Tokyo, Japan
Monday September 17th 2012
11:45 PMYou know… for the first time in my life, I knew how my opponent felt. For the very first time, I knew how Rage felt, because right now? Right now I was angry. Right now I was furious. As I drove down the streets in Tokyo I didn’t care for anyone around me. I didn’t care for the families and friends walking down the sidewalk or the pedestrians crossing the streets. I ran a few red lights, and I almost ran into a few cars in the process. Fuck everyone’s safety and wellbeing, because right now, I didn’t even care about MY OWN safety or wellbeing.
The news that I just heard completely ruined my night, and it may have even ruined my preparation for Rage. The news that I just heard may have just cost me my match…
The most fucked up part about it all, was that tonight was supposed to be a chill night. Tonight was supposed to be me relaxing. Last night I flew down here in Tokyo with Brooklyn Carter, and tonight was just supposed to be my night to keep to myself and relax.
Of course… it didn’t turn out that way. As I was in my hotel room getting ready to watch a movie, it was Brooklyn Carter who messaged me asking me why I hadn’t invited her, from there I picked her up to bring her back to my hotel room, but we ended up going to a restaurant instead. We had our laughs, we had a good time, we enjoyed each other’s company just like we always did, and then
BAM!After the restaurant, the new broke out:
“Hi James, my name is Brooklyn Carter, the girl you secretly have a huge crush on, and I would just like to inform you that about two months ago, your semen came inside my vagina, and therefore I am now pregnant with your child. I know I’m pretty late on telling you, but hey, better late than never, what should we name it??” Now of course she didn’t say it that way, but regardless It pissed me off. It really did.
Then on top of that, she said that she didn’t tell me about the baby because she didn’t want me apart of her life? That she didn’t think me fathering the baby was a good idea? Why? What the fuck did I do? Because I blasted her with insults in front of the whole world?? Well I had EVERY reason to be angry.
Two months ago we started hanging out and becoming real good friends, and then
BAMbehind my back, I heard Brooklyn talking the barest shit about me to her friend Dana. I had enough sources and enough trust behind those sources to know that It wasn’t bullshit, so ya, I blasted her, and I did it the only way I knew how.
Trash Talk Royalty.
Now I could’ve talked to her and confronted her, I could’ve gone up to her and said “I heard this and that, is this true?” But why? So she could act fake about it? So she could possibly lie? I thought I could trust her, but after what I heard her say about me, that was it, everything I thought about her turned out to be a complete fucking lie.
After the trash talk, Brooklyn quit ASWF, the company we were both apart of, she changed her phone number, and she just tried to completely disappear from my life.
I did nothing wrong, I did nothing to her. When that happened I always tried my best to try and figure out what her reasons were for talking her smack behind my back, but I couldn’t find any explanation. It could have been because the ASWF Commissioner had targeted me, and to piss me off, he booked me and Brooklyn against each other. The match never happened because she quit, but even before she quit I had told her countless times that I didn’t want to face her, and that we would think of something and everything would be okay.
She really had NO reason to try and pin the blame on me. She really had NO reason to not tell me about that baby. She really had NO reason to say the things that she said behind my back.
I treated her real fucking good, but yet, I was the bad guy right? Just like I was all the time right? James Shark, the bad guy in all fucking situations right?? NO, not right. It was fucking BULLSHIT.
*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*I had to keep my eye on the road more, I had almost ran into another car, as a matter of fact, it was because I was on the wrong side of the lane for a moment. I took a few deep breathes and tried my best to keep my cool.
I could just hear a bunch of cars honking me. As I tried to keep my cool, I noticed that I had just run another red light, however it didn’t matter now. I had already arrived back to the hotel.
It was official… now the streets of Tokyo were safe again…
As I drove the car down into the underground garage parking of the hotel, I parked the rental car into my provided parking space, and I just sat there. The car was parked, the car was turned off, but I just sat there.
It was then that I noticed I wasn’t even wearing my seat belt the whole entire time. Again I took a deep breath and sighed.
I like Brooklyn. I did, I liked her more than a lot of things.
It was so fucking weird, it was so fucking weird that not only did I like Brooklyn… but I almost hated her too. I almost hated her because she brought the “soft” side out of me. She always seemed to bring out a side of me, that I never really thought I had, a side of me that nobody probably expected me to have.
Sitting here in my rental car I just began to think about things…
I’m James Shark. The guy who is supposed to not give a FLYING FUCK about anything or anyone, it’s always been that way. I was the guy who was laid back, I was the guy who just didn’t care. Brooklyn was just one girl. I was the player, the ladies’ man, Mr. Steal your girl, the guy who just got all the woman.
Why was this ONE girl on my mind so much?
I already knew the answer to the question I asked myself. Ever since I met Brooklyn, I’ve always kept a secret about my feelings towards her. Every time her name was brought up to me, I always played things off and pretended as if she was nothing but a friend to me, but deep down inside, I did like her… like her a lot.
Even when we were angry at each other and we stopped talking for that month and a half, I never really could keep my mind off of her. Things weren’t the same, things went back to the way things were BEFORE I met Brooklyn, and I just realized that I liked the way things were WHEN I met her.
I guess I never really did a good job at hiding those feelings because I would always be asked the same question.
“Do you like Brooklyn more than a friend?”I hated that question with a passion. I always responded with a simple….
“No.”I was James Shark. Everyone knew me as that guy who pretty much had any choice of who he wanted when it came to girls. I hated that question because I kind of felt ashamed of people realizing or knowing that I had a thing for Brooklyn.
Me being ashamed had nothing to do with her. Me being ashamed came from the fact that people would realize I had a thing for JUST ONE girl. It had nothing to do with her, but It just had everything to do with me and what I was known for. I guess it came down to protecting my rep again…
Sure I had countless ex-girlfriends and even an ex-wife, but everyone knew my history with my relationships. Only ONE of my relationships ended with the girl breaking up with me. That girl was my other baby momma, that girl was former IWF Diva Karly Zedic.
