Ricky James vs. Aaron Rupp

[Ruppy]

In a sense, Aaron is almost grateful that he's still waiting to hear from SCW on the situation regarding Ricky James.

Mostly because he thinks that if he had to go through a few shows pretending that everything in his personal life was alright all over again, he was probably going to do something he was going to severely regret.

A little over a week had passed since he'd shown up on Breakdown and inquired with Shaun Cruze about coming back for one last match to teach Ricky a lesson, and his frustrations had only been mounting. That dormant desire for in-ring justice was starting to burn so hotly beneath his skin that he was almost afraid he would burst into flames if just the right buttons were pushed. He was trying to be patient and repeatedly told himself that it was alright if that call never came because that would mean SCW had well and truly come a long way from when he'd competed in terms of making sure the inmates didn't run the asylum anymore, for lack of a better term, but now that his old mindset had been awakened it was growing more and more difficult to just ignore the desire to deal with the Ricky situation in the ring, as wrestlers should do.

The fact that Rudy Powell, the man Ricky had been fighting to earn back his name, had suddenly turned around and was trying to defend him and his actions the way that only a sleazy politician would find 'fair' and 'just' only stoked that flame.

A potential extended return to SCW, however, was the least of Aaron's worries, and yet it was also the catalyst for the larger problem at hand.

Ever since the argument they'd had when Aaron got back from Philadelphia, Nym had stayed true to her word about avoiding her husband as much as she could. She'd effectively packed up her stuff and moved it to the guest room, she made it a point to leave the room anytime Aaron walked in and she'd even gone to greater lengths to find excuses to get out of the house just so he couldn't interact with her. Aaron had certainly tried to fix things and explain why he felt he needed to do this, but he barely got too far into trying to justify his point of view before she either stormed off or snapped at him to leave her alone. The last time he'd attempted to talk with her, he aborted the plan once he saw Nym on the phone with her sister discussing the issue, validating her threat to take the kids and leave if nothing changed.

The longer this went on, the more Aaron found himself falling into a darker headspace. One he'd adamantly tried to avoid for the safety of those around him and an edge he hadn't found himself inching towards since the last time they'd fought over this issue.

The weekend was upon them now, and Aaron was spending the day in the home gym. It'd be no surprise to find him here if one wanted to look for him considering he hadn't done his workout for the day yet, sticking to the physical therapy regiment he'd been given years ago to rebuild his shoulder and knee after the VWA feud that had put him in such bad physical shape that it created the initial rift in his relationship with Nym. He was adding to it today, however, much like he had trying to get back in fighting shape for the gimmick battle royal, just in case the call he was waiting on from SCW finally came in. With only one Breakdown left to go until the Apocalypse pay-per-view, if SCW was going to decide to unsuspend Ricky so he could face his trial in the ring, as a wrestler should for his actions, then that choice would have to be made sooner rather than later.

As he went through his routine, he certainly took notice of the extra little bit of aggression to everything he was doing, and he was struggling to rein it in. Maybe it was because he knew, in the back of his head, that Nym had taken the kids out for the day and that eliminated the chance of anyone being around to feel threatened if he lost himself, but that didn't stop him from actively trying to fight against the feeling. Not only would any damage caused just be unnecessary, but he hated feeling like a monster because he gave in to a side of himself that he never wanted to see in the mirror ever again. The risk of doing so was one of the biggest reasons why he'd taken a step back and seen the logic in tending to his mounting injuries first before stepping back to the ring, and the lack of stress due to being away from the business had been a godsend to every aspect of his life.

“You alright, dad?”

Aaron snapped out of the thoughts he'd fallen into while his body went on autopilot with the leg extension machine, and to say he was surprised to see his daughter standing in the gym was an understatement. Noticing that she was wearing attire that indicated she might be planning to work out too had him all the more confused, and concerned once his parental instincts kicked it.

“Celeste?” he asked. “I thought you were out with your mom and brother?”

