Death and taxes
Dallas, Texas
13 Years Ago
It was fitting, the weather being like it was. Heavy grey clouds hung above in the sky, because the air was thick and heavy. It was warm but not the usual Texas hot. It was time to say goodbye, but neither of them knew how to act. Alex walked along the grass, his mother on one side clutching his arm, his sister on the other keeping her distance. The last few days have been hard for all of them, their mother rushing back from whatever spiritual retreat she happened to be out at the time. The relationship between Alex and Charlie had become strained, they confident each other has Dylan slipped away but now? Now they seem to be this wall between them. I will stop them from listening to each other, from understanding. Alex knew that Charlie was in pain, but it was hard for him to see what he needed to do with his own pain.
She blamed him. And the worst part was that he blamed himself.
Had he been too hard on Dylan? Had his version of tough love and trying to stay back pushed him towards his inevitable end? He thought he was doing the right thing. His heart was in a good place. But that didn’t seem to matter, the last few days Alex has replayed the last few months over and over again in his mind. Watching Dylan go from an innocent kid who lost his father to an angry adult. Dylan blamed everything on the rest of the world. He didn’t take responsibility for his own actions. And deep down Alex knew that that included his drug use, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. They buried their father and now the siblings had to bury one of their own. The youngest, the most innocent.
He was the best and worst of them.
Dylan was young and dynamic, he was caring and smart. But he was also overly emotional and impulsive. He was ill-equipped to deal with the pressures of the world. He wasn’t strong enough to stand up and push through any hardship. And because of that he did all of this to himself. But his family was left to pick up the pieces. Their mother was quiet, she was always quiet, that was the problem. She stayed quiet as her husband was physically abusive towards his children. Alex in particular being the oldest. But as they moved across the cemetery towards Dylan’s final resting place Alex’s heart sank. At the week he had been able to distract himself, he was even able to ignore the fact that Charlie wouldn’t even look at him. But now he could see the gravestone, he could see everyone around it. Trainees from the gym, Dylan’s best friends from high school, they were all there. Even the ones that Alex knew for a fact soul Dylan his drugs.
Alex and Charlie’s mother stopped and wiped tears from her eyes with a tissue before holding her hands in her lap. Alex Snead and stepped forward looking to approach the boys, Charlie reached out, her hand pressed his forearm. Alex turned and she slowly shook her head, one of the first moments where she was able to acknowledge his existence since Dylan’s death. She spoke with a certain amount of authority, the voice growing stone from behind a clearly melancholy look and attitude that she had. ”This isn’t the time or place.” she was right of course, this wasn’t the time or place to be confronting anyone. Alex swallowed hard and gave his sister and not before stepping back. He didn’t even hear anything that was said, all Alex could hear was the sobbing from his mother, Charlie trying to hold back tears of her own to stay strong.
In minutes it was over. The casket was lowered into the ground, everyone slowly started to disperse and walk away. Alex looked over seeing one of his best friends, Michael “Spike” Kane. A man who trained at the same gym, even worked a few of the same companies as Alex. Charlie took their mother by the arm and started to walk her away towards the car, Alex moved over towards Spike stop in next to his friend. Before spot could say anything Alex leaned in close ”I’m going to need your help...tonight…” Spike just slowly nodded his head in agreement and understanding. Alex took a long deep breath and turned on his heel was walking after his sister and mother, but his day wasn’t over yet.
That night…
It was a calm night in the inner city of Dallas Texas. A cool summer breeze keeping the temperature down to 100. A black car slowly rolls up with the lights off stopping outside a shotty looking house in the suburbs. The window slowly comes down and we see Alex Jones sitting in the passenger seat. Spike Kane sitting in the driver's side. Spike’s long hair sitting under a black woven cap. Alex’s eyes burned as he growled under his breath staring out at the front door.
Spike seemed solemn and quiet, a sadness in his eyes contrasting the anger in Alex’s. Spike turned and looked at his friend wanting to say something as Alex reached towards the door handle. Spike reached over and grabbed his arm. There was an awkward pause. Spike took a deep breath and as he opened his mouth his strong Irish accent came out in his low, deep voice and tones. ”Alex, think this through…”
”Are you with me or not?” His response was short and sweet, a hard punch to the gut. He seemed disconnected and lost. A far cry from the Alex in later years we had seen with his friends and family, His phone went off, Alex looked down at it and sighed pressing the red button to send it to his voicemail. The name “Charlie” flashing on it. Frantically trying to get a hold of him. Spike looked down at it and shook his head.
