I'm Still Here.
Jun 3, 2017 5:23:44 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer, Rage (aka NoMercyMaster2001), and 5 more like this
Post by strangerdanger on Jun 3, 2017 5:23:44 GMT -5
"The alarm on my cell phone goes off, waking me from a deep, sound sleep. Waking me from a blissful stupor. Waking me up from a moment of silence, a moment of peace. Groggy and only half conscious, I reach over, grab my phone, and I smack the "dismiss" button. I'm not ready to wake up, not yet. I want to enjoy this peace, this silence, while I still can. After two XHF Championship reigns, after a nice, long, monumental X Crown Championship reign, after satisfying runs with the XHF Hardcore, United States, and Tag Team Championships, I feel I've earned this time of rest... this time of reflection. I spent years putting both my body and my mind through gruesome torture, to reach one simple point in my career. Once I got there, the fire within me burned just a little less. The hunger that I once felt, it had been satisfied. My goals... after years of working towards them, they had been reached.
Every obstacle that was placed before me, I overcame. Championship after championship, the motivation I had to succeed allowed me to persevere, to check each and every notch off on the list of things that I wanted to do with my life. The list of things I wanted to become. Good guy... bad guy... rebel... champion... leader... outcast... Icon... I've done it all. There comes a time in every man's life where he must take a good, hard look in the mirror, and ask himself, 'What more is there left to do?'"
The silhouette of a man, or perhaps to phrase it more appropriately, the shadow of a man, sits before us, shrouded in darkness, nothing but his figure visible before us. The man remains motionless, and the sound of his voice is the only thing that can remind us that he is not a picture or a mannequin, but in fact, a living, breathing, human being.
"If John Lennon hadn't been murdered, would the Beatles have gone on to produce more groundbreaking records than they already had, filled with new and original material? Would they have maintained their legacy of greatness, or would they have merely tarnished it? Look at what became of Elvis; the King of Rock n Roll, the biggest heart throb on the planet earth, went from creating musical magic and starring in his own classic movies... He went from being a legend, to being a motionless corpse sitting on the toilet, caught with no pants on, and no dignity to show for all his years of hard work, all his years of success and sheer talent. We saw what happened to Michael Jordan, after years of dominating the NBA, when he decided to try his hand at baseball. He made a fool of himself, and it took him crawling back to the NBA for one final run, so that he could finally end his career as a professional athlete in the same philosophical arena where it all began in the first place. He did this just so he could save face. So that in the eyes of his legions of fans, he could go out "on top"... or at least, as close to where he once was, as close as he could possibly get."
"I could cite so many other examples. How many actors have collapsed into the same pitfall, where they never knew when to give up, when to call it quits? Bruce Willis, Robert DeNiro, Arnold Schwarzenegger, these are all men who were once good at something... and then one day, they woke up, and they no longer had the means or ability to be quite as good as they once were. Robert DeNiro goes from Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, to Meet the Fockers. Bruce Willis goes from Die Hard and 12 Monkeys, to Die Hard 5 and GI Joe: Retaliation. Arnold went from Predator, Terminator, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, to fucking Terminator: Genisys, and The Expendables 3. I could site more brutal examples, but the fact of the matter is, you probably haven't even heard of some of the REALLY shitty movies these guys have done recently, because they weren't even worth the time it would take critics to write scathing reviews, panning them."
"I sit back in the comfort of my home, and I ponder this. I wonder to myself, what was it that made some of these great men desperate enough to attempt to recapture some of their old glory, rather than allow their careers to die respectful, dignified deaths? It certainly couldn't have been the money, these men have enough wealth to stretch out beyond their lifetimes. Is it really that hard to simply rest on your victories, and allow others to take the spotlight in your place? Even the greatest fighters in the world will tell you, know matter how good you are, there will always be somebody waiting to take your place, there will always be somebody just a little bit better."