“Well,” Celeste began as she walked over to examine the dumbbell rack, “I was supposed to be since mom really wanted to get us out of the house. But, no offense, Luke and I know something's not right between you guys and we're both getting tired of it. So we agreed that Luke would go with mom like she wanted and try to talk with her while I stayed here to try talking with you. As far as mom knows, I couldn't go with her because I had a ton of homework I'd forgotten about, and before you ask, I did actually finish the last of it a little bit ago.”

Aaron almost wanted to laugh at how casually his daughter just admitted all of that, though whether it was to stifle the desire to express pride in the fact that she at least got her homework done in a timely manner or bury the pettiness his brain tried to feel over Celeste choosing to stay with him instead of going with Nym, he couldn't say for sure. The fact that his thoughts even wanted to acknowledge that last one were concerning enough, but he quickly shrugged it off as he called an early end to his current set of reps and started to approach Celeste.

“Celeste, you know you and your brother are still a little too young for your mom and me to feel comfortable having you guys in here,” Aaron started, but before he could continue his argument, his daughter turned to face him.

“I know, and I'm sorry,” she said, which caught him a bit off guard. “I guess I just wanted to get an early start on preparing myself, and I thought it'd be alright if you were in here to make sure I knew what I was doing.”

“Preparing for what?” Aaron couldn't help but ask. “You know I'd be more than happy to train you and Luke if you want to wrestle yourselves, but that day's still quite a few years off. And if this has anything to do with school...”

“It doesn't,” she quickly cut him off before turning her gaze to the floor. “Not exactly, anyway, at least for right now. It's just that... well, after Luke and I got 'the talk' from you guys, mom pulled me aside and gave me another talk. She told me all about her family's genes and what I should expect once puberty really starts kicking in for me. I know Luke's already told me he'll gladly step up to defend me if he needs to, and I'm thankful that he's willing to do that, but I want to be able to defend myself too in case anyone starts getting any funny ideas at school or otherwise.”

Aaron just blinked at this as he watched Celeste grab some dumbbells that were light enough for her to comfortably get started with. Nym had given him the rundown on the D'Aubergine family genes after she'd gotten pregnant and he knew full well that his daughter was eventually going to have the kind of curves that would either match her mother or go beyond that and match one of her sisters. While he had no shortage of ideas in mind for making sure anyone who sought her had good intentions and wasn't just after her body, somehow his thoughts had never fully clicked regarding how Celeste herself would handle all of this once she knew. Knowing that she had chosen to be responsible about this and not decide to just use it to her advantage as her mom had long before she and him had started something serious put those fears to rest.

“Guess you take after your Aunt Vero in that regard,” Aaron chuckled after a moment. “For as much as your mom's become more responsible after we got serious and I've always tried to have a good head on my shoulders, we both don't exactly have the best track records when it comes to making good decisions, especially in the face of stressful situations.”

“Everyone approaches things differently, and sometimes there might be another angle that you're missing,” Celeste responded as she started to do some curls, waiting until her father had grabbed a set and started doing his own before she shifted gears. “If you don't mind me asking dad... what do you think mom's upset with you about?”

Aaron paused for a moment before a sigh escaped his lips as he glanced over at her. “It's hard for me to guess, sweetheart. I want to say that she's angry about me wrestling again, even though I've tried to tell her that this is just one more match and I truly will be done this time. I want to say she's worrying too much about me getting hurt which... yeah, it's a possibility, but I don't think one match is going to do enough to me physically that it's going to ruin my life.”

“Are you sure about any of that, though?” Celeste interrupted, and when her father opened his mouth to reply she quickly cut him off again. “It's easy to think that you are, but look at this from mom's point of view. The last time this happened, you kept wrestling even when she wanted to take our family away from it all, mostly for your sake. You can tell her that this is going to be only one more match, but how does she know you wouldn't just be saying that just to try and comfort her? And yeah, you might get hurt doing this match, but to think that one match won't make a difference... isn't that what happened when you first fought Kestrel?”

