sounds so ominous.”
“It was never about gettin’ to top.”
At a loss for words, she pushes away from him and turns her body to face him.
“Then what was it all for? This was all you wanted!”
He turns his body to face her, grabbing the championship and placing it in the space between them.
“You're right. This… "
He places a finger down on the belt.
“ ...is all I've ever wanted. This sport that I've dedicated my life to is one part skill and one part pure luck. I ain't ever been the luckiest man but more often than not I've been the best. Anyone can get lucky. I need to prove to myself that I didn't get lucky at Supremacy. I need to prove that it was my hard work, my blood, my determination that got the job done. After that, I wanna leave a legacy behind. Something to be proud of. I wanna take TAPOUT and make it genuinely mean somethin’. I want TAPOUT to be a place that is looked at like the Mecca of Pro Wrestling and I wanna be the guy who builds it. The guys who came before left me one hell of a foundation to build off of. Lotsa responsibility comes with the territory too. Lotta pressure.”
“Right. You think you can handle that?”
“Dunno. Guess we'll find out. At the end of the day, I'm confident I can do it. Just like I was confident that I was gonna win at Supremacy. I've been through and dealt with worse.”
He looks down at the surgery scars on his arm. A flash of images run through his head. Almost feeling the bone break again, NOMAD winces at the imaginary ‘crack’ he hears in his head. He clenches his hand into a tight balled fist. The woman sitting on the log scoots back across to his side and grabs his arm, she too gazes over the scar on the inside of his elbow.
“Are you worried about him?”
Her voices immediately comforts him and pulls him out of the violent trance he found himself in.
“Are you kidding?”
He scoffs loudly.
“Of course I am.”
“I know men have a tendency to think that fear is for cowards. Fear is just another name for wantin’ to survive. An’ you're one hell of a survivor, Jimmy Sloane.”
“Yeah… maybe... ”
“Ain't been wrong yet have I?”
The pair share a short laugh as she gestures towards the TAPOUT Openweight Championship resting across NOMADs lap.
“I've never been the type to show off.”
NOMAD sits on a folded out steel chair. He is dressed in a gray coloured hoodie and pair of sweatpants, he has the hood drawn up over the orange beanie on his head. His breathing is heavy and his face is moist with a light sweat. He reaches down and pulls the TAPOUT Openweight Championship into frame.
“But I'm pretty proud to show this off. The greater the challenge, the more glory there is to be gained in overcoming it. Aiden Merric? He was one helluva challenge. People like that, like us, are exactly what this company needs. Hell, it's what the entire industry is lacking. People who aren't afraid of the fire, people who aren't afraid of gettin’ a little bit burnt. I welcome anyone who wants to try an’ step up and see if they can handle heat. As of now? This company has already got a lot of tough challenges. In fact, there's three potential tough challenges that I'm gonna be in the ring with on the seventeenth of March.”
He holds up his index finder.
“Random.”
His middle finger.
“Raiden.
His ring finger.
“Poe.”
He holds his hand there with his fingers raised for a moment before letting his arm drop.
“Now, Cross really just likes throwin’ people together and seein’ what happens. I get it. An’ I ain't paid to question his booking decisions, I get paid to pin backs on mats. Simple as that.”
Glancing down at the belt draped over his thigh, he smiles.
“Might surprise some to hear this, but I like Randy. I think she's a great talent. Hard working. Smart. Cross has given me a few partners over my time in TAPOUT, but this is the first time I don't feel like I'm bein’ saddled with the wrong horse. So, this pairing? I don't exactly hate it. The reason behind is the fact that Randy strikes me as a sort of logical thinker. I know what she's lookin’ to get out of this match. It's the same thing Raiden wants, same thing Poe wants.”
He brings the TAPOUT Openweight Championship up to the frame and drapes it over his shoulder.
“An’ that’s fine. I’d be upset if Randy wasn’t interested in bein’ TAPOUT Champ. Bein’ the sort of thinker she is, she understands that a loss here gets in her way of gettin’ that shot. She also should understand where I’m comin’ from. At Supremacy, Merric and I took one another to our limit. We spilled blood, we shaved years off our life expectancy, because that is what it means to wrestlers like us. ”
He looks at the camera with an intense gaze.
“I’m lookin’ at the seventeenth not as just a tag match, I’m lookin’ to go out there and prove it to Poe, to Raiden, and even to Randy, that I am at the top for a goddamned reason!”
