11-28-2018, 04:05 PM
12-01-2018, 10:55 AM
12-04-2018, 12:00 PM
Breakdown (Several Weeks Ago)
You know…
For all of the bitching and moaning that some of the more entitled members of the Supreme Championship roster do on a day to day basis, whether that ends up being on Breakdown, the Pay Per Views and the like, or whether it’s on all the forms of social media that they can get their grubby little hands on… There’s something that has persisted in the background ever since I joined the company with David Helms what seems like another lifetime ago… Something that I like to think hadn’t necessarily been the case before we got here. And that is the focus that people now put on Tag Team Wrestling. I mean don’t get me wrong there had been a handful of tag teams that really broke the mould when they joined SCW if you know your history… But thinking back to the time I signed on the dotted line, shook D’s hand and waited for the moment I would make my debut… At that point in time it was almost like no one was all that fussed about being IN a tag team, let alone going for the Tag Team Titles… Which was why Asher Hayes and Rachel Foxx were pretty much the champs by default as to put it quite frankly, from where I was stood; no one cared enough about the straps to challenge them for the honour of holding them. It’s kinda sad when you think about it, right? That the prestige behind a set of belts was pretty much none existent and they were worth nothing, I even suspect that after a while they even became worthless to the individuals holding them. Not by choice, of course because I know enough about both of those people to acknowledge they were, are and forever will be proud of everything they’ve done in this business, INCLUDING holding those belts for as long as they did, regardless of the circumstances behind it. However you want to look at those times though, it stuck in my mind that it was unacceptable for those belts to have so little going for them and so along with David, we came up with an idea to light the division on fire. Along with The Revolution, another phenomenal tag team of times past may I add… We decided to go against what was the then status quo, we decided to grab the dying embers of the Tag Team Division and pour gasoline over them! We jump started the division when people were still bypassing it and seeing it as a ‘step down’ or as a ‘consolation’ for when they weren’t good enough to be in the United States, Adrenaline or World Title picture.
All of a sudden people were sitting up and taking notice as we brought what was needed not only to the division, but to the company in general. We brought that almost death defying style kicking and screaming from the Adrenaline Division and displayed it as part of unified teams! From that point forward, the division no longer seemed to be stagnating and when Dark Fantasy, love em or want to bash their faces in with shovels, and Karnivale came onto the scene… People wanted a piece of that pie again! People started caring about something that shouldn’t have been ignored in the first place. Now on a common thread and speaking of Dark Fantasy… It’s funny how the current state of SCW has come about almost as if it’s gone full circle. You all may or may not remember the time when the company was REALLY in peril, when the Infamous formed. It’s a memory that’s burned into my memory never to be forgotten as I was used as a statement of intent for that moment. When a group like that appears, you expect everyone to rally around and protect the company from becoming worse than the Wild Wild West, right? Nah, what actually happened was that Tommy Valentine, David Helms, Jake Starr and Gregglypuff until they opened the all you could eat buffet, stood outnumbered, outgunned against them and what did the rest of the roster do? They left us to it, they didn’t care! Oh a lot of them, including both members of Karnivale criticised us and mocked us for not being able to do the impossible and achieve total victory over them… All whilst they were cowering in the locker rooms like little girls hiding from the Boogeyman, as long as they weren’t in the firing line they were happy to watch as everything that WE had helped to build was brought down right in front of them. Have you any idea how it feels to know that people are so selfish that they wouldn’t lift a finger to help?
{I smirk slightly.}
I know a few people who now know that feeling. People that got sucked up in a fight with insurmountable odds and there were people right there that could help but chose to turn their backs on it, despite future repercussions. The European Tour was quite the experience for a lot of reasons, and that’s taking out the fact that I love to travel the world and perform for the fans right on their doorstep when that’s normally not the case. I was involved in a tag team match against the reformed Blake Mason, Chris Cannon and Owen Cruze. A match that on the surface was simply going to be a showcase of what six people could do when they were put together on teams, and it was quite the spectacle… Besides the point when Owen managed to put me out for the count and there was nothing I could do to kick out before the three. When that bell rang, I was furious! I was angry that this kid did a number on me and it took me by surprise, I was pissed off that yet again I was on the receiving end of a loss despite my best efforts to avoid such a conclusion, I was irritated about the fact that if Katie Steward hadn’t spent most of her time trying to tell Jake and I what to do, things might have been different! That’s why in the moment that I realised what had happened, I was ready to take out my frustrations on Owen… It’s not fair, I know and it wasn’t his fault that it happened how it did… But I restrained myself and spared the kid an unnecessary punishment for being the better athlete on the night. Then that was where it got interesting, as Jake and I were walking up the ramp, the jackasses that call themselves the Beauty Network or whatever swarmed the ring and wouldn’t you know it; Chris Cannon, Blake Mason and Owen Cruze were outnumbered. They didn’t stand a chance. I could have gone back down there and dished out a few Grievers Bane’s to help out… Then I thought about when we were in the same situation, different faces but I don’t split hairs. I decided to let them experience what I had to, what David and Jake had to back then and turned away. The funny thing is that Jake wanted to help out, said that it was the right thing to do, but I reminded him of the thing that stopped me from going back down there. He wasn’t completely happy about it but I guess he agreed with me deep down. Let the do gooders have their battle, I for one don’t want any part of it. None of the people involved DESERVE the assistance.
