04-08-2019, 09:42 AM
04-12-2019, 09:19 AM
OOC a bit of a bittersweet entry here. I don't know what Charlie is going to be able to get up, but I wanted the chance to get this introduction to retirement up. For those who know Kayl's history, this will be a stroll down memory lane. For those who don't, this will be a bit of a look into his mind. Enjoy, and Charlie, if you're able to get something in, I look forward to reading it.
“So are you ready?”
The words rang through my head over and over again as I sat back in the locker-rooms, ready to step through the curtains for what would be the final time. This was it… my retirement match. Mary Beth Mallory had already staked her claim to being the one to end me, and she truly deserved the moment. She deserved it a hell of a lot more than some of the other people who had positioned… no…. been politicking themselves towards getting this opportunity. After all, it’s not everyday that a seven-time World Champion, the man who stood up and told the world that dreams can come true, retires from the industry.
Of course, retiring from the industry had been a misnomer at the time. I wasn’t legitimately retiring. I had simply decided… or had it decided for me… to walk away from the SWA amidst what I as being told was a resurgence of young talent looking for opportunities, a new crop of competitors who were looking to the top of the mountain. The “powers that be” figured the best thing to do was give them a clearer look at the throne, and that to do that I needed to be out of the way. It stung. I had been recruited to the SWA by Jake Colossal out of a soon-to-be defunct independent company in Southwestern Ontario and put to the Mid-South. MSW, it was called… not the most creative, but it made due. It was clear when I walked in that, for all intents and purposes, I was probably in over my head. That became especially true when the tiered system was introduced, and MSW moved to Canada, becoming a National promotion – CWF, the Canadian Wrestling Federation. I was seen as the heart and soul of CWF, even if my primary Championship aspirations would ultimately be stifled by the level of competition the national designation would attract.
When CWF closed down, I had an opportunity to go to a lower-tier, returning to the regional level and moving to Australia to compete for the Outback Wrestling League. God dammit, they hated me in Australia! And why wouldn’t they? A national-level superstar – even if the results didn’t support that distinction – moving down a level and walking in like he owned the place. It was there that I reunited with my tag team partner and the best thing to happen to my career… at least it was just to my career at that time… Chloe Barnes. I turned her against them. They hated me for that too, and never gave up an opportunity to let me know that. After I reasserted myself and built a reputation as a solid hand, I moved across to New York, briefly, competing in Empire State Wrestling. I’d bounce around the three established National promotions – Hostile City Wrestling in Philadelphia, Lone Star Wrestling in Texas, and most famously, Rising Sun Wrestling in Japan.
But I was never really complete until CWF reopened. It was there that I grew into my destiny. I became a seven-time World Champion under that banner. Simon Lyman and I formed Standing Room Only and became multi-time World Tag Team Champions. But more than that, the heart and soul became something more. Built as a main event star and the face of the promotion, the fans started to dub me The Cornerstone.
And that moniker kind of stuck.
But I sat there on that night in December of 2010, dressed in my gear… the gear I wore when I first walked into Shootcamp – the training venue for the SWA – ready to walk through the curtain for the last time. And I knew it was going to be emotional. I sat there contemplating the question asked of me…
“So are you ready?”
And I looked over to my left, looking Chloe in the eyes. By now, Chloe had become my wife. She had told me she was pregnant just a couple months earlier at Thanksgiving… and I can’t remember if it was the Canadian one in October or the American one in November. With pressure from up top, it seemed like as good of a time as any to walk away. In the back of my mind, there had always been this idea that we would both find our ways back to the industry. It took all of my political sway to even get officials to allow Chloe backstage. She hadn’t been the front office’s most popular person, and her exile had been seen as a relief among them. Maybe my marriage to her was part of why the front office decided it was time to push me out. I’ll never know for sure, but if it was, I still don’t regret a thing. I felt the organization was left in good hands as far as talent was concerned. Little did I know that two months after I walk out the door, the entire organization – the governing body and every company under it – would fold and all those wrestlers would be out of work. Some would move onto other opportunities – they were far too talented to be lost to time – and others would find themselves working security at a casino in Niagara Falls.