There is a brief pause as NOMAD leans back in the chair.
“Everyone in this match is great, that’s no secret. When you’re operating in an environment that is that high of a level it all comes down to strategy. Randy and I stand on equal ground. We can work together. But I can tell you from personal first hand experience, you can not work together with Poe. Unfortunately for you, Raiden, you’ve been dealt a bum hand. You can’t reason with the unreasonable. You can’t trust the untrustworthy. You can’t win a footrace with a missing foot, not unless you’re as determined as I was. I know the secret. I know how to use Poe for my benefit. I used him as a weapon to beat Brad Kane and Erin Gordon. I used him as a weapon to beat himself. The only time he got the upperhand over me was when he blindsided me.”
“But make no mistake about it. I know exactly where to be lookin’ and where to be focused. I know the path that lies ahead of me. The one I’ve always wanted to walk. The path of a champion. I’m the top guy here so now it’s time to do top guy shit!”
NOMAD stands, holding the championship by the strap and thrusting it toward the camera.
The campsite is quiet save for the crackling embers of the dying fire. The people have returned to their tents and bedrolls, those who couldn't make it that far lay passed out where they fell. Beer bottles, cans, and empty cups litter the campground. At the main campfire sits a man on a large log. Beside him sits a woman, resting against his shoulder. The TAPOUT Openweight Championship rests in his lap.
“We're all proud of you, y'know?”
Her soft drawl hits his ear and fills him with an odd feeling. A warmth. Like a soft blanket.
“Really proud. State we found you in, you weren't good for much other'n moanin’ and groanin’. You gave us hope.”
He looks down at the gold plate on the black leather and smiles.
“I owe it to you. All of you really…”
Looking out across the camp, NOMAD smiles again as his eyes fall on the two heavy set bearded men who passed out wrestling each other on the grass.
“For the first time in my life I have somethin’ to fight for. Somethin’ real, you know? Like a family. I just always believed I was destined to be on the outside lookin’ in. But I feel like I found my place here. All it took was a change of perspective.”
He taps his hand down onto the belt.
“Made me wish I had done it sooner.”
He looks up and watches the embers pop and spiral upwards from the fire.
“That’s one of them things that makes life… Oh, I don't know…”
She searches for the word.
“Painful?”
The soft spoken woman sighs, furrowing her brow.
“Magical.”
She smiles at him and he is compelled to smile back despite the confusion on his face.
“Life is final. You make your choice, you lay with it. Regret? That's a fool's game. Not one of us here regret the choices we made. We are who we are. Who you used to be, a man haunted by so much regret, couldn't have done what you did on Sunday. You're livin’ proof of it. You coulda given up and you'd have tortured yourself over it ‘til the day you died. But you made your mind up, you got your shit together, and you did everything you said you would do.”
The red orange hue of the fire dances and sparkles in her eyes as she looks up at him.
“You did it!”
NOMAD looks down at the championship in his lap before turning with a slight concern on his face.
“I appreciate that. But just because I got this ten pounds of gold to carry doesn't mean it's all over. I'm happy. 'm proud that I finally reached this height. But…”
She sighs.
“I hate when you say ‘but’, it always sounds so ominous.”
“It was never about gettin’ to top.”
At a loss for words, she pushes away from him and turns her body to face him.
“Then what was it all for? This was all you wanted!”
He turns his body to face her, grabbing the championship and placing it in the space between them.
“You're right. This… "
He places a finger down on the belt.
“ ...is all I've ever wanted. This sport that I've dedicated my life to is one part skill and one part pure luck. I ain't ever been the luckiest man but more often than not I've been the best. Anyone can get lucky. I need to prove to myself that I didn't get lucky at Supremacy. I need to prove that it was my hard work, my blood, my determination that got the job done. After that, I wanna leave a legacy behind. Something to be proud of. I wanna take TAPOUT and make it genuinely mean somethin’. I want TAPOUT to be a place that is looked at like the Mecca of Pro Wrestling and I wanna be the guy who builds it. The guys who came before left me one hell of a foundation to build off of. Lotsa responsibility comes with the territory too. Lotta pressure.”
“Right. You think you can handle that?”
“Dunno. Guess we'll find out. At the end of the day, I'm confident I can do it. Just like I was confident that I was gonna win at Supremacy. I've been through and dealt with worse.”