Karly broke up with me back in 2009. I was rising to top in the NLWF, the fame started to get to me, I was the #1 contender to their Junior Heavyweight Championship, and I was out partying and doing my own thing. She broke up with me because I stopped giving her attention, but other than her, ALL my relationships ended the exact same way.
1.James Shark and Girl catch feelings for one another.
2.James Shark and Girl move in with each other.
3.James Shark cheats on Girl.
4.James Shark dumps and humiliates Girl.
Because I was so ashamed with wondering what people would think about me falling for “just one girl” part of me wanted to always go “Fuck it”, stop calling Brooklyn, stop texting Brooklyn, move on to the next one, call a few bitches, have a few one night stands, and be done with it, but I couldn’t.
I always managed to text the girl saying stuff like “I miss you, when could I see you again”, and whenever we did meet up, she always talked to me about the guy I was known as, she always questioned my sweet talk and always wondered if it was the same thing I would say to the other girls. I was always honest with the girl and told her it wasn’t.
And I never really knew what attracted me to her so much, but whenever I thought about it, I guess it was always because she reminded me so much of myself.
Confident.
Bad.
Straight Up.
Talented.
Out-Spoken.
There were many other quality traits about her that just reminded me of myself. We both had so much in common, we both liked doing the same things, we both acted the same way in most situations, we both were always ourselves around each other.
But the whole Rep thing didn’t matter anymore when it came to Brooklyn. As time went on I didn’t care about it anymore, it became a thing where she was truly a girl I did care about.
It was funny because I was the first one to crack jokes at these guys who were all “lovey-dovey”, I called them whipped, I called them soft, I made fun of them and their girl, and now here I found myself… having the same thoughts they probably had for the girl they fell for.
And again… it didn’t seem to bother me.
What bothered me was what I said to her a few minutes ago, what bothered me was the secret she kept from me. I guess we were both in the wrong. She was wrong for not telling me about her pregnancy sooner, and I was wrong for saying what I said.
I said something that was completely untrue. I told her right to her face that I had wanted nothing to do with her, or our baby.
That was complete bullshit.
If I had known that I had gotten another girl pregnant, call it weird, but I would want it to be Brooklyn Carter. Deep down inside… I was happy she had my baby.
The only problem was… I felt betrayed.
As that thought came into mind, I began to think what she was doing right now, I began to think what she felt like right now. Then the more I began to think about her and what happened earlier, it led me to ask myself something…
“Did I just leave this girl stranded in a parking lot?”I quickly reached into my pocket, pulling out my cell phone. I realized that I had a bunch of missed calls. I didn’t bother seeing who they were from, assuming that they were all from Brooklyn. I quickly hit number “2” on my speed dial list.
*Tap Tap Tap*Startled, I jumped out of my seat. Someone had tapped the car window right beside me. I dropped my phone due to me jumping and looked over to see Latoya Banks. She had her jacket on and was commanding me to roll down the window.
Latoya was one of my child hood friends. She was a part of the Swag Team, she was a part of the group of men and women I trained with, and for a moment, I forgot all about them. I forgot that they were staying in the same hotel suite that I was.
I took a moment to catch my breath before rolling down the window. She flashed me a smile.
Latoya Banks: I was just about to hop into my rental car and go looking for you. You weren’t answering your cell, Brooklyn wasn’t answering her cell… I got worried… we got worried. You said you guys were coming back here to watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so I was wondering what was taking you guys so long. I nodded my head slowly. I wanted to speak out and try to make it sound like everything was cool, but I couldn’t do that right now, I couldn’t hide my emotions right now. I just couldn’t do it. I bent over and picked up my cell phone that fell in between my feet, as I picked it up, I realized that the call never went through. Latoya looked over at the empty passenger seat and frowned her face when she noticed Brooklyn wasn’t with me.
Latoya Banks: Oh… um… where’s Brooklyn?I hesitated for a moment, not really knowing how to respond… not really even wanting to respond, I just shrugged my shoulders.
James Shark: I don’t know man…Latoya raised her eye brows playfully at me.
Latoya Banks: Man?She frowned her face again and for a good few seconds, there was just awkward silence. She was staring at me hard, and knowing me for so long, she just knew something was up.
Latoya Banks: James talk to me… what’s wrong, did something happen?I shook my head, unwilling to explain to her what went down. Of course Brooklyn probably told Dana and her crew, but I wasn’t that type of person. When shit hit the fan, I wanted to keep to myself. I guess that was another thing people didn’t know about James Shark. I guess I was just a sensitive person.
James Shark: Nothing happened… I’m just.. chilling here.Latoya nodded her head smiling, trying to make fun of me.
Latoya Banks: Wow, chilling here…. In an empty parking garage, that sounds like fun. No music playing, no bitches in the backseat, no Brooklyn Carter, but you’re keeping it real right? HahaShe giggled and reached down into the car, rubbing my shoulder.
Latoya Banks: Okay so you don’t want to talk about it?I didn’t shake my head or shrug my shoulders, this time I just kept my attention in front of me. I didn’t even make eye contact with her.
James Shark: Talk about what? Nothing happened.She shrugged. She obviously didn’t believe me, but then again, who would? I obviously wasn’t doing a very good job at hiding how I felt right now.
Latoya Banks: Well since everything is cool and nothing happened, mind if I chill here with you?I sighed now, I kind of tried to stop myself from letting that one out, as it was just another clue to show that I wasn’t feeling well, but it kind of just let itself out.