Wow… That kinda makes me sound like a bit of an asshole, doesn’t it? Maybe… Maybe not, but to put it quite frankly, fighting in other peoples battles is part of the reason why my focus hasn’t been where it should be for a while. I’ll deal with The Beauty Network if and when they stick their beaks in my business and not a moment sooner… My attention is needed much more where it currently lies, and that's on how best to climb back up the ladder to where I need to be, and that’s across the ring from Ravyn or whoever holds the Adrenaline Title at such a time, in contention for a belt that suits the style I bring to the ring better than most. And that way is of course by knocking back everyone put in front of me, not making silly mistakes that rookies can take advantage of, not screwing up at the expense of any partner I have in that ring… And not to let wily veterans get one over on me when they are on a high after a momentous victory at the last Pay Per View that I had the pleasure of watching as a fan for the first time in a while. It’s truly as straightforward as that. That last part was obviously aimed at you Angelica, and I mean it with the utmost respect for someone of your calibre, someone that is as long of tooth as you are… And there’s almost an irony that you and I share something in common that I’m not sure was intentional when booking this match. As good as we are in the ring on our own, we have both carved our niche as ‘tag team specialists’, to the point that we have achieved accolades with practically all of the people we have teamed with if not ALL of them, which is pretty cool too, isn’t it? I’m not gonna lie, I was rooting for you and James to knock both of those ass-clowns off their perch with all the show-boating they both like to engage in. Andrew needed to be knocked off his proverbial perch in particular… Truly thinking that he was THAT good he could team up with someone for the first time and be victorious in a match with such high stakes and against the quality of competition that Redemption have brought to the table through hard work and determination. As you said in your interesting promotion for this very match as it happens, you had the chemistry, talent and ability to get the job done and shut both of them up for five minutes.
The last time we met in the ring, it was indeed a different playing field for us… And regardless of my feelings towards you or The Sisterhood for that matter, it was yet another example of how good Angelica Jones is an individual as well as part of a unit. You might have the feel-good story of Redemption and all the spiel that comes along with the apt name for your team… But quite frankly, I don’t care at all about whether I will pay for any of the decisions made on my part because for a lot of the decisions, I made them so that the rest of the roster didn’t have to when push came to shove, whether it was to help the company, or bring about a change that was much needed through any means necessary, I stand by them and have no regrets… Just like I will have no regrets when I do what I have to in order to put you away in our match Angelica, you can call yourself the Queen Of Narnia for all the difference it makes in all honesty, though I’m glad you’re feeling confident going into this one… Confident enough to overlook just who the hell you’re talking to when you mention the words ‘ruthless aggression’ and whether I’m ready for what you’re going to bring to our match. That’s good though, because I want you to be confident… I want you to be aggressive… I want you to be toughest bitch on this planet when that bell rings. Because I plan to be better, Angelica. I want you at the level you’re promising me you’ll be at in our match, because it’ll be all the sweeter when I strike from out of nowhere and leave you Knee Deep in defeat…
Let’s show the world how it’s done, and take solace in the fact that you’ll at least still have your title when the night is over.
After Tommy Valentine vs Syren Match
I'd almost had her!
I was a hairs breadth away from putting the arrogant bitch down and putting my name back on the damn map! But no, I guess that my mouth had gotten the better of me in the run up to the match and the odds had become too much in the end! Don't get me wrong, I'd made sure that I wasn't the victim that a lot of people ended up as when faced with Syren and Company… But at the same time those well trained eyes in the back of my head could only work so much when I had a world class athlete in the ring with me as well… Though it left a horrible taste in my mouth just THINKING of Zoe in that way. The funny thing is though, that it shouldn't have been such an uphill struggle… I should have at least had a little help from the moment that bell rung and yet… Nope, Tommy Valentine was left to try and take care of business himself.