Aaron bit his bottom lip, knowing full well Celeste had a point. Yeah, he'd had two matches with Kestrel, but that first one was where everything truly fell apart for him. He'd been so thoroughly torn apart, and Nym had stood at ringside and watched it all happen to the man she loved while struggling to keep from giving up on his behalf, knowing all about his infamous heart and the fight he wielded because of it. Pushing for a rematch hadn't helped matters when he'd been dissected again, but by that point, Kestrel was simply finishing the job she'd already started so she could wipe her hands of her business with him and move on to the next challenge in front of her. Could Ricky be able to do something similar in the span of only one match? It was something he couldn't rule out, as much as he tried to block out all those thoughts.

“Why does it have to be you, dad?” Celeste continued, cutting through his thoughts.

“It's... I mean...” Aaron faltered for a moment before his mind managed to latch onto something familiar. “If I don't teach him to settle his wrestling business in the ring where it belongs, like a wrestler truly should, then who will? Yeah, SCW may have suspended him, but he's still on the roster and this suspension will probably have him flying under the radar to the point where by the time he does come back, anyone who deals with him won't be doing it because of what he did to Lucy, but rather whatever issue he tries to start with them.”

“No offense dad, but that still doesn't explain why you have to do this, and why it absolutely has to be you,” Celeste stated as she finished her curls and put the dumbbells back before turning to look her father right in the eyes. “I get it, you think that you have to do it if no one else will, but when you keep putting everyone else's issues before your own, who's going to tackle your problems if you won't?”

Aaron looked away at this, almost as though he was struggling to comprehend it. After a moment, though, he let his dumbbells drop from his hands and loudly clatter to the floor before slowly sitting down on the nearby bench, his eyes just staring at nothing in particular as he slowly came to several realizations that he feels he should have come to so much sooner.

Celeste was right, there was no reason why he truly needed to do this. Even if he tried to justify it with “if I don't then who will,” that didn't change the fact that this wasn't any of his business anymore. On paper, it was as simple as being able to do the right thing, but in practice, he knew full well it was always more complicated than that. He thought back to the end of his career, remembering when he'd gone out of his way to try and honor the memory of Shane Lawson when he had supposedly died only to be made a fool of when it was eventually revealed that Shane had faked his death all to get one over on a man who had made a major enemy out of him. That, in and of itself, had been a stunt Shane himself had fallen victim to in VWA's first run, and Aaron had ultimately been dragged into the middle of that mess afterward with no rhyme or reason.

As much as he had tried to tell Nym that he'd learned his lesson, it was clear as day now that he truly hadn't after all, and now he was just repeating those mistakes and walking down a self-destructive path all over again.

The more he pondered it, the more he began to realize exactly where this problem truly started. When he'd first been asked by Brayden Walker to join him in continuing the idea of Liberation but in a fashion that truly represented the ideals the group had intended to bring to SCW and beyond, the Liberation Dogma made sense and gave him a feeling of purpose in the business that he felt like he'd been lacking for some time. As the years passed, however, those values began to consume him, molding Aaron Rupp into someone who would throw himself at any problem without any regard for his own well-being all in the name of enforcing that belief and trying to make everyone else adhere to it as well. In a twisted sort of way, he'd become no different than the very wrestlers he opposed on that moral ground.

“No wonder I got called out near the end of it all by someone I thought would understand...” Aaron muttered to himself before he finally lifted his gaze from the floor to look at his daughter, who was starting to look worried about having maybe cut a little too deep with the point she was trying to make. At that, Aaron gave her a reassuring smile to put her at ease. “You're right Celeste... I haven't been trying to see your mom's point of view in this, I just went right back to the same guns I've stuck with ever since the whole Liberation thing became a part of me. I got so blinded by it that I never realized just how toxic that mindset ultimately was if I left it unchecked.”

Celeste couldn't help but smile at seeing that she'd gotten through to her dad, and she was sure that Luke was doing a good job of helping their mom come around to at least giving her husband a chance to talk so they could mend this bridge.

After a moment, Aaron stood up and hugged his daughter. “Thank you, sweetie... you're a bright kid, and I know you've got an even brighter future ahead of you.” Celeste tried to hug her father back but hissed at the pain that shot through her arms, which caused him to softly chuckle. “And that's why you stretch before any workout. But, live and learn... something I'm definitely going to make sure I adhere to going forward.”