“”Maybe ya should pick it up mate…” his voice was soft and caring, it was more of a statement than a question.
Alex ground his teeth together, Spike reached out and touched his friend on the shoulder “Maybe, but she might talk me out of this….” Alex pulled away from Spike and opens the door. Spike’s eyes widen and he slides out of the car sliding over the hood stepping in front of his friend.
“If you do this there’s no turning back brother. You know that. If we walk in there and take them out?. You’re crossing a line that very very few people can ever come back from.” Alex stayed silent and then slowly shook his head going to walk past Spike.
Spike though grabbed his arm again yanking him back. Alex threw his arm to the side and growled in anger. “You know what they did Spike, you know what I lost. What my family lost….” His heart was beating fast, he struggled trying to hold back tears. Alex had let everyone else deal with the grief, but he had not shared one tear for his brother‘s death.
Spike swallowed hard and put his hands up. “And doing this won’t bring Dylan back!” Alex moved forward, his right hand hitting Spike in the face sending his friend staggering back across the street, Spike wiped the blood from his lip and as Alex stepped forward Spike ducked tackling him into the side of the car. The two moved and wrestled around Spike headbutting Alex in the nod before Alex kicked Spike in the chest.
As Alex tried to move past him again Spike grabbed him pulling him back against the car again slamming Alex down onto the hood with his forearm across his throat. “Let. Me. Go”
“No!.... I get it, man, I do! the need for vengeance, the pain of losing someone. Dylan was your younger brother and he made his own choices!” Alex struggled, and even though he was strong, Spike was stronger.
“They killed him!” his voice broke, tears rolled down his cheeks. Alex finally let go.
“He killed himself!” Spike yelled and pushed off Alex stepping back as he sat up, Alex shook his head and sat on the front of the car. His breath labored as he tried to calm down. Alex started to pace back-and-forth is hands balled into fists. “Dude, you just….think about it. Think about England, think about E-”
“Don’t…..” His voice growled again as he slid down to his feet, his eyes moved over to the house again, his phone rang and lit up. Alex looked down at it and then up at Spike before giving him a slow and understanding nod. “Hey, Charlie….yeah. Yeah, I know. I’ll come home sis…..”
Dream Match
He took a deep breath in, holding it for a few moments before exhaling. The weight of the world seemed to be on his shoulders as Alex shook his head choosing his words carefully.
”Well, it seems as if I’ve had that uptick in competition that I wanted. A few weeks ago my first match back after losing the world championship left a lot to be desired and also left a sour taste in my mouth. Alex Jones is a fucking star in this business. I don’t need to be put on any top 100 list, I don’t need people to kiss my ass. I know who I am and what I deserve. And after losing the championship to Jack Washington I still deserve more than a random gimmick triple threat match on the Halloween show. With that being said though, I took that stupid little opportunity in both hands and I ran with it. I got in the ring against Caleb storms and Jack’d the Ripper and walked out the winner. Which is what I do…”
“Even as people laugh and start talking about how quickly I lost the sin city wrestling world championship, they seem to ignore my record here. A positive record, with wins over some of the best in this goddamn company. Although when it comes to Wolfslair eyes are always on Austin. And many would say rightfully so, after all Austin was a dominant champion and has a chance to regain that title at high-stakes. He has a chance to become a two-time champion and also beat the man with beat me. It will be a hell of a match, meanwhile Alicia and Johanna will defend their respective titles through the night too. So what exactly was there left for me to do?”
“I suppose I could’ve had the night off, hell I could’ve taken the Griffin Hawkins route and walked out of Sin City like a petulant child.”