Walking backstage I could barely restrain the anger boiling away inside of me. Things shouldn't have been that way! I ignored each and every person that I walked past on the way to the locker room, some tried to talk to me… Some just looked at me and probably decided against it. I finally got to the locker room and went inside. Blessedly it was empty as I let out a scream of frustration and hit my fists against several lockers before I sat down on one of the benches, my teeth clenched. So this was what it was like being one of the good guys now? One of the REAL good guys, not the type that wormed their way into D’s graces? I've fought the good fight, taken a kicking and kept on ticking just like I promised I would and yet what did I have to show for it? I run a hand through my hair as I take deep breaths to try and calm myself down as I knew that the rage wasn't all mine and letting it consume me wouldn't help matters one bit. The silence in the room was nice as I at least started feeling a bit more rational about things… Then the door opened. I was preparing to just ignore or be short with whoever it was when I looked up to see my so called brother, Jake Starr walk in. He'd had a match earlier on with Casterillo but didn't look too bad all things considered… Which only served to piss me off all over again.
He closed the door behind him and walked over so he was stood in front of me as i fixed him with a level gaze. “Tough break out there, Tommy. That woman is slippery!” he stated as my eyes widened at the almost casual way he broached the topic.
I clenched and unclenched my fists as I fought once again to keep my composure. “Yeah… It's almost as if I didn't have someone who could have been helping level the playing field a little” I replied, not breaking eye contact as the words sunk in and he shook his head slowly.
“Tommy… I was being checked out by the medical team, they were making a big fuss and-” Jake started to explain before I cut him off, leaping to my feet as i couldn't keep a lid on my emotions any longer.
My movement was enough to stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth but he needed to know the truth. “Screw the EMT’s Jake! It was three on one out there at best! Four if you include Crowe lurking in the damn crowds! Did you just think that they'd sit back and allow their crown jewel lose to a scrub like me?!” I yelled at him as he held his hands up to try and calm me down.
“Tommy, please. I wanted to be out there… But-” Jake tried to explain as I stopped listening when it started sounding like excuses.
I take a step towards him as he lowers his hands and we're almost standing nose to nose. “But NOTHING Jake… You had a tough match against some guy, i get it… But you claim to be a friend, dude… You call yourself my best friend and yet you were nowhere in sight as that BITCH and her club got the better of me once more!” I retorted as he once again tried to talk but I was in full flow and wasn't prepared to listen to more excuses. “If it was me, I'd have fought the medical teams off and DRAGGED my ass to the ring if needs be as my friend would have needed my help” I rant on at him as he doesn't react for a few seconds which infuriated me even more.
He took a deep breath and looked at me unflinching in the face of my anger. “Tommy, listen. It's been a tough night for both of us. Let's just pack up our stuff and leave now. We can go grab a beer and talk this through” Jake finally said as i looked at him in amazement. Could anyone sound so patronising whilst in front of a guy clearly airing his issues? Then just when I thought it couldn't get worse, he put a hand on my shoulder. “There's always next time. Every dog has its day and this was hers” he added with a smirk which pushed me over the edge.
“Is this a joke to you?! I HAD her! One on one she was outclassed! You let me down, Jake. I don't ask for much and yet we're here having this conversation!” I roared as the smirk quickly disappeared from his face as i was doing my best to not punch him square on the jaw.
Instantly he shook his head. “Tommy, I said I'm sorry. I wish I could make it up to you… Is everything alright? I mean have you kept up the sessions with the doctor?” he asked tentatively as that instantly triggered my anger once again and I stepped closer to him.
“Don't you dare pull this bullshit on me right now, Jake! If you mean ‘Are you allowing the guy in your head take control?’ then just say it! And the answer is that it doesn't matter! You're my tag team partner and more importantly you're supposedly like family and YOU dropped the ball when it mattered, leaving me with another loss against them!” I retorted as he sighed once again.
Shaking his head, he now looked at me helplessly. “I don't know what to say, man…” he murmured as I instantly gave him the answer.
“Say that you've got my back and this wasn't all a waste of my time believing you could put someone else ahead of yourself! Because trust me, if you can't do that then I'll find people that can!” I replied as a frown came to his face upon my response.
“What's that supposed to mean?” Jake asked as I turned to start gathering the few things that were still out of my training bag and put them into it. “Tommy…” he said, leaving my name hanging in the air.