James Shark: Do whatever you want…Latoya Banks: Okay!She quickly responded and began to walk around the rental car. She opened the door to the passenger seat and sat down. Since she opened the door, the lights turned on, and as she sat down, she was almost frozen. I began to wonder why the “talkative” Latoya wasn’t saying anything or why she didn’t close the door, but as I turned towards her I could see that her jaw was dropped open.
Her eyes nice and wide and her mouth continuing to stay open, this girl was truly shocked about something, and she was looking right at me.
Latoya Banks: Holy shit… James!? were you crying!!??Now my heart started to beat. “She better be fucking joking” I thought to myself, I raised my eyebrows then turned my direction over to the mirror that hung in front of me. I could see that my eyes were red and that my cheeks had dried up tear marks on them. To make matters even worse, a tear dropped from my right eye. I was still tearing.
I didn’t know how to respond to Latoya, because I didn’t even realize I was tearing. I never been in a situation like this. All I could do now was wipe the tears off of my face.
The last time I “teared”… the last time I “cried”… they were both around the time when I was ten years old when I was living out on the streets with no food, no family, no shelter.
And now here I was…. Twenty four fucking years old, balling my eyes out, over what? Some girl?
Well now… if it wasn’t so clear cut before, now it was just obvious that Brooklyn wasn’t just… “some girl” to me.
If only my haters could see me now. If only Rage could see me now, if only Ronny, Parker, Vista, ALL my haters and the people that had animosity towards me could see James Shark now…..
Tokyo, Japan
Hotel
9:47 AM
Tuesday September 19th 2012*Knock Knock Knock*Jumping out of my bed I raced out of my room and past the kitchen and into the door that was the entrance to my hotel suite. As the door continued to knock I quickly opened it.
However… it wasn’t who I expected it to be. It wasn’t who I wanted it to be.
Room Service: Oh hello, yes we have breakfast for you, special guest to our hotel so you can choose in menu and I bring for you okay?The Asian woman handed me a menu but I didn’t take it. I slammed the door in her face and put my back up against the door. I thought it would be Brooklyn. Brooklyn came by last night a few hours after our confrontation. She came by to the hotel, she knocked on the door, but I didn’t want to answer it.
I didn’t want her to see my face, I didn’t want anyone to see what Latoya saw, for some fucking reason, last night, my eyes kept tearing up, and it was really bugging me.
What a fucking crybaby.
Seriously, I wasn’t supposed to be acting like that, I wasn’t making noises or really “crying” but it was just that my eyes wouldn’t stop leaking. It was just out of my control. I could still hear her voice in my head from last night.
“James if your there please open up”I was there, I just couldn’t open the door. I stood in front of the door as she was knocking last night, looking through the hole, looking right at her, but I just couldn’t open the door. Shortly after, I got a voicemail on my phone that I just replayed probably over a dozen times.
As a matter of fact… I felt like replaying it right now.
I reached down into my pocket… yes my pocket, last night I was just a wreck, hell I was still a wreck, I didn’t bother changing my clothes before going to bed. Right now, I was still wearing the same clothes I wore last night, hell, I still even had my shoes on.
Pulling out my phone, I went into the saved messages, and played Brooklyn’s voicemail again.
“I knew you would decline my call, I don’t know if you we’re in your room but I came by to talk to you. You have every reason to be mad at me James and I am sorry, but you have to understand why I didn’t directly come to you and tell you. You made me look like I was the scum of the earth and do you really think I wanted to tell the man who called me all sorts of names and made harsh jokes about me that he was going to be the father of my child, Shark I truly care for-“I just began to think about all the trash talk I laid out on her, it just made me think about the shit she said behind my back, but then again, when she squashed the beef with me, she told me that I was misunderstood, that she never meant what she said, that she was just angry. She never told me what she was so angry about, but at the same time, I just realized we were both wrong.
I couldn’t stay mad at the girl, and right now, she was probably thinking I was mad at her. She was probably thinking that’s why I didn’t answer the door or answer her calls. I wasn’t mad at her, I was disappointed with her. That was it, and although I was disappointed with her, it didn’t change the feelings I had towards her.
Taking another deep breathe, I looked around my hotel suite. Broken bottles, broken everything. Latoya had walked me back up to my hotel suite and as soon as I was alone, I just broke everything in sight. The television in my room was busted up, the picture frames that were on the wall were torn, everything was just destroyed.
James Shark: Jeez Shark… I shook my head at myself and head over to the kitchen. I was looking for a drink, I didn’t feel like eating, but I felt like drinking. On the fridge I found a note. Curious as to who it was from or what it was doing in my room, I quickly went over to it, and grabbed it.
Right off the bat I could see that it was from my trainer Clayton. His sloppy hand writing gave it away.
Shark,
We’re over at the coliseum promoting your match with Rage, and remember that’s why we’re here. We’re all the way in Tokyo BECAUSE of your match with Rage. We can’t lose focus now. Latoya told me you had a rough night, try to pull through and get your mind back where it’s supposed to be. Please don’t do anything stupid, and please try to avoid speaking to Brooklyn. I’ll tell you why as soon as we get back to the hotel, or you can call us, but please please please avoid talking to that girl… at least for now.
We’ll be back at around 1:00 to pick you up for your ESPN Interview. Take care,
-ClaytonI tore the piece of paper off of the fridge and crumpled it up before tossing it in the trash can. I began to think about Latoya and wondered what she told the guys and girls about me. I wondered if she told them about those tears she saw in my eyes. How fucking embarrassing if she did.
Regardless, I knew that wasn’t me. The whole tearing, the whole getting mad over stupid things, the whole overreacting and stuff like that… it all wasn’t me. This whole week I haven’t been myself. It wasn’t just last night, it was this whole week, scratch that, it was this whole week and a half.
Since Wednesday of last week, I wasn’t myself.