"I learned this lesson the hard way. When, after half a dozen opportunities, I found myself unable to beat the legendary Doc, I had to admit to myself, that indeed, he may be the better man. He still never accomplished the same things I accomplished, and I found some degree of solace in that. Some degree of comfort. Does it change reality? No. Does it change the fact that I could never beat him? No. When Doc and I stepped into the ring together, I could always take just a little pride in knowing that we brought out the best in each other, but aside from that, I always came out empty handed, because Doc was the better man, and to this day, he is the ONLY man who I ever stepped into the ring with, that I can admit, on his worst day, was my equal, and on his best day, a superior. Everyone else fell to my feet, sometimes exchanging wins and losses with me, and other times, not so much, because I was too busy dominating the entire industry of professional wrestling, bringing the Xtreme Hardcore Federation to its knees while I basked in the glory that I had worked so hard for, the glory that I earned, the glory that I felt was well deserved."
"The point that I'm trying to make here, is that there is indeed a certain dignity in calling it quits. There is a dignity that comes with admitting that your day has come and gone, that you once had your moment in the spotlight, but it has come to pass."
"There are many guys out there, many men that I look up to, who did in fact decide to call it quits at the right time. Men who had their moment in the spotlight, reached their hands out to grab just one more brass ring, and then whether they succeeded or failed, they packed up their bags, called it a career, and went home. To those men, I say, good for you."
"Good. I'm glad that you found what you were looking for. I'm glad your fire burned so brightly, and I'm glad that it burned enough for you to decide that enough was enough, on your own terms. For many of you, the time couldn't have been better. You took it upon yourselves to quit while you were ahead, and there is no shame in that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and in fact, I respect the ability one could possess to do such a thing."
"So, that beckons the question... why am I here? Why am I sitting here in the shadows, having invited cameramen to my home to record this message? The answer is simple: I am not one of those good, respectable men, who acknowledges when their time is up, and QUITS. I am not one of those men who allows time or health to dictate WHAT I DO, or WHEN I DO IT. All of this... my anger, my hunger for success, my thirst for blood, my CAREER... it doesn't end until I SAY it does. I'm not Michael Jordan. I'm not the Beatles. I'm not Robert DeNiro. Because I am BETTER at what I do than ANY OF THEM ever were at what they do. DeNiro could ACT like a tough guy, but if he had a headache, they'd have to post-pone shooting one of his films for about a week just so he could get over it. Michael Jordan was great at basketball, but when he reached out to be a baseball player, he crashed and burned. I was great as a lone wolf, and proved that I was capable, if not destructive and corruptible as a "team leader". Unlike Michael Jordan, I have the ability to change gears without missing a step. Unlike Paul Mccartney, I don't need to rely on Greatest Hits that I created with my friends in order to sell out stadiums on a solo tour. I've ALWAYS succeeded by my own personal merits, I never needed ANYONE ELSE'S HELP. And if I DID need to rest on achievements that I could only make with a group of friends carrying me through, I wouldn't wait until they were dead to bask in the glory that they helped create, because to me, that is a sign of cowardice, incompetence, and weakness."
The shadow shifts only slightly, clearly growing more agitated and restless.
"Am I shitting on the Beatles? Am I disrespecting great actors like DeNiro, and trashing phenomenal, legendary athletes like Michael Jordan? No. I compare myself to these men, only because I know in my HEART that I actually have the ability to succeed in the few places where they failed. In case you didn't catch the ongoing theme, those men all failed in the twilight of their careers. While Paul Mccartney is making shitty songs with Kanye West, Arnold Schwarzenegger is still trying to get Terminator 6 into production so he can do a half-assed impression of himself 30 years ago. Nobody talks about or appreciates Michael Jordan anymore, the only time his name is ever brought into a conversation is when they're comparing him to Lebron James. All of these great men lost their step towards the end. They either tarnished their own legacy out of complacency or laziness and coasted off their past achievements, or they allowed themselves to be replaced."
"Me? I see no end in sight, not unless I deem it so. I take fate into my own hands. I won't tarnish my legacy until I SAY I tarnished my legacy. Why? Because it is MY legacy. I didn't begin it with hopes of dreams of what I could prove to the world. No, I felt that the WORLD needed to prove something to me, and aside from the exception of Doc, it never has. The first time I laced up my boots and stepped into a wrestling ring, I didn't think to myself, "Boy, I sure do hope everyone thinks I'm good!" No, I lead by example, I PROVED to the world that I was good, and I left it up to my rivals to impress ME... not the other way around. I could care LESS about what ANYONE thinks about me or my career. Objectively, I am one of, if not THE greatest professional wrestler to ever step into a ring. I give credit where it is due, and such is the case with Doc, but that man always has been and always will be an exception. His opportunity to hold the X Crown Championship as long as I did, that time has passed. His opportunity to hold the XHF Championship once, let alone twice, has passed. In that sense he will never be on my level, and so despite the fact that he has always managed to defeat me in one-on-one matches, his level of success will never equate to mine. He was dominant in one way, I was dominant in another, and that will ALWAYS be the truth of the matter."