As the words rang through my head on that night, it became more and more obvious – I wasn’t ready. Not then. Not when I was months away from my 32nd birthday. I still had a lot to give. I knew it. She knew it. Everyone knew it. And still, the professional that I am, I had my match. I let Mary know during the course of it what I was feeling. She hit me harder. It reinvigorated me, so she dropped me on my head. It fired me up, so she hit me with her finisher three times before pinning me and sending me out on my back, the way I always intended. I was never going to let the likes of Derek Clix or Marco Lopez be “the one” to send Donovan Kayl out of wrestling. It was going to be someone I respected. I respected Mary Beth Mallory. I still do respect Mary Beth Mallory. She hits harder than probably 99% of the men I had faced to that point, with the biggest notable exception being the seven-foot Samoan monster AFWA.
But that wasn’t my end. I found myself where many of the SWA stars did – in the Next Evolution Wrestling Alliance, or NEWA. Simon and I became the inaugural World Tag Team Champions, but the alliance would last just long enough for us to give the nod to Callista Christos and Sebastian Blake. Then we found ourselves in SCW. And the rest, as they say, is history. Two World Tag Team Championship reigns. One Television Title reign. A Trios Tournament where I prevailed despite the odds mounted by the other teams – each one with more than enough talent to win it all themselves – and my own partners looking to go to war with each other. It was hellacious, but I pulled it off.
But here we are now… my contract expires following Rise to Greatness. I had attempted to retire after last year’s event, my undefeated streak at that event broken by Sienna Swann, only to be dragged back in by Damian Angel and Har Megiddo. They managed to squeeze one more year out of me. But not this time. My contract officially expires August 1. After Rise to Greatness, there will be no more shows until after that date, meaning the biggest show of the year will be my swan song. It feels… right. It feels like it’s time. This time around, I’ll be past my 40th birthday… which is tomorrow, actually. April 13. Funny how that works out.
I face Kellen Jeffries one day after turning 40. It’s called Tabula Rasa – “clean slate”. For many in SCW, it’s exactly that… an opportunity to reset. For me, it’s a gateway, and at the end of that hallway is the curtain closing on my career. My message for Kellen… take it to heart. Take the idea of a “clean slate” and really take it to heart. This isn’t about Donovan Kayl and the small “retirement tour”. This is about you, Kellen. You told me you wanted to prove yourself, that you have changed from the man who faked amnesia and contorted my best friend’s baby sister into signing divorce papers. You wanted to prove that you are different from the “Man-God” who antagonized my family, did whatever he could to build his pedestal higher, and twisted the corkscrew after stabbing it in the backs of those who cared about you. This is you chance. Tabula Rasa. Clean slate. Good luck, Kellen… I hope yours is truly clean, because God help you if it isn’t.
“So are you ready?”
The words rang through my head over and over again as I sat back in the locker-rooms, ready to step through the curtains for what would be the final time. This was it… my retirement match. Mary Beth Mallory had already staked her claim to being the one to end me, and she truly deserved the moment. She deserved it a hell of a lot more than some of the other people who had positioned… no…. been politicking themselves towards getting this opportunity. After all, it’s not everyday that a seven-time World Champion, the man who stood up and told the world that dreams can come true, retires from the industry.
Of course, retiring from the industry had been a misnomer at the time. I wasn’t legitimately retiring. I had simply decided… or had it decided for me… to walk away from the SWA amidst what I as being told was a resurgence of young talent looking for opportunities, a new crop of competitors who were looking to the top of the mountain. The “powers that be” figured the best thing to do was give them a clearer look at the throne, and that to do that I needed to be out of the way. It stung. I had been recruited to the SWA by Jake Colossal out of a soon-to-be defunct independent company in Southwestern Ontario and put to the Mid-South. MSW, it was called… not the most creative, but it made due. It was clear when I walked in that, for all intents and purposes, I was probably in over my head. That became especially true when the tiered system was introduced, and MSW moved to Canada, becoming a National promotion – CWF, the Canadian Wrestling Federation. I was seen as the heart and soul of CWF, even if my primary Championship aspirations would ultimately be stifled by the level of competition the national designation would attract.
When CWF closed down, I had an opportunity to go to a lower-tier, returning to the regional level and moving to Australia to compete for the Outback Wrestling League. God dammit, they hated me in Australia! And why wouldn’t they? A national-level superstar – even if the results didn’t support that distinction – moving down a level and walking in like he owned the place. It was there that I reunited with my tag team partner and the best thing to happen to my career… at least it was just to my career at that time… Chloe Barnes. I turned her against them. They hated me for that too, and never gave up an opportunity to let me know that. After I reasserted myself and built a reputation as a solid hand, I moved across to New York, briefly, competing in Empire State Wrestling. I’d bounce around the three established National promotions – Hostile City Wrestling in Philadelphia, Lone Star Wrestling in Texas, and most famously, Rising Sun Wrestling in Japan.