From there, Aaron started to teach Celeste all about proper stretching and workout technique to make sure she was more equipped for next time. Despite her insistence on giving it another try, he talked her down so she didn't hurt herself, but promised that they could work out together in the near future as well as teaching her a few things for self-defense purposes just in case a situation arose where she would absolutely need them. Celeste had no problem agreeing to these terms and even asked if Luke could join them as well, to which Aaron agreed since he knew his son would probably feel left out if he thought his sister was getting a jump on their potential futures in the wrestling business.

It was little things like this that helped remind him of what he had now, and more importantly, what he couldn't afford to lose because of some bad decisions despite the good intentions behind them.

While Aaron and Celeste were rewatching the most recent edition of Breakdown, with the former in particular paying close attention to the claims of Rudy Powell, Luke and Nym finally returned home. The excitement that followed them into the house definitely brightened the mood as Luke made a beeline for the couch and nearly divebombed into his twin, earning him a light scolding from his father before the two of them settled in. Aaron then glanced over to Nym to see the smile slowly leaving her face as she locked eyes with him before she quickly made herself scarce. He glanced over and saw that his kids had taken notice of what was going on and they seemed to be on the same page as they motioned for him to go talk with her, to which he nodded and headed towards the guest room. Once he was near the open doorway, he took a deep breath to make sure he was composed and steeled himself as he carefully stepped into the room, finding Nym dusting some glitter off of her clothes that he hadn't noticed before from whatever she and Luke had been out doing today.

“Nym, can we talk?”

At the sound of his voice, Nym seemed to freeze in her tracks. He hadn't sounded upset or desperate or even angry, making sure his tone was one of genuine understanding. After a few moments, she finally turned to look at him, staying silent and making no further moves as a sign that she was waiting to hear what he had to say.

“I'm sorry,” he finally said, “about everything.”

Nym scoffed a bit at that. “You've been apologizing Aaron, but you still-”

“I'm not going through with anything for SCW, regardless of what happens with Ricky,” he cut in, and that got Nym's attention. “You were right... I was being a hypocrite. Yeah, what Ricky did at Rise to Greatness was awful, and I don't regret stepping in to make sure he didn't do anything else, but I really should have left it there. It's not my fight, and I shouldn't have to put this family through any more unnecessary stress because I blindly rushed in. Honestly, maybe it's time I actually be a little selfish for once and do something that truly is best for me, and that's call it quits before I get myself in too deep again.”

“Aaron...” Nym was getting a little teary-eyed at the surprise of her husband finally coming around and understanding why she'd been upset this whole time, and she quickly threw herself into his arms as they shared a tender embrace. They stood there for a while, holding one another close as Nym buried her face into Aaron's shoulder to hide her tears as he quietly reassured her that she was alright. She slowly looked up at him once she seemed to find her voice again. “I'm guessing Celeste talked with you since she insisted on staying behind?”

“She did, and I presume Luke did the same while you guys were out doing your thing?” Aaron asked back, and Nym just nodded with a chuckle. “We really did raise some good kids... even if I think they're starting to take more after your sister in terms of having common sense.”

“I'll let Vero know that the next time I talked with her,” Nym couldn't help but laugh. “I do have to ask though... how'd you finally realize?”

“I took a moment to really think about the last time we had this problem,” Aaron told her, “and I realized that I'd fallen into a toxic headspace again. That Liberation Dogma... as much as it gave me direction during the last years of my career, it took me way too long to realize that the desire to enforce it as though it were wrestling law made me just as much of an asshole at times as the very people I was going after under that ideology. I'm not a tool whose sole purpose is to try and shove that down people's throats, even if quite a few in the business could use a reality check on how they carry themselves. I'm human... I make mistakes and I'm allowed to have my own thoughts and opinions and deal with my own problems if they take precedence over doing the right thing, especially if I'm expected to just throw myself at someone else's problem with no care for my own well-being. I didn't realize that last time... the only reason I stopped was because wrestling was taken out of the picture for me and that mindset just faded, and it's about time I finally start learning from some of those old mistakes.”

