Eddie Lyons had been to a lot of cities during his time with SCW but Paris had a way of making even the most grounded person feel like they were floating above something bigger than themselves the Eiffel Tower shimmered in the distance from the window of his hotel room lighting up the evening sky.
But Eddie wasn't watching the city he was having his evening FaceTime with his fiancee Sabrina Woods. He sat on the edge of his bed his damn hair still tousled from his recent shower. The image of Sabrina clear on his phone screen has she was seated on their sofa with a warm cup of her favorite tea.
“So Paris huh?” she said with a soft voice.
“Yeah.” said Eddie ”It's pretty fancy out here, you'd love the cafes.”
“I'd love to be there with you.” she said. “But we have to think about what's best for the baby and the doctor advised against the travel.”
“Yeah, I know, I know it said.” Eddie, “Maybe next year after the baby's here we can all go on the next tour together. All three of us.”
“I'd like that.” said Sabrina.
“How's the ankle?” he asked.
“It's getting better.” she said “I honestly can't feel it too much anymore and I'm able to walk around on it more now. By the time you get home, it'll be like it never happened. “
“Everything else is okay too?” asked Eddie.
“Yeah everything's going great.” she said “Babies looking fine, she's kicking more. We might have a soccer player on our hands.”
“Or maybe she's just going to have an amazing super kick as her finisher.” said Eddie “Perhaps a shining wizard.”
They both shared a laugh together the moment felt relaxing to Eddie, he appreciated these evening Facetimes with Sabrina as it helped him get his mind off the pressure of Blast from the Past and the busy bustle that traveling with SCW can bring.
“How about you?” she said “How are you feeling.?”
Eddie shifted back in the bed resting against the headboard now.
“Beating Kris Ryans was big.” He said “He's a Hall of Famer, one of the best and that match was proof, proof that I do belong in this conversation."
“And now?” Sabrina asked.
“Now comes the real test.” said Eddie “J2H and Alexander Raven in the finals. Two of the most unpredictable bastards in SCW. J2H knows exactly how to get the job done and he's a killer when the lights are bright and Alexander Raven that guy thrives on the chaos you can't plan for a guy like him you just brace for the impact and hope it doesn't swallow you whole.”
“You sound like you're ready.” said Sabrina.
“I am ready.” Eddie replied “Because this is not just about winning the Blast from the Past tournament. It's about earning another shot at the world title. Another one-on-one opportunity with the champ. Redemption for coming up short against Finn.”
“Well you've always had the heart.” Sabrina said “But now you've got the focus to go with it.”
“Not just doing this for me anymore.” he said “I'm doing this for us. For you, for the baby, I want our kid to grow up knowing that I fought for every inch and I didn't give up when it got rough.
Sabrina ran her fingers across her belly bump.
“Well we both believe in you.” she smiled.
“When I walk in the ring I'm bringing all of that with me.” Eddie nodded “Every reason, every bruise, and every lesson I'm walking in focused and I'm walking out with the win."
“You better Sabrina.” grinned playfully.
“I'm going to show them both babe.” said Eddie “I'm going to show J2H that the game is changed since he was last on top, and I'll show Raven that no matter how dark he wants to drag things, I can fight through it and when it's all said and done I'll have another shot at the world championship."
“Well then why don't you get some rest champ?” said Sabrina. “Cleo's taking me to an appointment in a little while here, and then we're going to grab lunch.”
“Tell her I said hi.” Eddie said.
“I will.” she replied “Love you babe.”
“Love you back.” he said.
The call ended a moment later and Eddie sat his phone on the nightstand, sudden quiet in the room had an empty stillness to it.
He walked over to the window looking at the City of Paris beneath him. He could see his reflection in the glass, the man, and the fighter. The one who had earned his way through this tournament, the one who refused to let a world title loss be his final chapter, the man who still had something to prove.
Eddie Lyons wasn't just here to compete. He was here to win, to prove he belonged in the top tier to fight not just for honor but for family.
_________
The camera is open to find Eddie Lyons standing on a rooftop terrace in Paris, dressed casually in jeans and a hoodie. His hair tousled by the breeze. The camera focuses on him steadily as he speaks.
“You know what you are J2H?” Eddie said “You're a talker. You like to talk. You talk about being the biggest thing in wrestling about punching your ticket to Paris. and hey you did it. But now, now you've got me."
He keeps his tone direct and confident.
“You do you talk a hell of a game.” said Eddie “And credit where it's due, you can back it up. World champion, awards, pain, and sacrifice. You earned your flowers and you built a legacy. I can respect that you've put your body on the line for this industry, I really can. But here's where we split J.”
Eddie pauses for a moment.
“You call yourself a roadblock.” Eddie said “You think you're the story everyone's watching, but let me ask you what happens when the roadblock gets steamrolled? Because that's what I am. I'm a steamroller coming straight for you, and this isn't your story, iit isn't even Alexander Raven's story, it's mine."
Eddie's voice tightens with a bit more intensity.