"I've beaten legends, I've beaten jobbers, I've beaten the absolute best in the business, I've beaten the worst, and everything in between. My hunger for competition has never discriminated based on ability."
"So, why am I here? My alarm clock went off. I heard that the Xtreme Hardcore Federation had reinvented itself, it had taken a new form, it had become a new platform for young up-and-commers to test their strength, skill, and ability."
"Am I here to crash the party? Maybe not. Am I here to snuff out the dreams of all future and potential stars? Not at the moment, no. I've done all of those things before. Rest assured, I am still very much the same type of heartless bastard that I was when the XHF closed its doors all those years ago. The thing is, the XHF has always been my home. I had become careless and tired and burnt-out during my last run as a pro wrestler. I had become so tired, and so lacking in terms of what I wanted to accomplish. Most importantly, I had lost my anger."
"I am here to tell you all, every single one of you, all the way up from Mongo, down to the bottom with the likes of Copycat and Terry Bradshaw, that I am still the same man I always was. Am I here to announce my return to the wrestling ring? Not necessarily. Am I here to troll around for a job application as a trainer or commentator? What a joke. No, I am here simply to let the world know that I am the SAME man I always have been. I am a backstabber, I am a liar, I am a cheat, an egomaniac, I am still an UNDISPUTED ICON, and now, more than ever, I am a legend, and I'm NOT DONE YET."
"Without my confidence, I wouldn't be me. Without my giant ego, my skills in manipulation, and my desire to win by any means necessary, I wouldn't be me. Without my skills in submission, high-flying, and technical wrestling, I wouldn't be me. Without my desire to compete on only the HIGHEST of levels... without my RAGE... without my SHEER WILL to be the BEST EVER... I wouldn't be... M...G...K."
The man leans forward, bearing the now bearded face of MGK, showing his appearance on XHF Network television for the first time in nearly a decade. For the first time in a very, very long time, he sneers at the camera, and says:
Don't call it a comeback. Just call it a reminder that I'm still here. The alarm clock of my life that is the XHF has begun to sound off. And if you people aren't careful... you just might wake the monster.
Fade out.
Every obstacle that was placed before me, I overcame. Championship after championship, the motivation I had to succeed allowed me to persevere, to check each and every notch off on the list of things that I wanted to do with my life. The list of things I wanted to become. Good guy... bad guy... rebel... champion... leader... outcast... Icon... I've done it all. There comes a time in every man's life where he must take a good, hard look in the mirror, and ask himself, 'What more is there left to do?'"
The silhouette of a man, or perhaps to phrase it more appropriately, the shadow of a man, sits before us, shrouded in darkness, nothing but his figure visible before us. The man remains motionless, and the sound of his voice is the only thing that can remind us that he is not a picture or a mannequin, but in fact, a living, breathing, human being.
"If John Lennon hadn't been murdered, would the Beatles have gone on to produce more groundbreaking records than they already had, filled with new and original material? Would they have maintained their legacy of greatness, or would they have merely tarnished it? Look at what became of Elvis; the King of Rock n Roll, the biggest heart throb on the planet earth, went from creating musical magic and starring in his own classic movies... He went from being a legend, to being a motionless corpse sitting on the toilet, caught with no pants on, and no dignity to show for all his years of hard work, all his years of success and sheer talent. We saw what happened to Michael Jordan, after years of dominating the NBA, when he decided to try his hand at baseball. He made a fool of himself, and it took him crawling back to the NBA for one final run, so that he could finally end his career as a professional athlete in the same philosophical arena where it all began in the first place. He did this just so he could save face. So that in the eyes of his legions of fans, he could go out "on top"... or at least, as close to where he once was, as close as he could possibly get."