“You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you finally sat that, Aaron,” Nym admitted before she pulled him into a deep kiss, one he wasted no time in reciprocating. There was passion in this kiss, but not the kind of passion that was going to lead to them ditching their clothes and slipping under the covers. Rather, it was the passion of finally feeling like they could connect on an emotional level again after years of uncertainty lingered unaddressed in their relationship since the day Aaron was left with no choice but to hang up his boots. Finally, those old forgotten scars could begin to heal, and their family as a whole would ultimately be much stronger for it.

The moment found itself interrupted by the sound of Aaron's phone going off echoing from their room down the hall. Glancing at one another and silently agreeing to move Nym's stuff back later, they made their way to the bedroom they could once again happily say they shared only to just barely miss the call. Aaron gave it a moment before the notification of a voicemail came up, and he put it on speaker so the two of them could listen to it, finding it to be a message from Shaun Cruze that the decision was made to rescind Ricky's suspension for Apocalypse if Aaron was still interested in facing him.

“Guess I need to call him back and tell him there's been a change of plans,” Aaron said as he went to hit the button, but Nym stopped him by taking his hand and intertwining their fingers.

“I think you should go through with it,” she said, to his surprise.

“But... after...” Aaron struggled to figure out what to say to this suggestion considering the issues they'd just been facing and the fact that he was willing to drop this whole idea altogether now that he finally had some clarity.

“I know, and I really appreciate you being willing to do that to prove that you were serious about apologizing,” Nym clarified. “But, if I can be honest for a moment? I think you need this closure. The benefit of one last proper match to go out on... and, more importantly, the ability to prove to yourself that you can do this and then leave that part of your life behind once and for all. No more sense of obligation, no more Liberation Dogma dictating that you have to come back for longer to resolve issues that don't have anything to do with you... just you, putting up one last fight. Plus, I don't think I can deny that Ricky just seems like the kind of guy who needs a good ass-kicking to set him straight.”

Aaron found himself grinning at that as he leaned over and gave Nym a peck on the lips. “Well in that case, how could I refuse? Just... promise me one thing Nym. If I somehow do slip and want to keep going beyond this match, for whatever reason, please smack some sense into me.”

“I have faith that I won't need to do that Aaron, but I do promise that we will rebuild this little bridge of trust between us and this won't happen again, no matter what it takes,” Nym firmly responded.

Aaron nodded in understanding before returning the call to make the match for Apocalypse official, his mind already at work to erase the Liberation Dogma from his mind so that it couldn't use him as its shield and sword anymore. No, this was going to be done on the terms of the real Aaron Rupp, and no matter how this match ended, he was going to go out with a smile on his face, knowing he got the closure he never truly got all those years ago that allowed these problems to fester in the first place.

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Aaron Rupp is down by the harbor, sitting on one of the ledges and looking out at the waters of Lake Erie. Even long after he retired, he would often find himself coming down here whenever he needed a moment to clear his head, as something about the waves of the lake always seemed to bring him peace. He's dressed pretty casually in a pair of blue jeans and one of his trademark black hoodies, seeing no point in getting all fancy just because this is the first time he's done something like this in several years. He simply wants people to see him for the man he truly is, not the crusader he built himself into near the end of his time in the business or the caricature that certain individuals have felt the need to try and paint him as. To that end, he ignores the camera and keeps his gaze on the lake as he begins to speak.

“It feels weird, sitting here and doing this again. It's been a little over half a decade since the last time I did anything like this, and truth be told, I truly never thought I ever would do this again. My plans certainly changed over the years... after VWA closed and SCW flat out told me they weren't going to sign me back on until I had the injuries I was trying to force myself to fight through at the time looked at, I found my life heading in a completely different direction than I thought it would for a long time. I needed to undergo surgery and doctors flat out told me that I could never put myself through anything like that ever again, otherwise, I ran the very real risk of irreparable damage. Left with no other choice, I finally hung up my boots and settled into living life with my loving wife and the twins we happily brought into the world. I won't lie... it always bothered me that I never got to go out on my own terms, and when I left wrestling behind I also ended up burying some lingering issues in my life that I never bothered to address until recently. Up until the past few weeks, I honestly thought that everything was fine.