“You act like the people should be grateful that you got dragged away from your castle to wrestle in cities you think are beneath you.” he said “But I live for this. Every step, every fight, every match. I showed up when nobody knew my name and I worked so they can't forget it.”
He pauses again for a beat.
“I climbed every rung of the ladder because I wanted it.” Eddie said. “I left a pregnant fiancee back home to compete in this tournament. I'm not Travis Levitt, I'm not just some name in this bracket and I'm not here hoping for one last spotlight. I'm nobody's warm up and I'm not the guy to mock with slow claps and half-hearted insults. I am your problem.”
Another beat.
“I'm not here to really live any glory days.” said Eddie “I'm here to build mine and if that means stepping over your legacy to carve out mine, then Paris becomes your final stop and not your coronation. You think no one wants to face you because they know what you can do? Well I say nobody wants to face me because they don't know what I'll do next.”
He takes a deep breath with an exhale.
“You may have given up your world title to give someone else a turn.” said Eddie “But I don't need anyone to step aside. I'll take that spot just like I'll take your ego, your arrogance, your whole damn narrative and break it. You're not the only one with something to prove, but unlike you I don't need to convince the world I'm a god. I'll just beat one and let that speak for itself so enjoy the lights while they still shine on you J becauseif you’re a god then consider me Heracles.”
He takes another short pause.
“Ah but there is one more isn't there J?” said Eddie ”Because Alexander Raven will be casting his darkness upon us.”
He laughs slightly to himself.
“I see you and your little art house films.” Eddie said “Barbed wire crowns, chains, blood falling across your face. Luna holding your leash tighter than Victoria holds Vincent's. Really was a great visual.”
He pauses.
“But here's the thing Alex.” Eddie said “Visuals fade, metaphors unravel, and at some point people will stop caring about what costume you wear and wonder why you're still wearing it.”
He lets his words linger in the air for a moment.
“You talk about being underestimated, about vengeance and people laughing at your pain. But you know what I see when I see you?” said Eddie “I don't see a man who is wronged, I see a man addicted to being the victim. You built your kingdom out of pain and you wear suffering like it's a badge of honor. Like the more you bleed the more it proves you're right but there's no honor in self-destruction.”
He folds his arms across his chest.
“You want people to believe you're this profit of pain or some tortured messiah leading the damned to salvation.” Eddie said “But you're not leading anybody, you're walking in circles and those that do follow you will just be the next victims you blame when it all falls apart.”
His eyes remain daggerstruck on the camera.
"You think you're the inevitable. That people will learn the hard way not to underestimate you." Eddie said “But the irony is you're the one doing the underestimating, you think just cause someone doesn’t walk around dripping in blood screaming poetry, that it makes them some sort of soft target. That's your mistake Raven, your fatal flaw is you think pain is power.”
Eddie shakes his head.
“Pain is inevitable, power is what you do with it." Eddie said “I come from a legacy but nothing was ever handed to me. I may have the last name but I had to fight through every comparison,
shadow, and expectation. While you're out there dragging chains and bleeding for a theatrics, I'm out here building something real. I'm out here grinding through every match and I don’t need to burn the house down to prove I belong in it.”
His words come through with confidence.
"I built my foundation brick by brick and maybe I don't fit your definition of dangerous." Eddie said "Maybe I don't monologue any graveyard or howl at the moonlight like a lone wolf but don't confuse clarity for weakness and don't mistake focus for fragility."
He pauses again but his eyes remain on the camera.
“This industry doesn't hand out redemption. It’s earned.” said Eddie “You wouldn't be the first choice or genius to step between these ropes and you won't be the last, but you need to learn when to shed your skin and move forward because you keep dragging your broken past behind like some badge of authenticity.Pain can only be fuel if you know how to use it. All you're doing is setting yourself on fire and calling it a sermon."
He shrugs to himself.
“Well I'm not buying into your religion of ruin.” said Eddie “I'm not kneeling to any prophets of pity. I'm damn sure not afraid of a man who needs to bleed just to feel alive. So bring Luna, bring your chains, wrap yourself in as much symbolism as you want because when that bell rings all of that will die in the light. I'm not here to feed your myth, and I'm not another chapter in your tragedy, I'm the end of it. You think you're the only one who's been dismissed and doubted and told they weren't enough? Then let me show you what it looks like when someone fights forward instead of falling back. I won't be swayed by your theatrics or drawn into your world of illusions I stand firm grounded in reality ready to become the next World Heavyweight Champion.”
With his usual look of confidence, determination and grit, the camera steadies on Eddie before fading out to black.
__________
The ropes were chains, not metaphorical but real thick rusted links between cracked decaying turnbuckles.The canvas beneath Eddie Lyons boots is stained and torn, the ring floating in a black void no crowd no lights no way out.
He doesn't know how he got here, last he remembered he had finished a call with Sabrina and then lay down on the bed in his hotel room in Paris –and now this.
He has a cough behind him and turns to see Alexander Raven standing in one corner his eyes pale sharp and still like a gargoyle watching from its perch he doesn't speak but his stare says it all.
You don't belong here….
