Blame game
It had been a few weeks since the breakup. It was a breakup instigated by Aiden. He replayed all the moments going through his head wondering if he made the right decision. After all, while Florence had been controlling and tried to change him she had also been a stabilizing presence in his life. A presence that he now felt was absent. And breakups are hard even if you were the one who made the decision in the end to pull the plug that doesn’t matter. There is always that feeling of absence of emptiness of feeling that there was something there but it’s now empty.
And no matter what you do you always end up feeling hollow. For at least a short time the loneliness will creep in and no matter how much time you spend around other people the absence of that one person is always felt deeply. And that’s where we find ourselves now with Aiden. He takes a deep breath reaching out and grabbing a can of beer popping the top. He drinks it down and makes a face. He looks down at the label and rolls his eyes. Bud light.
He feels horrible, not because he’s drinking beer but because he’s drinking that beer. He lowered himself to that to drinking this horrible American bullshit. He finished the can dropping it on the floor, hearing the crumpling noise of aluminium. Other cans lay around him as he folded his arms over his chest. The door clicked and as it opened, he looked over to the side saying Dickie Watson step in. Another case of beer over Dickie’s shoulder as he stopped and looked at Aiden with a frown. ”Dude seriously?”
”What…”
Dickie put the case of beer down, folding his arms over his chest and throwing his keys behind him onto the table in one swift movement. He shook his head looking Aiden up and down. Aiden was still in excellent shape but he had definitely gotten softer around the midsection. Ingesting nothing but beer and pretzels will do that to a man. He sat up burping as he did and then farting as he stood up ”Classy…”
Aiden went to the pantry grabbing out a packet of chocolate-coated pretzels he popped them open and started eating ”Mate this is great. I’m finally starting to remember why I broke up with her. I can dowitiwnt” he stopped a handful of pretzels in his mouth as he ended his statement Dickie blinked a few times and shook his head trying to decipher what Aiden just said.
”Yeah, you definitely seem like you’re back to your old self. This isn’t troubling at all. You not going to the gym, sitting on the couch drinking beer, and eating pretzels all day long while watching Nickelodeon cartoons. You haven’t taken an independent booking since you left that apartment. Legit, I’m kind of worried about you, and not just because you’re basically living on my couch. I mean come on man how am I ever supposed to bring a chick back here?”
”You know any SHIELA‘s to bring back here”
Dickie paused a moment before folding his arms over his chest ”Well..no. But this isn’t about me. This is about you. Come on man this pathetic. It’s been three weeks. You’re the one who broke up with her. It’s time for you to get back out there. To enjoy your life man.”
Aiden popped open the case of beer chugging one down before letting out a rather large burp and throwing the can down with the rest of them ”I have a great life. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dickie closed his eyes taking a deep breath as Aiden sat back down on the couch with another beer popping another pretzel in his mouth he took out his phone dialing it ”Hey Mrs Reynolds. Yeah, it’s sticky. How are things? That’s great hey so Aiden has something he wants to tell you.”
”Oi mate what the fu-“ Dickie straightaway hands Aiden the phone pressing it up to his ear ”Hi mum.. yeah. Yeah things are okay. Yeah, so I’m living at dickies because Florence and I broke up. Yes. I know she was a bitch. Yes, and I’ve never heard you use that word before, you’re kind of freaking me out Mum.” Aiden turned staring daggers at Dickie. He then mailed the words. “I’m going to kill you” as Dickie cackled maniacally in the background having forced Aiden to get off his ass and make a change.
Mans best friend
We open up our little area of the promo world with Dickie Watson stepping into the lounge room of his older brother Finn Whelan. The place where Aiden Reynolds and Kallie Reznik are currently staying. Dickie looks over at Callie with a confused look on his face.
”Uh why are we here? Did you get the same message I did?”
Kallie nods slowly sitting on the couch with her hands on her knees.
”Yeah… Aiden sent me this weird text just told me to come and sit down and wait.”
Dickie sat down the two of them staring ahead as a voice suddenly broke the silence.
”Quiet now, classes in session. I’m sure you’re wondering what we are going to be studying today class.”