It wasn’t even really the Brooklyn situation that was making me different, sure, the news about Brooklyn made my temper even worse, but this was all really SCW’s fault. As I looked around my hotel suite and looked around at the damages, I blamed it all on SCW.
I had never, ever… in my life, wanted to punch somebody in the face more than my opponent Rage.
For someone to tell me I had to wait fourteen days to do that, it pissed me off, and it really irritated the hell out of me. A good example of this was me snapping on Vista. Vista Kills made a joke about me being on her pussy, I joked with the girl all the time, and the moment she cracked one on me I snapped on her. Now that was just stupid.
All this week, I just wasn’t myself. All this week, I just couldn’t keep calm. For the first two days, I was cool, I was myself, but after those two days since Climax, I’ve just wanted nothing more than to get into the ring with Rage and shut him up once and for all.
The delay was killing me, and the news about Brooklyn, made things that much worse for me.
Tokyo, Japan
Ariake Coliseum
12:30 PM
Tuesday September 19th 2012.The scene opened right outside of the Tokyo Coliseum. This was where the heavily anticipated showdown between Rage and James Shark would take place. Outside of the coliseum was Clayton Paris, Shark’s trainer, and members of the Swag Team as they huddled around Clayton who was standing in front of a podium.
Around Clayton and the team was a group of fans and media reporters. None of them were American except for a few of the media reporters. The majority of these people were from right here in Tokyo, so of course, beside Clayton was a translator.
Clayton Paris: Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen… as you all may know, I’m James Shark’s head trainer and I’ll be representing Shark this morning as he will not be joining us.The people around them took nothing but pictures as they listened to what the translator spoke out.
Clayton Paris: Now… ever since the news broke out about Brooklyn Carter and James Shark, we have all been bombarded with questions and emails concerning James Shark and his mindset for this match. All of you have been wondering if he’s focused on Brooklyn and the baby, or if he’s focused on Rage, and I have the answer for all of you… but before that, let me tell you something about my history with James Shark…Clayton took another pause, allowing the translator to do his job and translate what he just said for the Asian people to really understand him.
Clayton Paris: Now I was hired by James Shark around the end of 2010. Back then, the name “James Shark” was nothing more than a joke. Back than James Shark was known as this “overrated” wrestler, he had some time in NLWF but began to take back to back losses, until he left. He had his time in places such as XWA and took some back to back losses, then he left, he then took some time over at NHW, started off strong, then they shut down. Clayton nodded his head remembering how poor James Shark was of a competitor. Back then he was just a young street thug that got scouted by promotions due to his street fights that were recorded all over the internet.
Clayton Paris: He wanted to make his return to the sport, so after 2009, he took a one year layoff in which he trained his butt off. When I came into the picture around the end of 2010, we trained together and I knew that he was lacking some wrestling. James Shark used to weigh around 225 pounds, he was a very good striker with a horrible ground game, and horrible cardio. I got him into shape, now he walks around at 190 pounds, he’s much faster, his wrestling is almost perfect, he can pull off submissions from his back at almost any position AND he can do it all day long without getting tired. The year 2011 was a huge year for him, and last year, many people saw not only the return of James Shark, but they saw a new James Shark.He began to clear his throat as more pictures were taken.
Clayton Paris: Now my point is… me and James have gone through a lot. A long list of opponents, a long list of big matches, and together, he helped himself go from an “overrated” wrestler, to an “underrated” wrestler, to also one of the best in this sport today.The fans began to clap but some boo’d not agreeing with that statement as the translator finished translating what Clayton had just said.
Clayton Paris: Being the best, you have to beat the best, and that’s what James did, and that’s what I helped prepare him to do. He went through a long list of opponents, a long list of people he didn’t like, and long months of rivalries and challengers…. But my point about all this is not only that we have gone through a lot, but my point about all this is… I have never encountered someone, that James Shark wanted to beat up SO badly…..The fans began to roar with cheers, now everyone was cheering. This was the kind of stuff people wanted to hear, this was the kind of stuff that got people hyped up for an event.
Clayton Paris: I’m dead serious. Every time we’re in that gym, he goes hard. Every sparring partner we throw at him, they drop to the canvas. Every time I try to talk about something with him other than wrestling, he goes back to the wrestling topic by bringing up Rage, and saying things to me like “you know… I cannot wait to break that motherfucker’s face”. Not a day goes by where he tells me he’s going to “bury” Rage with his family. More roars from the fans as the translator spoke out.
Clayton Paris: James Shark likes to talk A LOT of shit, we all know that, we also know that half the time he does it, it isn’t just because he likes to do it, but it’s because he tries to break his opponent down and get a reaction from them. He uses his trash talk as a sort of game plan to play some sort of mind game with his opponent, and I can ASSURE you and PROMISE you, that this isn’t one of those mind games that James Shark is trying to play. He truly dislikes Rage, and he cannot wait to step in the ring this Sunday and not only defeat him, but toy with him, dominate him, and humiliate him. Clayton began to scratch the back of his neck. As he heard all the fans cheering he just wished James Shark could be here right now. He wondered how Shark was feeling back in the hotel and he was hoping that James saw his note and listened to it. He was truly worried about James, but at the same time, he believed that James was going to do everything in his power to get his focus back on Rage. He knew James for a long time and he knew that ever since he did meet Brooklyn, he grew feelings for her, but he hoped that James knew that it was in his best interest to put those feelings aside until Sunday night.