Still, part of me always hated the way that things went down. More specifically, the man that I became while I championed the concept of the Liberation Dogma. Well... maybe 'champion' isn't the word I'd use in retrospect, because I need to come clean for a moment... it took me far too long, but it finally dawned on me that I took that whole belief farther than I ever should have, to the point where it consumed me. Because of that, it continued to persist long after Liberation had its swan song, after my old friend Brayden Walker had parted ways with this business even. While I do not regret some of what I did in trying to defend the values of this business, I do acknowledge that I became so lost in that mindset that I became no different than the people I took up that mantle to fight against. To those who called me out on what I was doing near the end of things, I can finally see through the static and acknowledge the hypocrisy of trying to shove that belief down everyone's throats and acting as though it was an unwritten law of the business that everyone had to follow.

When I had to retire, I was free from that mindset because wrestling, in and of itself, posed a threat to my well-being if I wasn't careful, and I didn't want to take an unnecessary risk and find myself unable to ever walk unassisted again. But deep in my mind, where the desire to have one last match and proper closure on my career resided, that mindset persisted, begging me to come back and right the wrongs of the wrestling world. And for years, I ignored it... up until Rise to Greatness. I showed up for the gimmick battle royal as a fun little one-off appearance, intending to give a little something back to SCW for signing me in the first place and to maybe finally get that sense of closure at long last. But the moment Ricky James was eliminated and turned his back on the very woman who helped him get his name back, even when she had no reason to do so, that old Liberation mindset returned and I found myself retreading a dangerous path, one that almost cost me everything once before and threatened to do so again.

This time, though, my family helped me take a moment to step back and realize that I don't have to go through with this just because of a mindset that once gave me purpose but was now causing me harm. Thanks to them, it dawned on me that I was about to rush into this blindly and repeat the same old mistakes that left me trying to fight the good fight for a situation that may be a little more nuanced than I was willing to believe. After all, nothing in this world is ever black and white, and this was a fight that really had nothing to do with me aside from my intervention at Rise to Greatness. That said, despite what I had talked with Shaun Cruze about, I was actually going to drop this issue and rescind my suggestion of settling things in the ring.

And then you, Ricky, proceeded to open your mouth.”

As Aaron finally turns his full attention to the camera, it's hard to miss just how annoyed he looks. While he may have expressed annoyance in the past over the actions of his opponents, there's something about this particular look that lacks the sense of professionalism that always accompanied the need to try and portray himself as the better person morally.

“I truly have to thank you Ricky, because for a moment I felt like I had flashed back to an earlier point in my career, one where people seemed more focused on the woman I now call my wife instead of the man who's actually planning on kicking their ass. It's funny because I thought that we, as human beings, were starting to move past such shallow thoughts. I mean, considering the current landscape of SCW is dominated for the most part by women who have more than earned their place in this business and proven that gender stereotypes are complete bullshit, one would think that you'd have chosen your words a little more carefully. But, then again, who am I to argue against America and its freedoms, including the freedom of speech that gives you the power to speak the piece that you did?

The funny thing about freedom of speech, though? It goes both ways, and I'm well within my own rights to call you out on both your bullshit and the hypocrisy of going right back to the very man who made a mockery of your name for quite some time.

I'll give you a few points for originality for some of how you choose to address not only me but, more importantly, my wife, but here's a lovely little disclaimer for you Ricky: most of the shit you said? In some fashion, I've heard it before, and done better quite frankly. Hell, at least when my old rival Blake Mason tried to focus on my wife as a means of getting under my skin, he was upfront about what he wanted to do with her as opposed to trying to make some convoluted metaphor. Then again, he had the advantage of actually knowing her and our relationship, as opposed to the blind assumptions you tried to throw out all because even a broken clock is right at least twice a day and you're desperately hoping to hear that chime right about now. I get it, you're upset that I tried to 'play the hero' one more time and that's why we find ourselves in this situation now, and I'll be the first to admit that I jumped the gun a bit and should've known better. But that also means I'm at least able to stand here and acknowledge when I should have thought a situation through a little more. That's why I'm able to say that I have a wife who has changed me for the better just as much as I've changed her while you not only resolved whatever issues you had with Lucy publicly as opposed to behind closed doors and invited a scenario like this upon yourself, if not from me than from someone else, but you also decided to go right back into a toxic partnership with Rudy Powell despite all the obvious logic that he's just a leech hungry for a platform for his pseudo-political agenda.”