Pausing from my packing, I turn to look at him. “Just decide if you really do want to be my friend… Or if you'd prefer to be an enemy. I wouldn't recommend that, though” I stated before going back to the task at hand. I expected him to make some retort, a part of me wanted him to, I was angry and knew that deep down he didn't deserve to be the focus of such hostility.
Jake must have decided to give up as i heard the door to the locker room open. I assumed he left but then he speaks from the doorway. “Tommy, I'm your friend and I'm here for you. No matter what” he simply said before walking out and closing the door behind him, leaving me alone once more. His words should have made me feel better, but at that moment they didn't do a damn thing and that was quite worrying.
=========
PROMOYou know…
For all of the bitching and moaning that some of the more entitled members of the Supreme Championship roster do on a day to day basis, whether that ends up being on Breakdown, the Pay Per Views and the like, or whether it’s on all the forms of social media that they can get their grubby little hands on… There’s something that has persisted in the background ever since I joined the company with David Helms what seems like another lifetime ago… Something that I like to think hadn’t necessarily been the case before we got here. And that is the focus that people now put on Tag Team Wrestling. I mean don’t get me wrong there had been a handful of tag teams that really broke the mould when they joined SCW if you know your history… But thinking back to the time I signed on the dotted line, shook D’s hand and waited for the moment I would make my debut… At that point in time it was almost like no one was all that fussed about being IN a tag team, let alone going for the Tag Team Titles… Which was why Asher Hayes and Rachel Foxx were pretty much the champs by default as to put it quite frankly, from where I was stood; no one cared enough about the straps to challenge them for the honour of holding them. It’s kinda sad when you think about it, right? That the prestige behind a set of belts was pretty much none existent and they were worth nothing, I even suspect that after a while they even became worthless to the individuals holding them. Not by choice, of course because I know enough about both of those people to acknowledge they were, are and forever will be proud of everything they’ve done in this business, INCLUDING holding those belts for as long as they did, regardless of the circumstances behind it. However you want to look at those times though, it stuck in my mind that it was unacceptable for those belts to have so little going for them and so along with David, we came up with an idea to light the division on fire. Along with The Revolution, another phenomenal tag team of times past may I add… We decided to go against what was the then status quo, we decided to grab the dying embers of the Tag Team Division and pour gasoline over them! We jump started the division when people were still bypassing it and seeing it as a ‘step down’ or as a ‘consolation’ for when they weren’t good enough to be in the United States, Adrenaline or World Title picture.
All of a sudden people were sitting up and taking notice as we brought what was needed not only to the division, but to the company in general. We brought that almost death defying style kicking and screaming from the Adrenaline Division and displayed it as part of unified teams! From that point forward, the division no longer seemed to be stagnating and when Dark Fantasy, love em or want to bash their faces in with shovels, and Karnivale came onto the scene… People wanted a piece of that pie again! People started caring about something that shouldn’t have been ignored in the first place. Now on a common thread and speaking of Dark Fantasy… It’s funny how the current state of SCW has come about almost as if it’s gone full circle. You all may or may not remember the time when the company was REALLY in peril, when the Infamous formed. It’s a memory that’s burned into my memory never to be forgotten as I was used as a statement of intent for that moment. When a group like that appears, you expect everyone to rally around and protect the company from becoming worse than the Wild Wild West, right? Nah, what actually happened was that Tommy Valentine, David Helms, Jake Starr and Gregglypuff until they opened the all you could eat buffet, stood outnumbered, outgunned against them and what did the rest of the roster do? They left us to it, they didn’t care! Oh a lot of them, including both members of Karnivale criticised us and mocked us for not being able to do the impossible and achieve total victory over them… All whilst they were cowering in the locker rooms like little girls hiding from the Boogeyman, as long as they weren’t in the firing line they were happy to watch as everything that WE had helped to build was brought down right in front of them. Have you any idea how it feels to know that people are so selfish that they wouldn’t lift a finger to help?