Clayton Paris: Now back to my answer…. Yes. Yes James Shark is focused on Rage. As much as Rage or “the james shark fan club” so the speak, wants to go out there and get people to believe that James Shark has lost some sort of “mental” advantage going into this match, let me remind all of you that James Shark has been in this game for four years, and in that short amount of time, he has held two different world titles in two different companies, he has step foot onto other companies and beaten their top guys, and he has done nothing but defeat the best over and over and over again. Let me remind you that James Shark is a professional, and he is handling himself as a professional right now. He isn’t letting the news about Brooklyn get into his head…. That is all.As Clayton let go of the microphone placing it back onto the podium, he only hoped he was right about James, and that James was truly acting like a professional.
Tokyo, Japan
Hotel
1:16 PM
Tuesday September 18th 2012James Shark: Act like a professional? How the fuck am I supposed to “act” professional, what do you mean by “act” professional? What the hell does that even mean? That has to be the dumbest shit I have ever heard in my life.Clayton put his head down and put his arms on his waist, I could tell he was trying to keep his patience with me. Him and the team just arrived back to my suite just a few moments ago, and they found the damage. I hadn’t bothered cleaning it up, I just decided to lay in bed all day.
Clayton Paris: Look Shark, I’m begging you right here, just try to listen to what I’m saying…I quickly responded again, being on the defensive.
James Shark: Well I don’t even know what the hell you’re talking about or what the hell you want me to do, so how the hell am I supposed to listen to you?Clayton Paris: Jesus Christ… if you listened you would know…James Shark: I’m all ears motherfucker, damn.He sighed. I could kinda tell that I was being a big pain in the ass right now, but I couldn’t help it, I guess I was still a bit on edge.
Clayton Paris: Look, right now, Rage is out there, and he’s laughing. Do you understand that now? He’s laughing. He’s laughing, because just like everyone else found out about Brooklyn being pregnant with your baby, he did too, and now, he thinks he has a chance. Clayton pulled out a picture from his pocket and threw it over to me. The picture began to fly all over the place. I quickly caught it before it hit the floor and looked at it. It looked like the picture I made of Rage for my SCW debut, but it was a different one now.
Clayton Paris: You didn’t even make that one, we didn’t even make that one, it was fan-fucking-made, right now, it’s common sense that Rage thinks your distracted, that you’re not focused on the task at hand anymore, and you know what? I’m starting to believe he’s right, so right now, you’re going to have to act professional and keep your cool.Clayton looked around the suite, he could see the broken glass, the flipped over furniture, and he just shook his head.
Clayton Paris: See all this? See what you did? You could’ve kept all that anger inside and saved it for Sunday, but now what? You need to calm down, grow up, and just act professional right now Shark. I know you don’t like being told what to do, BUT if you want to win on Sunday, you’re going to have to do what I say and act fucking professional. I took a deep breath and nodded my head slowly. He was kind of right. I hated to admit it, but he was right. I had to just erase Brooklyn out of my mind right now, I had to focus on this match.
Cassie Richards: Ha! Are you guys getting this twitter war right now? Even Cody’s getting involved haha.We all looked up at Cassandra, another member of the swag team, but as I looked up, I noticed everyone was giving her dirty looks and kind of motioning her to “shut up”, it was almost as if they didn’t want me to know what was going on.
James Shark: What twitter war?Everyone remained quiet.
James Shark: Oh… so it’s that kind of game huh? The guessing game? Well since all yall are giving me the silent treatment on this one, my guess is it has something to do with Brooklyn, is Cody insulting her or something? Cause that ain’t motherfucking cool. When me and Brooklyn started trashing each other on Twitter, it was Cody who got involved. Cody loved a good twitter war, and I guess that’s why half the time, he got involved in my twitter wars. Now I was wondering if Brooklyn and Cody were going at it. Anxious to see what they were saying, I turned on my phone and began to sign onto Twitter. The more I thought about it… I probably wouldn’t even read the twitter war, knowing me, I’d probably just try to see what Brooklyn has been tweeting lately.
Clayton Paris: Ya… no, not going to happen.Clayton grabbed my phone and handed it over to Latoya. I quickly got out of my chair.
James Shark: What the fuck?Clayton Paris: Listen to me James, reading what people are saying on twitter will only get you more upset. We don’t need that right now, we need you one hundred percent focused on Rage. I sighed again. It seems I’ve been doing a lot of that lately.
James Shark: Yall ain’t even going to tell me what’s being said? Who’s saying what? Nothing? No clues?It seemed like they all wanted to tell me what was going on right now, but none of them did, they all kept their mouth shut.
Clayton Paris: James… you’ll probably find out during the interview, whoever is interviewing you will probably bring up this twitter war.James Shark: Okay then what the fuck? If I’m going to find out anyways why not just tell me now?Clayton Paris: Because Shark… we need you to come into this interview calm, and no matter what that interviewer tells you or asks you, we need you to be calm.James Shark: My fucking goodness….I began to pace around in circles, the more they tried to calm me down the more annoyed I got. Latoya walked over to me and put her arm on my shoulder, she got me to sit down as she gave me a glass of water.
Clayton Paris: We’ll meet up with you two in the car, come down when you’re ready, we’ll drive back down to the coliseum, ESPN wants you to be live over there via satellite. I nodded my head, as they left Latoya looked down at me and smiled.
Latoya Banks: James try to understand what Clayton is doing, he wants the best for you, we all do. You’ve worked WAY TOO HARD for this match and WAITED WAY TOO LONG for this, just to blow it all away. I mean… if you screw things up, that’s it, you may never get a crack at Rage or a big named opponent in a while. Again I nodded my head, I understood what she was saying, I really did, it was just hard to get my mind focused on Rage. They kept telling me to focus on him, but it was easier said than done.