Kallie and Dickie both sat there staring ahead confused as Aiden came into view. He wore black wingtip leather shoes, a pair of light brown dress pants, and a belt. A pair of black rimmed glasses that didn’t have any lenses in them and a tie wrapped around his neck but no shirt. Because of course, there’s no shirt. Because it’s fucking Aiden.
”Aiden what the fuck?”
Kallie giggled Aiden pulled down a screen and took a small click controller out of his pocket pressing a button. The projector behind them flicked on and a picture of a Bulldog appeared on the screen. Aiden took out his pointer and smacked it against the screen with a loud thud.
”This, class, is a Bulldog. More precisely it is an English Bulldog. Notice the furrow brow the tongue sticking out the side of the mouth the strong shoulders. This animal is not the best looking. It is not a pretty dog. It is not a particularly handsome dog. However, the Bulldog is a majestic creature. It is loyal, trustworthy, and fearless, it is an animal that will be loyal and your best friend to the very end. This animal exemplifies the purest form of the canine-human relationship. A Bulldog will lay its life down for you and will be nothing but a loving happy companion. These are qualities that anyone should strive to have in their lives. But these are also qualities that certain Bill Barnhart is lacking.”
“You see Bill likes to use the Bulldog moniker before his name as well as having a Bulldog as a pet. But he is not loyal, he is not fearless, he may have the furor brow and below average intelligence of a Bulldog but he does not have all of its best qualities. Hell, he may even smell like a Bulldog. And for all I know he humps Bea’s leg like most Bulldogs would do.”
“This man is not a Bulldog. This man is an overweight wannabe veteran who believes himself to be better than he really is. A man who has flaked his way into championship wins whether that is in the mixed tag team division all the roulette division. A man who has somehow been able to get away with pretending to be a professional wrestler for the better part of 15 years.”
“A man who along with his mail-order bride seems to have taken the wrestling world and molded it to fit their own horrible ideas of what it is meant to be. This class is not what exemplifies the courage and tenacity of the British Bulldog.”
Aiden turns again, slapping his pointer against the screen even harder.
”Oh…my…god…”
Dickie slowly rubs his temples Kallie on the other hand is just marvelling at how cute the picture of the Bulldog looks.
”Now there are many other things that Bill does not have in common with the noble and honorable British Bulldog. One he’s American. Automatically that takes him out of the running because he’s a filthy colonial.”
”But..Aiden so are you..”
”Silence! Miss Reznik, please see me after class you have detention”
Had jaw drops she fought her arms over her chest and stomped her feet on the ground huffing as she seems annoyed that Aiden actually gave her detention he then clicks the button in his hand the picture changing from a happy painting smiling Bulldog to that of a Bulldogs testicles.
”Now this is another reason why Bill is not like a Bulldog. Notice the size and girth of this dog's testicles. This dog has balls of steel. It will face anything. Bill on the other hand where Spandex and you don’t even see a goddamn lump. In fact, if Bill Barnard was a Roman soldier his name would be Sans Testikles”
Dickie shakes his head, bawling his hands into fists. He does everything he can not to laugh at that stupid joke but in the end, Dickie fails and can’t help but laugh he shakes his head looking at Aiden.
”I hate you. I want you to know that. Right now. I hate you.”
Aiden continues
”So, this man. Bulldog Bill Barnhart, is going to get into a street fight with me. A street fight. There is a saying it is not about the size of the dog in the fight. It’s about the size of the fight in the dog. And I look at a man like Bill Barnhart and I don’t see much fight left. For months he has stood there and talked about how he’s going to beat this person or that person and has shown little to no regard for the reality of the situation. I don’t think Bill knows what reality is.”
“Bill makes promises, he makes them to his wife. He makes them to his friends. He makes them to his fans. Well, both of his fans who are mentally damaged and currently sitting in a special hospital somewhere in Alabama. He makes promises to these people that he is going to win that he is going to be a champion that he is going to rise to the top of the professional wrestling world and in the end he does nothing.”