Across the ring and the other corner slouched with confidence is J2H cocky as usual, chewing gum, sunglasses perched on head, an expression on his face like he's already won.
Eddie clenches his fist and tries to speak but no sound escapes. The emptiness of the void eats his voice.
“Dreaming again Lyons?” the voice of J2H mocked him
“No dreams here.” the voice of Raven echoed “Only truth that you're not ready to face.”
“Let me guess.” J2H mocked “You're still holding on to that hero complex. Still holding on to that holier than thou attitude.”
“That same self-righteous sanctimonious attitude.” Raven mocked.
“Shall we handle him now old friend?” said J2H
“Like old times.” Raven grinned. “If only Kev were here too.”
The two against circling him like wolves, Eddie swung on pure instinct. J2H ducked, Raven blocked, then they both struck back in unison throwing Eddie back as he hit the chains. The duo wrap them around his arms like shackles.
“I’ve fought you both.” Eddie growled “You think you scare me?”
“I think you're tired.” Raven mocked “Worn thin. You carry too much and you're doing it alone.”
“You ever think about what happens when you don't win?” J2H leaned in “When they stop chanting your name, when you go home and realize that all the sacrifice still wasn't enough?”
Those words cut through because Eddie had wondered he had wondered. What it all mean if he loses? WHat if everything he had been fighting for slips through his fingers again?
He struggles against the chains
They tighten.
Then he sees flashes, Sabrina's face, his unborn child, J2H celebrating waving to the cameras. Raven celebrating in a world built from ashes.
Then a snap has a chain breaks then another.
Snap
Snap
Snap
The noise echoes like thunder as Eddie roars and rips free surging forward ducking a punch from J2H and nailing him with a gut check and quick Lyons Roar DDT. He jumps up and spins to drop Raven with a massive clothesline.
He stands in the center of the void his chest heaving.
“This isn't over..” J2H muttered.
“It'll always be almost with Eddie Lyons…” said Raven.
Eddie looks back and forth between them.
“No not this time.” he said.
Then his eyes shot open he was back in his hotel room in Paris, his sheets covered in sweat his heart pounding like a drumline he he reaches over instinctively it feels an empty space next to him. He sighed.
He was still getting used to the waking up alone without Sabrina next to him he sat up and swung his legs over the bed and sat on the edge resting his elbows on his knees.
The dream was ridiculous, but honest. He did feel like he was being pulled in every direction. Pressure, legacy, whispers that he's too good not to be champion and fear that he's not good enough to actually be champion.
He stood and walked over to the window pulled the curtains up and just enough to see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
He wasn't afraid of them but he wasn't ignorant either he knew they would come hard, talk their talk, twist his words, chip it his foundations. But if there's one thing Eddie Lyons refuses to do it's back down.
_________
Eddie sits in jeans and a hoodie on a chair in the middle of an empty room with gray walls as the cameras open up.
“I'm not walking into that ring in Paris to prove I belong. That question has been answered already.” he said “I've stood with the best this business has to offer, I've taken hits I wasn't supposed to get up from and every time someone doubted whether I'd last, I stayed standing not because I'm invincible but because I know exactly who I am and I'm not afraid of the cost anymore.”
A pause.
“If you're looking for loud promises or big viral lines put on a t-shirt.” he said “You won't get that from me, this is about closing the distance between who I was and who I'm about to become. I have two people in front of me and I don't need to tear them down to tell you why I'm the one walking out of Paris with the win, that's not arrogance that's clarity."
Another pause.
“J2H has carved his place in history. He could retire tomorrow and still be considered one of the best to ever lace them up in SCW.” Eddie said “But I'm not chasing his past I'm building my legacy. And Raven?
He pauses again.
“Raven doesn't rattle me. I know he's a threat that much is obvious.” said Eddie "But the mystique, the chaos, that only works on people who aren't sure of themselves. I'm not stepping in the dark hoping to survive, I'm walking in with the torch in my hand and a name in my head. Mine."
He finally stands and takes a few steps to stand in front of the camera.
“You don't win tournaments like this by luck or hype.” he said “Or because the crowd chants your names a little louder. You win because when it gets ugly, when things get rough, you keep your head. You keep your post steady and remember why you came.”
He looks through the camera as he pauses.
“I didn't beg for this spot and I didn't need the red carpet.” said Eddie “I earned every second. I kept showing up, kept working, and stayed focused when it would have been easier to fold. But this is the part where every drop of sweat turns to concrete beneath my feet and there's no more potential, no more maybe next time. This is the time."
Pause.
“Let J2H bring his history and his bravado.” he said “Let Raven bring his riddles and his mind games. I'll bring my boots and I'll bring my fists because that's the only thing that matters when the bell rings.”
Exhale.
“Paris is the last stop on the long road.” said Eddie. “I'm stepping into that ring not to start something that ends with the win, but something that begins with it. There's going to be a lot of noise before the bell rings but after it you'll hear just one name.”
Final pause.
“ ”Unbreakable” Eddie Lyons. ”
Then the feed cut to Black.