Latoya Banks: Hey… look, we all want you to block Brooklyn and the announcement out from your thoughts, and keep your thoughts on Rage, but if you think about it, Brooklyn is probably going through the same thing you’re going through, she has a huge match this Sunday, and it could be her last. I’m sure she’s going through a lot of pressure just like you, and she’s possibly trying to keep focus on her match and block you out of her thoughts. What Latoya just said kind of helped me out. It made more than enough sense, and it kind of made it easier for me to keep my focus on Rage. This match was important for Brooklyn, she lost her title, then lost her match on Climax, this match was important for her especially since it could be the last time she ever gets a crack at that Bombshell title. Hopefully she was keeping focus on her match.
Latoya Banks: Hey but about that interview your about to be doing… remember that time when you were with Kadri… and you guys were a couple, and then you cheated on her with Paige?
I chuckled… Finally I somewhat flashed a smile, but it was only because it was kind of weird how she brought that up, I didn’t know how that had anything to do with the interview I was about to do, but I went along with it.
James Shark: Uhh when I cheated on her the first time or the second time?Latoya smiled.
Latoya Banks: Well the first time… it was all over the news… you were caught in that hotel room with her… the police saw you both in bed….James Shark: Okay and?Latoya Banks: Well, her brother bailed you out of jail and she asked you about it, and you lied and kept saying that you were alone in the hotel room with her to just… catch up and stuff like that.James Shark: Ya I remember.Latoya Banks: Worst…fucking…excuse…ever, like she has to be the definition of a dumb blonde. James Shark: Okay but what’s your point?Again Latoya flashed a smile.
Latoya Banks: My point is… when Clayton meant “act professional” he didn’t just mean don’t go around breaking things, but he meant, when you do this interview… just put on an act, lie James lie… just don’t make up stupid lies like you did to Kadri… because if you do, nobody will believe you.I raised an eyebrow.
James Shark: Since when was “lying” considered “acting professional”?She rolled her eyes.
Latoya Banks: Look… when you do that interview, just put on an Oscar performance alright? Don’t show the world that your taking this hard. Go out there, smile, do your whole confidence thing, BE James Shark. Fuck that soft side that came out last night… I don’t know who that was, but that certainly wasn’t James Shark, just go out to that interview, and be that cocky motherfucker everybody hates.I looked up at Latoya as she brought up last night.
James Shark: Hey uh… you didn’t tell anyone bout Last night right?Latoya laughed out loud, remembering what she saw again.
Latoya Banks: That was crazy, I couldn’t believe my eyes, I still can’t believe what I saw, damn Shark. She’s the only girl or… that was the only situation I’ve ever seen where you were.. you know… wow. James Shark: Shut the fuck up.She laughed out loud again.
Latoya Banks: It was cute…I got up off of the chair and put the cup down on the kitchen counter.
James Shark: That was a once in a life time thing, I don’t even know what the hell happened out there but it won’t happen again.Latoya Banks: Ha… okay whatever you say.James Shark: Seriously… it won’t.Latoya Banks: Okay Shark…She flashed me a smile, obviously teasing me. I stuck my middle finger right in her face and shook my head as I began to walk out of the suite to head over to the rest of the team that was waiting for us outside of the building.
Tokyo, Japan
Ariake Coliseum
1:40 PM
Tuesday September 18th 2012Kennedy Johnson: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a lot to talk about, a lot to go over. Obviously the biggest news in the wrestling world today was.. former rivals! James Shark and Brooklyn Carter, they now are dealing with a situation as Brooklyn is pregnant with James Shark’s baby, this Sunday, James will take on Rage at SCW’s Violent Conduct in Japan. To help us go over all of this, we have with us live via satellite from Tokyo Japan, the IWF Original, former golden crown champion and multiple time world champion, James Shark. 
As I was told that I was now on air. I flashed the camera a BIG smile. I wanted to smile right off the bat to try and show people that I wasn’t letting the news about Brooklyn or the delay to face Rage affect me. However the truth was it was affecting me. It was killing me to smile right now. I had to do it though, I wasn’t going to let Rage feel any sort of confidence.
Kennedy Johnson: Woah! Haha I don’t think any of us were expecting to see that out of you, you smiling? This is a surprise. I was already told what to do for this interview. Be an asshole, be myself, talk shit about Rage, and try my best to not get angry, hurt, or anything like that. The world was watching, and I had to act like nothing ever happened.
James Shark: And why is that? I have a reason to be smiling.Kennedy raised his eyebrows looking very confused.
Kennedy Johnson: I don’t understand… why is that? What is this reason you have?I shrugged my shoulders. Being on camera was also killing me. Latoya was right, I had to put on an Oscar performance right now, and that’s what I planned on doing.
James Shark: Well… Rage is finally going to get his mouth shut come Sunday. He’s done his talking, I done mine. We both talked A LOT of shit, and now it’s time to “put up or shutup” now it’s time to see, who’s real, and who’s fake. The interviewer nodded his head. I could see him through a small monitor.
Kennedy Johnson: Ya… well we’ll get into Rage in a few minutes, but right now, I think we all want to hear more about you and Brooklyn. Now obviously Brooklyn hasn’t opened up to the media at all, it seems she’s shying away from these questions and interview requests, so now that we have you here, we’ll go on about it. I tried to keep a straight face, but talking about Brooklyn was not what I came here to do. I was nervous right now, I was in the hot seat, I was on the spot now, anything could happen. Just the wrong question could set me off.
Kennedy Johnson: So first things first… is the pregnancy real?I wasn’t expecting that question.
James Shark: The fuck? Looking through the monitor I could see Kennedy’s eyes grow large.
Kennedy Johnson: Whoa now watch that language Shark, It’s a simple question. Lies like these are made all the time.I shook my head looking straight at the camera.
James Shark: That has to be the dumbest question I’ve ever heard…Already my patience was being tested. This was going to be a long interview, I could tell. I just had to stay in character though, I just had to stay focused on “acting professional”.