“In the end, Bill fails”
“So, at Violent conduct, he is going to be getting into a street fight with me. And I got some real dog in Me. But I don’t need some stupid moniker or nickname to make it seem like I have that kind of fight. All I have to do is go out to that ring and do everything that I possibly can to win. Despite everything that has happened my loss against your brother Finn Whelan, our world champion, my loss in that number one contenders match, all of this added together, there is one thing on this earth that I cannot do and that is lose to a fat pathetic fat loser like Bill Barnhart who makes promises that he can never keep and runs from the reality of his losses. I lose and I feel it in the very essence of my soul. He loses and tones up the next week and nothing happened not respecting the people who have beaten him not respecting the sanctity of this goddamn business.”
“That is why at violent conduct I am going to beat the reality in to Bill Barnhart”
Back in the saddle
Aiden had gotten a little softer around the midsection. He knew it, he felt it, he hated it. Of course softer and the midsection for Aidan was still pretty damn beefy. The Australian wolf is 6’1 and usually weighs between 205 and 215 pounds depending on if he decided to indulge in nachos or pizza that day. But, after Dickie had come back to the apartment and told Aidan off for laying around all day he decided to do something about it and for the last few weeks, he’d been making an effort to get to the gym and start eating better.
He took a few independent bookings going and setting the world alight with some great performances against some up-and-coming talent. But he still wasn’t back to his best. He still wasn’t completely over the break up but he was getting there. He was even starting to open up to all of the people that he was training with walking into the Wolfslair NYC gym he started to bond with everyone else there.
And while most people accepted Aidan for who he was, people like Alicia and Alex laughed at some of his jokes others like Austin James Mercer and Johanna Krieger both looked at him like he was growing a second head on his shoulder.
Austin, who had recently returned to the gym after losing his wife hadn’t been in the mood for anything. He worked out. He beat up a lot of the trainees and then he would go home. Everyone was worried about him and Aidan tried to stay away but he found himself in the room with Austin the two of them going from station to station doing squats bench presses and arm curls. Aiden even walkdc over and spotted for Austin on his bench presses his eyes widening as the large former SCW world champion pumped the weight off of his chest like a true pro.
”Mate, you’re a fuckin tank..” Austin stood up giving a small nod of appreciation to Aiden and his compliment. The outline start of a tattoo had been put onto Austin‘s body. He had recently cut his hair short going from long hair with no tattoos to shorter brown hair that was shaggy over his eyes and the outline starting of a tattoo on his chest arm and back.
”Thanks it’s honestly good to see you back in the gym putting in work. I saw you a few weeks ago. Finn‘s younger brother told us all that you were a little bit soft. And he wasn’t wrong. You were getting a little pudgy there, buddy.”
Aidan rolled his eyes and scoffed before wiping down the benchpress laying down. He grabbed hold of the weight that Austin had just lifted. Austin stood around the other side, lowering his hands as he decided to spot for Aidan. Aidan grabbed hold of the bar and with a loud grunt pushed up lifting the same amount of weight that Austin did he pulled it down to his chest. His entire body screaming at him not to be so incredibly stupid. Aidan then pushed slamming the bar back up in the air. He grunted pushing a second rep, then a third, and then a fourth Austin’s eyes widened as Aidan finally put the bar back up onto the bracket sitting up he waved out his arms and took a deep breath.
Austin raised his eyebrows impressed at what he was able to accomplish ”Alright I get it…” Austin offered up a small chuckle the two of them continuing their workout in silence. Aiden took a deep breath wanting to forge a bit of a connection with people that he was going to be working with. ”Hey Aus…” he walked over folding his arms over his chest ”Mate I know you and I aren’t really close and I also know that we don’t know each other too well but I just wanted to say I’m really sorry about what happened to Lisa”
There was an awkward silence between the two Austin slowly nodded and looked over at him ”Thanks…. I’m not gonna lie it’s been really hard. I mean you know what? It’s like losing someone.”
Aidens eyes widened, yes he had lost someone but this was different from Austin‘s loss. And then it hit him. Austin lost the love of his life in a horrible accident. The mother of his children was taken from him. And he was still here living his life trying his best. Even as he hid from everyone. Aidan took a deep breath smiling as he came to understand. The world was never going to just end because of this. ” Yeah. But not like you mate. You still come in and do everything you need to do. Me? I just kind of walled in self-pity it was a little pathetic when you think about it. But we both do the best we can right?”