He looks down at the surgery scars on his arm. A flash of images run through his head. Almost feeling the bone break again, NOMAD winces at the imaginary ‘crack’ he hears in his head. He clenches his hand into a tight balled fist. The woman sitting on the log scoots back across to his side and grabs his arm, she too gazes over the scar on the inside of his elbow.
“Are you worried about him?”
Her voices immediately comforts him and pulls him out of the violent trance he found himself in.
“Are you kidding?”
He scoffs loudly.
“Of course I am.”
“I know men have a tendency to think that fear is for cowards. Fear is just another name for wantin’ to survive. An’ you're one hell of a survivor, Jimmy Sloane.”
“Yeah… maybe... ”
“Ain't been wrong yet have I?”
The pair share a short laugh as she gestures towards the TAPOUT Openweight Championship resting across NOMADs lap.
“I've never been the type to show off.”
NOMAD sits on a folded out steel chair. He is dressed in a gray coloured hoodie and pair of sweatpants, he has the hood drawn up over the orange beanie on his head. His breathing is heavy and his face is moist with a light sweat. He reaches down and pulls the TAPOUT Openweight Championship into frame.
“But I'm pretty proud to show this off. The greater the challenge, the more glory there is to be gained in overcoming it. Aiden Merric? He was one helluva challenge. People like that, like us, are exactly what this company needs. Hell, it's what the entire industry is lacking. People who aren't afraid of the fire, people who aren't afraid of gettin’ a little bit burnt. I welcome anyone who wants to try an’ step up and see if they can handle heat. As of now? This company has already got a lot of tough challenges. In fact, there's three potential tough challenges that I'm gonna be in the ring with on the seventeenth of March.”
He holds up his index finder.
“Random.”
His middle finger.
“Raiden.
His ring finger.
“Poe.”
He holds his hand there with his fingers raised for a moment before letting his arm drop.
“Now, Cross really just likes throwin’ people together and seein’ what happens. I get it. An’ I ain't paid to question his booking decisions, I get paid to pin backs on mats. Simple as that.”
Glancing down at the belt draped over his thigh, he smiles.
“Might surprise some to hear this, but I like Randy. I think she's a great talent. Hard working. Smart. Cross has given me a few partners over my time in TAPOUT, but this is the first time I don't feel like I'm bein’ saddled with the wrong horse. So, this pairing? I don't exactly hate it. The reason behind is the fact that Randy strikes me as a sort of logical thinker. I know what she's lookin’ to get out of this match. It's the same thing Raiden wants, same thing Poe wants.”
He brings the TAPOUT Openweight Championship up to the frame and drapes it over his shoulder.
“An’ that’s fine. I’d be upset if Randy wasn’t interested in bein’ TAPOUT Champ. Bein’ the sort of thinker she is, she understands that a loss here gets in her way of gettin’ that shot. She also should understand where I’m comin’ from. At Supremacy, Merric and I took one another to our limit. We spilled blood, we shaved years off our life expectancy, because that is what it means to wrestlers like us. ”
He looks at the camera with an intense gaze.
“I’m lookin’ at the seventeenth not as just a tag match, I’m lookin’ to go out there and prove it to Poe, to Raiden, and even to Randy, that I am at the top for a goddamned reason!”
There is a brief pause as NOMAD leans back in the chair.
“Everyone in this match is great, that’s no secret. When you’re operating in an environment that is that high of a level it all comes down to strategy. Randy and I stand on equal ground. We can work together. But I can tell you from personal first hand experience, you can not work together with Poe. Unfortunately for you, Raiden, you’ve been dealt a bum hand. You can’t reason with the unreasonable. You can’t trust the untrustworthy. You can’t win a footrace with a missing foot, not unless you’re as determined as I was. I know the secret. I know how to use Poe for my benefit. I used him as a weapon to beat Brad Kane and Erin Gordon. I used him as a weapon to beat himself. The only time he got the upperhand over me was when he blindsided me.”
“But make no mistake about it. I know exactly where to be lookin’ and where to be focused. I know the path that lies ahead of me. The one I’ve always wanted to walk. The path of a champion. I’m the top guy here so now it’s time to do top guy shit!”
NOMAD stands, holding the championship by the strap and thrusting it toward the camera.