James Shark: Look if she lied… hey, that’s on her but I believe its true. What reason does she have for making up something like that?Kennedy Johnson: Well..James Shark: No, listen, I know as much as yall do alright? She told me she was pregnant and that’s that. That’s all I know, anything else you gotta ask her alright?Kennedy Johnson: Why are you so angry James?Fuck… I didn’t realize it, but I guess the tone of my voice was getting a bit aggressive.
James Shark: Hey, I ain’t mad. If you ask me a stupid question, I’m going to make you look stupid. That’s all homie. Now it was Kennedy who shrugged his shoulders.
Kennedy Johnson: Okay well no need to get all heated James, we’re just talking. Now onto the next question, you guys were former rivals and no-I put my hand up, I guess he noticed from his own monitor because he stopped talking. I put my hand down and began to speak out.
James Shark: Now that’s stupid too… me and Brooklyn were never enemies. Kennedy Johnson: You posted photoshopped bald pictures of her, she posted photoshopped pictures of you kissing guys, the two of you attacked each other for about three days straight before she blocked you, yes… I think you guys were enemies. This son of a bitch, I didn’t want to debate over this.
James Shark: Well look… that doesn’t matter, we started off as friends, we squashed our beef-Kennedy Johnson: And now the two of you are enemies again.James Shark: No we’re not.Kennedy Johnson: No?James Shark: No.Kennedy Johnson: But the two of you are not speaking correct?I sighed. This guy was really getting to me, but I didn’t know how to just “hide” my frustrations.
Kennedy Johnson: Just tell us… how is the relationship with you and Brooklyn right now? Is it good? Is it bad?I looked off camera for a moment; this was just really hard to talk about. I didn’t want to talk about Brooklyn at all. My trainers and the people around me were all telling me to keep my focus on Rage and forget about Brooklyn, but that was hard to do when I kept getting asked questions about her.
Maybe doing this interview wasn’t a good idea after all.
James Shark: I don’t know man… it’s just.. look I’m not even concerned about that right now, whether its good or bad, I don’t know, but the main focus is Rage. Kennedy nodded his head at me, I wondered if now we could talk about what really mattered, and that was Violent Conduct and Rage.
Kennedy Johnson: How was that conversation like with you and Brooklyn? When she told you she was pregna-James Shark: The main focus is Rage. Kennedy Johnson: That’s fine but I ju-James Shark: Aight listen man… the whole situation with me and Brook is my business. It isn’t yours, and it isn’t the people watching this right now. It’s my business, and I’ll get it handled with as soon as I’m done handling Rage. Kennedy Johnson: Now surely you were told you were going to be asked about Brooklyn… this whole interview isn’t just about Rage you know?This guy was really annoying, I just ignored his stupid comment. I couldn’t wait for this interview to be over, but other than that, I kept my cool. For all he knew I was just “bored”. This wasn’t the first interview I was in where I looked tired, so that was good.
I knew Rage would be watching, so the interview was good so far.
Kennedy Johnson: Let’s talk about Parker Wayde from IWF. Now obviously he called you out two weeks ago, you set out a challenge, and he accepted it. You told him “Hey, you need to EARN your shot to face me”, you told him to beat not one, but TWO of the top guys in IWF, and if he could do that, you would face him at IWF’s next PPV, Fallout in a last man standing match, a match your undefeated in. I nodded my head confirming what he was saying.
Kennedy Johnson: Well looks like the match WILL happen because he just defeated the IWF World Champion Robbie Hart. You’ve had your history with Hart, you faced him not once but twice, what do you think of Parker’s victory over Robbie?Now this is what I wanted to hear. Sure it wasn’t about Rage, but at least now I didn’t have to worry about Brooklyn’s name being in the back of my mind. I got comfortable and began to smile again, let’s do some of that trash talk royalty.
James Shark: Fact is, I should’ve never mentioned Robbie as a top name. Why is this guy champion? If the title was on the line, Parker would’ve been the new IWF Champion, it’s stupid man. Hart doesn’t deserve that title just as much as Parker doesn’t deserve me.Kennedy Johnson: So… even after a win over Hart, Parker still doesn’t deserve you? James Shark: NoKennedy Johnson: Okay, well Parker’s next opponent is Stygian, if he beats Stygian it will be official. You will take on Parker at Fallout, but the thing is, you defeated Stygian in a triple threat match, Stygian defeated you in a one on one match. If Parker defeats Stygian, do you think he will have deserved this match with you?I sucked my teeth in.
James Shark: You know… it’s tough to say beca-Kennedy Johnson: Stygian defeated you one on one so how is it tough to sa-James Shark: Let me finish, it’s tough to say because… it’s safe to say that when I left the IWF, IWF died. Now you can debate over that statement, the fans can debate over that statement, and IWF can debate over that statement, but it really doesn’t matter. Look at it this way…I got comfortable, sitting up straight, before putting my hands out speaking my mind.
James Shark: I am a two time IWF World Champion, I was the first guy to win their Full Throttle Championship, I won their High Impact title also, and I’m currently ½ of their Tag Team Champions. When I left, they had to put those titles away because there was nobody good enough to challenge for the gold, there was no tag division nothing, when I left, people like Ryan Apollos began to main event, when I left people like Steel Angel began to get on the cover for PPV posters. When I left IWF died. Kennedy began to shake his head.