"I could cite so many other examples. How many actors have collapsed into the same pitfall, where they never knew when to give up, when to call it quits? Bruce Willis, Robert DeNiro, Arnold Schwarzenegger, these are all men who were once good at something... and then one day, they woke up, and they no longer had the means or ability to be quite as good as they once were. Robert DeNiro goes from Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, to Meet the Fockers. Bruce Willis goes from Die Hard and 12 Monkeys, to Die Hard 5 and GI Joe: Retaliation. Arnold went from Predator, Terminator, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, to fucking Terminator: Genisys, and The Expendables 3. I could site more brutal examples, but the fact of the matter is, you probably haven't even heard of some of the REALLY shitty movies these guys have done recently, because they weren't even worth the time it would take critics to write scathing reviews, panning them."
"I sit back in the comfort of my home, and I ponder this. I wonder to myself, what was it that made some of these great men desperate enough to attempt to recapture some of their old glory, rather than allow their careers to die respectful, dignified deaths? It certainly couldn't have been the money, these men have enough wealth to stretch out beyond their lifetimes. Is it really that hard to simply rest on your victories, and allow others to take the spotlight in your place? Even the greatest fighters in the world will tell you, know matter how good you are, there will always be somebody waiting to take your place, there will always be somebody just a little bit better."
"I learned this lesson the hard way. When, after half a dozen opportunities, I found myself unable to beat the legendary Doc, I had to admit to myself, that indeed, he may be the better man. He still never accomplished the same things I accomplished, and I found some degree of solace in that. Some degree of comfort. Does it change reality? No. Does it change the fact that I could never beat him? No. When Doc and I stepped into the ring together, I could always take just a little pride in knowing that we brought out the best in each other, but aside from that, I always came out empty handed, because Doc was the better man, and to this day, he is the ONLY man who I ever stepped into the ring with, that I can admit, on his worst day, was my equal, and on his best day, a superior. Everyone else fell to my feet, sometimes exchanging wins and losses with me, and other times, not so much, because I was too busy dominating the entire industry of professional wrestling, bringing the Xtreme Hardcore Federation to its knees while I basked in the glory that I had worked so hard for, the glory that I earned, the glory that I felt was well deserved."
"The point that I'm trying to make here, is that there is indeed a certain dignity in calling it quits. There is a dignity that comes with admitting that your day has come and gone, that you once had your moment in the spotlight, but it has come to pass."
"There are many guys out there, many men that I look up to, who did in fact decide to call it quits at the right time. Men who had their moment in the spotlight, reached their hands out to grab just one more brass ring, and then whether they succeeded or failed, they packed up their bags, called it a career, and went home. To those men, I say, good for you."
"Good. I'm glad that you found what you were looking for. I'm glad your fire burned so brightly, and I'm glad that it burned enough for you to decide that enough was enough, on your own terms. For many of you, the time couldn't have been better. You took it upon yourselves to quit while you were ahead, and there is no shame in that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and in fact, I respect the ability one could possess to do such a thing."
"So, that beckons the question... why am I here? Why am I sitting here in the shadows, having invited cameramen to my home to record this message? The answer is simple: I am not one of those good, respectable men, who acknowledges when their time is up, and QUITS. I am not one of those men who allows time or health to dictate WHAT I DO, or WHEN I DO IT. All of this... my anger, my hunger for success, my thirst for blood, my CAREER... it doesn't end until I SAY it does. I'm not Michael Jordan. I'm not the Beatles. I'm not Robert DeNiro. Because I am BETTER at what I do than ANY OF THEM ever were at what they do. DeNiro could ACT like a tough guy, but if he had a headache, they'd have to post-pone shooting one of his films for about a week just so he could get over it. Michael Jordan was great at basketball, but when he reached out to be a baseball player, he crashed and burned. I was great as a lone wolf, and proved that I was capable, if not destructive and corruptible as a "team leader". Unlike Michael Jordan, I have the ability to change gears without missing a step. Unlike Paul Mccartney, I don't need to rely on Greatest Hits that I created with my friends in order to sell out stadiums on a solo tour. I've ALWAYS succeeded by my own personal merits, I never needed ANYONE ELSE'S HELP. And if I DID need to rest on achievements that I could only make with a group of friends carrying me through, I wouldn't wait until they were dead to bask in the glory that they helped create, because to me, that is a sign of cowardice, incompetence, and weakness."