Aaron could only roll his eyes at that. He was never big on politics, which was ironic considering all the wrestling politics he'd put up with over the years, and it was about the time of year when all the political talk was just going to give him a migraine. The fact that Ricky embraced it so wholeheartedly, especially now that he had Rudy by his side again, while ignoring everything that the two of them had indirectly been fighting over going into Rise to Greatness was enough of a red flag as far as Aaron was concerned, but while he recognized a toxic partnership through his own experiences with being used in the business over the years, he also knew full well that at the end of the day, it would be on Ricky to recognize that and cut the cord in order to seek out something that would be much healthier for him in the long run.

“You know Ricky, I would have thought you'd actually be looking forward to an opportunity like this, but the fact that you're so lost in the fog that you aren't even bothering to do your homework speaks volumes to me about how little you're concerned about where your career is heading, especially since you're letting Rudy blabber on about this match not counting despite you having that desire that every wrestler does of wanting those opportunities to call yourself a champion for whatever reason speaks to you. You want to know who the hell Aaron Rupp is? As far as SCW is concerned, Aaron Rupp is a former two-time Tag Champion, a former Adrenaline Champion and, one I think will definitely get your attention, a former United States Champion. True, all those reigns were quite some time ago, long before SCW was ever a blip on your radar, but it doesn't change the fact that my name is permanently etched into this company's history books several times over.

You know what that means Ricky?

That means you have a chance to give yourself a stronger case for a future title opportunity by defeating someone who's more than familiar with a lot of SCW's gold.

And yet... if this match isn't considered 'legal' if Rudy has his way, then you lose the luxury of being able to prove to anyone, Shaun Cruze or otherwise, that you have a case for challenging for a championship, now don't you?

I've been through this whole song and dance before Ricky, as much as I hated it and usually found myself in the middle of it against my will. The excuses, the drama, the desire to make a case while looking for loopholes to avoid slipping if things don't go your way... the politics of the game of wrestling are nothing new to me. That's why it's been intriguing to practically toss you a softball on that front and see you swing madly at it hoping to hit a home run. After all, you're the one who has everything to gain in this match for the reasons I've already stated, but that also means you have the most to lose since you're the one who will be showing up again for future shows trying to justify why anyone should seriously consider you as having earned the opportunities you want so damn badly.

As for me? This match means only one thing, and that's long overdue closure. The result doesn't change a thing... no matter what happens at Apocalypse, I will finally be able to say that I left wrestling on my own terms, having wrestled one last match and given it everything that I have left to give. I can return to retirement with no further demons haunting me about 'what if' scenarios or the need to keep being some sort of hero any longer. I have nothing to gain and nothing to lose... but make no mistake Ricky. I still plan on showing up to Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the entire world and where many wrestling legacies were first born, and making sure that by the time Sunday night is over... you, and everyone else, will always remember exactly who the hell Aaron Rupp is and what makes me tick.

Even though I will soon be gone, my spirit will remain with this business for years to come after everything I've given it... and after Apocalypse, that thought is going to haunt every corner of your mind every time you look back on your career and realize that you were handed a golden ticket and squandered it all because you were too focused on this charade of making SCW 'great again' and forgot to try and make Ricky James great... period.”

With his piece spoken, Aaron turns his gaze back to the lake as we leave him, reflecting on everything he's said and done recently and over the course of his entire career. And for perhaps the first time in a while and the last time we will ever see, Aaron looks at peace with the man that he is, the wrestler that he was, and what he knows the business will be going forward without him.