Kennedy Johnson: Well IWF has Cody Taylor now…James Shark: Fuck Cody man….Kennedy Johnson: Wait what?James Shark: Look I mean that with all due respect, that’s ma dude, but the guy isn’t James Shark. Just like WEW died when he left, IWF died when I left, and it’s that simple. It’s hard to say if Parker deserves to face me after a win over Stygian, because we all saw him defeat Robbie Hart, and that definitely wasn’t the Robbie Hart I know. So who knows what will happen this Saturday Night? Who knows if Stygian still has it? Who knows how motivated Stygian is? It’s tough to say if he deserves me, but what I do know is I back up my talk. If Parker defeats Stygian, It won’t matter what I think or what I have to say about it… I will return to IWF for one night, and I will defeat the bitch. Kennedy Johnson: So the next question was supposed to be… where you impressed by his performance but obviously that is a-James Shark: No.Kennedy Johnson: Right… do you feel like there’s anything that he has skill wise that could pose a threat to you?James Shark: No.Kennedy Johnson: Okay I guess that wraps it up for Parker Wayde, but there is another man that wants to fight you and that’s Ronny Ramirez from CWF. A lot of people want to see this match because you guys have been on each other’s throats for a whole year now. He’s also the husband of your ex-girlfriend Serai Leone. Any update on this match happening?Again… it was good to hear a question that wasn’t about Brooklyn. Now I could really sit back and do my thing.
James Shark: Nah man it ain’t ever going to happen, and I’ll tell you why…. The dude is scared. I tried to get this match to happen, but there just isn’t any way around it. He goes out there to the media and he says “I want to fight Shark” but he isn’t doing anything about it. Kennedy slowly nodded his head looking at the sheets of paper he had stacked in front of him, that was probably where he had his questions and facts written down.
Kennedy Johnson: Well at one point it did look like this match was going to happen, but it’s been on and off.Kennedy was right, this match had the green light then the red light way too many times.
James Shark: When I was in TIW, this guy kept running his mouth about how he wanted to fight me, I said okay, but then when I left TIW, he went to the media and said “I’ll come to TIW to face Shark” which was stupid because I wasn’t even a part of TIW anymore…. AND THEN when I was in ASWF, he did the same thing, the moment I LEFT ASWF he said “I’ll come to ASWF to face Shark”, at that point I was so tired of dealing with the guy’s bullshit, so I said, ok fine, let’s do this. I told him I would return to ASWF to face him, I really thought we would have this match in place, but as soon as I said that, he backed out and started throwing all this other bullshit at me, telling me that he’ll do it in another company, this and that, it’s just stupid man.Kennedy Johnson: Does this rivalry between the two of you have anything to do with the fact that he’s married to Serai?I laughed out loud. Surprisingly, me laughing had nothing to do with me “faking” it. I was a real laugh.
James Shark: Hey man… me and Serai are over. I found it funny how you brought that up, because while the dude is coming at me on the media he’s saying stuff like “Serai is with me, not you”, well It’s funny he should say that, considering the fact that I dumped Serai…. There’s a reason why she’s with him, and that’s because he was her second choice. Now it was kennedy who was laughing.
Kennedy Johnson: haha well I’m sure we’ll hear more from him as he’s probably watching this right now….I nodded my head and leaned towards the camera.
James Shark: I hope you’re watching Ronny, I want you to know that IF you do decide to step up, I’ll be here. You know where I am, you know where to find me, be a man, grow some balls, and fight me. Kennedy threw his hands up in the air smiling.
Kennedy Johnson: Well I guess that was another “call out” , hey what do you make of all these guys from different promotions that want to face you? We even got Kerry Windsor from REVIVAL Wrestling.I shrugged my shoulders.
James Shark: It doesn’t bother me. That’s just a sign, it only proves I’m the best. These guys want to test themselves against the top dog in the game, and that’s me. You don’t see people from different promotions calling out Rage. You don’t see people from different promotions calling out Nick Jones. I’m the best. Kennedy Johnson: Now you always seem to say you’re the best, but how would you rank yourself against the legends of the sport such as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, etc?I cocked a cocky smile before answering him.
James Shark: I just feel like I’m better than them.Kennedy’s eyes grew wide, but the thing is, I wasn’t putting on a show anymore. Now I was truly being myself. This wasn’t part of the Oscar performance. I was truly being myself and I truly believed I was better than them.
Kennedy Johnson: What have you done that makes you believe that!?James Shark: Well you see… there’s a lot to list, I can sit here and list the things you guys heard me say a ton of times, but since we’re on the topic of guys that want to fight me, I can say that I’m proud to list that I’ve gone into enemy territory and beaten top guys. When SM Raye was calling me out, I beat him in WEW, I stomped his ass. I’ve beaten guys in their own company. Kennedy nodded his head.
Kennedy Johnson: I’m sure many will have their opinions, but moving on… Vista Kills, she was a friend of yours wasn’t she?James Shark: No she wasn’t.Kennedy Johnson: Oh?James Shark: See… I know where you’re going with this. When I kind of went off on Vista, I received a lot of heat from people, they said things like “oh what kind of a friend are you!?” this and that. People were hyping this thing up like me and Vista were friends or something… but the fact is we only met up with each other once. Other than that… it was just a bunch of favourites and re-tweets on twitter. That’s it.Kennedy Johnson: Do you have any animosity towards her and what do you think of her?I chuckled.
James Shark: I mean… No I don’t. None what so ever, what happened, happened. There’s no going back on the things that were said, and that’s it. I do apologize for the way I acted, I kind of snapped, the delay has been…Suddenly I saw Clayton from behind the camera making faces at me and signalling me, almost as if telling me to not mention that the delay has been getting to me.
James Shark: The delay has been… a long one. I just… I’ve just been kind of, on edge lately. I train my ass off, and that’s all I’ve been doing, so… ya I kind of snapped on that one. Kennedy Johnson: Well is your mind clear right now, it sounded as though you were unsure about something? Is this delay affecting you?I shook my head, refusing to admit it.
James Shark: My mind’s clear man, I’m ready to go, I’m ready to put on a show and defeat this guy. Kennedy quickly put his finger up remembering something.
Kennedy Johnson: Oh well speaking of “this guy”, We all know you mean Rage, you haven’t been on Twitter at all tod