But I was never really complete until CWF reopened. It was there that I grew into my destiny. I became a seven-time World Champion under that banner. Simon Lyman and I formed Standing Room Only and became multi-time World Tag Team Champions. But more than that, the heart and soul became something more. Built as a main event star and the face of the promotion, the fans started to dub me The Cornerstone.
And that moniker kind of stuck.
But I sat there on that night in December of 2010, dressed in my gear… the gear I wore when I first walked into Shootcamp – the training venue for the SWA – ready to walk through the curtain for the last time. And I knew it was going to be emotional. I sat there contemplating the question asked of me…
“So are you ready?”
And I looked over to my left, looking Chloe in the eyes. By now, Chloe had become my wife. She had told me she was pregnant just a couple months earlier at Thanksgiving… and I can’t remember if it was the Canadian one in October or the American one in November. With pressure from up top, it seemed like as good of a time as any to walk away. In the back of my mind, there had always been this idea that we would both find our ways back to the industry. It took all of my political sway to even get officials to allow Chloe backstage. She hadn’t been the front office’s most popular person, and her exile had been seen as a relief among them. Maybe my marriage to her was part of why the front office decided it was time to push me out. I’ll never know for sure, but if it was, I still don’t regret a thing. I felt the organization was left in good hands as far as talent was concerned. Little did I know that two months after I walk out the door, the entire organization – the governing body and every company under it – would fold and all those wrestlers would be out of work. Some would move onto other opportunities – they were far too talented to be lost to time – and others would find themselves working security at a casino in Niagara Falls.
As the words rang through my head on that night, it became more and more obvious – I wasn’t ready. Not then. Not when I was months away from my 32nd birthday. I still had a lot to give. I knew it. She knew it. Everyone knew it. And still, the professional that I am, I had my match. I let Mary know during the course of it what I was feeling. She hit me harder. It reinvigorated me, so she dropped me on my head. It fired me up, so she hit me with her finisher three times before pinning me and sending me out on my back, the way I always intended. I was never going to let the likes of Derek Clix or Marco Lopez be “the one” to send Donovan Kayl out of wrestling. It was going to be someone I respected. I respected Mary Beth Mallory. I still do respect Mary Beth Mallory. She hits harder than probably 99% of the men I had faced to that point, with the biggest notable exception being the seven-foot Samoan monster AFWA.
But that wasn’t my end. I found myself where many of the SWA stars did – in the Next Evolution Wrestling Alliance, or NEWA. Simon and I became the inaugural World Tag Team Champions, but the alliance would last just long enough for us to give the nod to Callista Christos and Sebastian Blake. Then we found ourselves in SCW. And the rest, as they say, is history. Two World Tag Team Championship reigns. One Television Title reign. A Trios Tournament where I prevailed despite the odds mounted by the other teams – each one with more than enough talent to win it all themselves – and my own partners looking to go to war with each other. It was hellacious, but I pulled it off.
But here we are now… my contract expires following Rise to Greatness. I had attempted to retire after last year’s event, my undefeated streak at that event broken by Sienna Swann, only to be dragged back in by Damian Angel and Har Megiddo. They managed to squeeze one more year out of me. But not this time. My contract officially expires August 1. After Rise to Greatness, there will be no more shows until after that date, meaning the biggest show of the year will be my swan song. It feels… right. It feels like it’s time. This time around, I’ll be past my 40th birthday… which is tomorrow, actually. April 13. Funny how that works out.
I face Kellen Jeffries one day after turning 40. It’s called Tabula Rasa – “clean slate”. For many in SCW, it’s exactly that… an opportunity to reset. For me, it’s a gateway, and at the end of that hallway is the curtain closing on my career. My message for Kellen… take it to heart. Take the idea of a “clean slate” and really take it to heart. This isn’t about Donovan Kayl and the small “retirement tour”. This is about you, Kellen. You told me you wanted to prove yourself, that you have changed from the man who faked amnesia and contorted my best friend’s baby sister into signing divorce papers. You wanted to prove that you are different from the “Man-God” who antagonized my family, did whatever he could to build his pedestal higher, and twisted the corkscrew after stabbing it in the backs of those who cared about you. This is you chance. Tabula Rasa. Clean slate. Good luck, Kellen… I hope yours is truly clean, because God help you if it isn’t.