Austin offered up a small smile nodding at Aidan as he walked away, offering up one final phrase to agree with the Australian star ”Fuckin eh…”
Headaches
”You know sometimes you have to get in the ring with someone and you end up feeling bad because after you hear them speak you realize that there’s not much going on in between the ears…”
Aiden folded his arms over his chest pacing around outside the same spot of the O2 arena that build decided to cut his promo.
”I had to stand there and listen to this incoherent rambling promo from an out-of-touch fat idiot. I mean I can’t really say anything. I stood there and cut a goddamn promo before I left to come over to Europe about how Bill isn’t like a bulldog. I was dressed as a teacher wearing a tie without a fucking shirt on I had my best friend and my wife sitting there helping me with the damn thing and afterward, I realized that it was stupid in its over complexity.”
“But you? I watched as you started running your mouth about everything from some made up feud with Satan to things that happened to family members to Demon minions all the way through to apparently how I am afraid of something and was shaking and crying?”
“Were you trying to cut a promo as Goth?”
“I think that maybe, just maybe you’ve gone off the deep end bill. I even re-watched it went through it in slow motion got someone to transcribe it. I read it back-and-forth and to my surprise, it made about as much sense as a Donald Trump rally speech. Now that I think about it, in my last promo, I shouldn’t have compared you and a bulldog and showed the differences between you too. I should’ve shown a picture of Trump and sat there and talked about the similarities between you too. It probably would’ve been more entertaining, but it would’ve got me fucking canceled.”
Aidan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath annoyed at the bullshit that he had to watch.
”Violent Conduct X, a night where almost every single match is going to be some sort of violent bloodbath. And as we hurt toward this supercar I was looking forward to a street fight where you and I would beat the hell out of each other and I could just do a few little fun things to make people laugh because that’s kind of what I like to do. But now I am in serious doubt as to whether or not you are mentally, capable enough to get in the ring. You blither on about things that make absolutely zero sense Bill.”
“You have some sort of early onset Alzheimer’s or something”
“The fact remains that you and I are about to get into the ring and have a street fight that could end up anywhere. We could finish it in the ring on the floor in the backstage area out in the fans. We could flood out onto the streets of London outside the O2.”
“We could even fight all the way down to the observatory or The Cutty Shark Tavern. I could use a nice cold beer while I beat the hell out of you.”
Aidan seems to be getting frustrated but from the side, we hear a voice, belonging to Dickie Watson who is enjoying his time in London.
”This is England. The beer is warm Aiden”
Aidan turns to his right throwing his hands in the air not having anything to say to Dickie because technically he’s right and he just disrupted his flow. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head refocusing on the task hand.
”We could fight and end the match anywhere Bill. And while I stand here actually talking about the match after breaking down who you are as a person and making fun of your entire existence as well as your mail-order bride and that silly little dog that you keep walking around, I have to ask what is it that you bring to the table? You took us down a winding messed up road that you called memory lane coming up with a whole bunch of random facts about people we don’t care about while talking about some packed with Satan and some battle that you two have been having for the last couple of years”
“That was by far the most infuriating few minutes of my life that I will never be able to get back. And in the beginning, I was just looking forward to having a crazy street fight. Will we throw shit at each other and end up doing dumb crap. But now, now I feel like I need to hurt you out of principle. I feel like I need to do something to you to knock some sense into that stupid somewhat elderly brain of yours.”
“Your stupidity, insults me and you being in the wrestling business is an insult to everyone who has ever put their bodies on the line or decided they wanted to do this as a career. Your continued existence in Sin City wrestling makes the entire product look like a joke and you belittle everything that the rest of us have accomplished. You are a stain on the wrestling business and you are something that should have been ejaculated into a condom or left as a stain on a motel mattress somewhere in Albuquerque New Mexico.”
Dickie again interrupts
”Oddly specific…”
”Unfortunately, I’m going to have to settle for just beating the crap out of you in front of everyone in London. And when I’m done, well then I can celebrate.”