The shadow shifts only slightly, clearly growing more agitated and restless.
"Am I shitting on the Beatles? Am I disrespecting great actors like DeNiro, and trashing phenomenal, legendary athletes like Michael Jordan? No. I compare myself to these men, only because I know in my HEART that I actually have the ability to succeed in the few places where they failed. In case you didn't catch the ongoing theme, those men all failed in the twilight of their careers. While Paul Mccartney is making shitty songs with Kanye West, Arnold Schwarzenegger is still trying to get Terminator 6 into production so he can do a half-assed impression of himself 30 years ago. Nobody talks about or appreciates Michael Jordan anymore, the only time his name is ever brought into a conversation is when they're comparing him to Lebron James. All of these great men lost their step towards the end. They either tarnished their own legacy out of complacency or laziness and coasted off their past achievements, or they allowed themselves to be replaced."
"Me? I see no end in sight, not unless I deem it so. I take fate into my own hands. I won't tarnish my legacy until I SAY I tarnished my legacy. Why? Because it is MY legacy. I didn't begin it with hopes of dreams of what I could prove to the world. No, I felt that the WORLD needed to prove something to me, and aside from the exception of Doc, it never has. The first time I laced up my boots and stepped into a wrestling ring, I didn't think to myself, "Boy, I sure do hope everyone thinks I'm good!" No, I lead by example, I PROVED to the world that I was good, and I left it up to my rivals to impress ME... not the other way around. I could care LESS about what ANYONE thinks about me or my career. Objectively, I am one of, if not THE greatest professional wrestler to ever step into a ring. I give credit where it is due, and such is the case with Doc, but that man always has been and always will be an exception. His opportunity to hold the X Crown Championship as long as I did, that time has passed. His opportunity to hold the XHF Championship once, let alone twice, has passed. In that sense he will never be on my level, and so despite the fact that he has always managed to defeat me in one-on-one matches, his level of success will never equate to mine. He was dominant in one way, I was dominant in another, and that will ALWAYS be the truth of the matter."
"I've beaten legends, I've beaten jobbers, I've beaten the absolute best in the business, I've beaten the worst, and everything in between. My hunger for competition has never discriminated based on ability."
"So, why am I here? My alarm clock went off. I heard that the Xtreme Hardcore Federation had reinvented itself, it had taken a new form, it had become a new platform for young up-and-commers to test their strength, skill, and ability."
"Am I here to crash the party? Maybe not. Am I here to snuff out the dreams of all future and potential stars? Not at the moment, no. I've done all of those things before. Rest assured, I am still very much the same type of heartless bastard that I was when the XHF closed its doors all those years ago. The thing is, the XHF has always been my home. I had become careless and tired and burnt-out during my last run as a pro wrestler. I had become so tired, and so lacking in terms of what I wanted to accomplish. Most importantly, I had lost my anger."
"I am here to tell you all, every single one of you, all the way up from Mongo, down to the bottom with the likes of Copycat and Terry Bradshaw, that I am still the same man I always was. Am I here to announce my return to the wrestling ring? Not necessarily. Am I here to troll around for a job application as a trainer or commentator? What a joke. No, I am here simply to let the world know that I am the SAME man I always have been. I am a backstabber, I am a liar, I am a cheat, an egomaniac, I am still an UNDISPUTED ICON, and now, more than ever, I am a legend, and I'm NOT DONE YET."
"Without my confidence, I wouldn't be me. Without my giant ego, my skills in manipulation, and my desire to win by any means necessary, I wouldn't be me. Without my skills in submission, high-flying, and technical wrestling, I wouldn't be me. Without my desire to compete on only the HIGHEST of levels... without my RAGE... without my SHEER WILL to be the BEST EVER... I wouldn't be... M...G...K."
The man leans forward, bearing the now bearded face of MGK, showing his appearance on XHF Network television for the first time in nearly a decade. For the first time in a very, very long time, he sneers at the camera, and says:
Don't call it a comeback. Just call it a reminder that I'm still here. The alarm clock of my life that is the XHF has begun to sound off. And if you people aren't careful... you just might wake the monster.
Fade out.