“No, that isn’t my style. I know people wish that I would’ve done that because they are honestly sick and tired of hearing me talk and they’re sick of seeing me on the television screens. Jealousy is an ugly ugly thing in this business and it’s something that I’ve had to deal with since I stepped foot in it. Because I have always been a talent, when I was younger they called a potential, and as I grew older people in and out of the business realise the talent that I possessed over everyone else. And since then I have gone on to become a 10 time world champion. That is no accident, you don’t just wake up one day and decide that is what you’re going to do. It took hard work and dedication. And it took having the balls to do things like go out there and target the best. If sin city wrestling was a prison? You would do the same thing and go after the biggest baddest in the yard.”
“Fenris isn’t here, Ty west disappeared, Vinnie is taking time away, Austin and Jack are busy so it left one person. One name.”
Alex couldn’t help but laugh under his breath, he ran his hands for his long black hair tying it back away from his face. His hands class being together as he stayed sitting down leaning his elbows onto his thighs as he sat forward. He took a long deep breath in and shook his head before opening his eyes and muttering the one name.
”Ben Jordan.”
Alex smiled, his heart seemed to race as he started to get excited. Excited about the prospect of true competition against one of the best professional wrestlers on the planet today. Alex moved his arms, he gripped the bench with both hands and slowly pushed up getting himself to his feet.
”Former world champion Ben Jordan. Going one on one with former world champion Alex Jones. And I get it, As far as well title rains in this company have gone? Bens was definitely have a higher standard than mine. I still won the world title and I get to have that on my resume and I get to tell people that I was the world champion but as far as looking at what someone did with said championship? Ben is leaps and bounds above where I was. I can admit it, I man enough to admit my own shortcomings and say that I can overcome them. Unlike some people in this world. Then one that while title, he put it on the line against anyone and everyone including Jack Washington. “
“Now, it’s no secret that usually when I talk about my opponents I’m less than complimentary. I treat a lot of people like they are beneath me, like they’re nothing more than a bug to be scraped off the bottom of my boot. And for the most part that’s true, for the most part I do look at the roster and think that I am above them and better than them. Because I am. That isn’t an opinion, that is a fact. You look at what I’ve done in my career not just in this company but every other company I’ve stepped foot in and it’s clear to see that I am a step above most of you. I have built a gym and an idea that promotes and creates champions.”
“I have earned the right to be an arrogant prick.”
“But, against Ben Jordan I can’t really go that route now can I?. I can’t look at Bens career and say that mine has been better than his or that he can’t live up to the standard that I have set. In sin city wrestling he has been a star. A shining light to show what hard work can do.”
He pauses for a moment with a grin, he folds his arms over his chest and takes a long deep breath before continuing.
”Most of the time when doing these I need to become the antagonist to sell a match. That’s the way most stories go right? We have a protagonist and antagonist. And I have always been comfortable with my position being the antagonist since I was younger, I’ve always been comfortable with putting my finger on people’s chest and telling them that I’m better than them and I’m going to embarrass them and it is up to them to stop me. Sometimes they do stop me, sometimes I have to eat some humble pie and watch as other people become a champion or a star off of my back. And I’m comfortable with that I’m absolutely fine with that. But, in a situation such as this I don’t feel the need to antagonise someone like Ben Jordan. I don’t feel the need to sell this match by telling people that I’m just going to embarrass him and have them want to tune in to prove me wrong.”
“This match and this Supercard doesn’t need to be sold on that.”
“I don’t need to sell it by talking down your championship rain and bringing up that you lost the title to Griffin Hawkins, I don’t need to go the well traveled path that others have walked down and talk about you and your wife. I don’t need to say that you live in your wife’s shadow despite the fact that they use the same argument with her against you and to be honest it’s weak, shallow, and pedantic. This match doesn’t need any cheap tricks or gimmicks or hooks to get people to care. Atleast it shouldn’t.”
“This match should be sold on the premise that two of the best professional wrestlers on the planet today are going to go one on one at the biggest show of the goddamn year. This match is the personification of one of the most overused terms and troops in professional wrestling today. But it’s so big that even I am gonna use the words, even I am gonna use the tagline that so many others have tried to bastardise and using their own selfish needs for something that honestly could never live up to the billing. Ben Jordan one on one with Alex James, it’s a goddamn dream match. It is a match between two incredibly talented men, to world champions and two people who will not give an inch in that ring. That is what you should all look forward to watching, that is what you should all look forward to seeing. A dream match in every sense of the word. At high-stakes you will all get your money‘s worth I can promise you that.”