{I smirk slightly.}
I know a few people who now know that feeling. People that got sucked up in a fight with insurmountable odds and there were people right there that could help but chose to turn their backs on it, despite future repercussions. The European Tour was quite the experience for a lot of reasons, and that’s taking out the fact that I love to travel the world and perform for the fans right on their doorstep when that’s normally not the case. I was involved in a tag team match against the reformed Blake Mason, Chris Cannon and Owen Cruze. A match that on the surface was simply going to be a showcase of what six people could do when they were put together on teams, and it was quite the spectacle… Besides the point when Owen managed to put me out for the count and there was nothing I could do to kick out before the three. When that bell rang, I was furious! I was angry that this kid did a number on me and it took me by surprise, I was pissed off that yet again I was on the receiving end of a loss despite my best efforts to avoid such a conclusion, I was irritated about the fact that if Katie Steward hadn’t spent most of her time trying to tell Jake and I what to do, things might have been different! That’s why in the moment that I realised what had happened, I was ready to take out my frustrations on Owen… It’s not fair, I know and it wasn’t his fault that it happened how it did… But I restrained myself and spared the kid an unnecessary punishment for being the better athlete on the night. Then that was where it got interesting, as Jake and I were walking up the ramp, the jackasses that call themselves the Beauty Network or whatever swarmed the ring and wouldn’t you know it; Chris Cannon, Blake Mason and Owen Cruze were outnumbered. They didn’t stand a chance. I could have gone back down there and dished out a few Grievers Bane’s to help out… Then I thought about when we were in the same situation, different faces but I don’t split hairs. I decided to let them experience what I had to, what David and Jake had to back then and turned away. The funny thing is that Jake wanted to help out, said that it was the right thing to do, but I reminded him of the thing that stopped me from going back down there. He wasn’t completely happy about it but I guess he agreed with me deep down. Let the do gooders have their battle, I for one don’t want any part of it. None of the people involved DESERVE the assistance.
Wow… That kinda makes me sound like a bit of an asshole, doesn’t it? Maybe… Maybe not, but to put it quite frankly, fighting in other peoples battles is part of the reason why my focus hasn’t been where it should be for a while. I’ll deal with The Beauty Network if and when they stick their beaks in my business and not a moment sooner… My attention is needed much more where it currently lies, and that's on how best to climb back up the ladder to where I need to be, and that’s across the ring from Ravyn or whoever holds the Adrenaline Title at such a time, in contention for a belt that suits the style I bring to the ring better than most. And that way is of course by knocking back everyone put in front of me, not making silly mistakes that rookies can take advantage of, not screwing up at the expense of any partner I have in that ring… And not to let wily veterans get one over on me when they are on a high after a momentous victory at the last Pay Per View that I had the pleasure of watching as a fan for the first time in a while. It’s truly as straightforward as that. That last part was obviously aimed at you Angelica, and I mean it with the utmost respect for someone of your calibre, someone that is as long of tooth as you are… And there’s almost an irony that you and I share something in common that I’m not sure was intentional when booking this match. As good as we are in the ring on our own, we have both carved our niche as ‘tag team specialists’, to the point that we have achieved accolades with practically all of the people we have teamed with if not ALL of them, which is pretty cool too, isn’t it? I’m not gonna lie, I was rooting for you and James to knock both of those ass-clowns off their perch with all the show-boating they both like to engage in. Andrew needed to be knocked off his proverbial perch in particular… Truly thinking that he was THAT good he could team up with someone for the first time and be victorious in a match with such high stakes and against the quality of competition that Redemption have brought to the table through hard work and determination. As you said in your interesting promotion for this very match as it happens, you had the chemistry, talent and ability to get the job done and shut both of them up for five minutes.
The last time we met in the ring, it was indeed a different playing field for us… And regardless of my feelings towards you or The Sisterhood for that matter, it was yet another example of how good Angelica Jones is an individual as well as part of a unit. You might have the feel-good story of Redemption and all the spiel that comes along with the apt name for your team… But quite frankly, I don’t care at all about whether I will pay for any of the decisions made on my part because for a lot of the decisions, I made them so that the rest of the roster didn’t have to when push came to shove, whether it was to help the company, or bring about a change that was much needed through any means necessary, I stand by them and have no regrets… Just like I will have no regrets when I do what I have to in order to put you away in our match Angelica, you can call yourself the Queen Of Narnia for all the difference it makes in all honesty, though I’m glad you’re feeling confident going into this one… Confident enough to overlook just who the hell you’re talking to when you mention the words ‘ruthless aggression’ and whether I’m ready for what you’re going to bring to our match. That’s good though, because I want you to be confident… I want you to be aggressive… I want you to be toughest bitch on this planet when that bell rings. Because I plan to be better, Angelica. I want you at the level you’re promising me you’ll be at in our match, because it’ll be all the sweeter when I strike from out of nowhere and leave you Knee Deep in defeat…
Let’s show the world how it’s done, and take solace in the fact that you’ll at least still have your title when the night is over.