Texas

Texas always felt bigger when Alex came back alone.

The sky stretched wider, the roads ran longer, and every mile between the airport and the town he grew up in felt like a slow tightening around his chest. He rented a car out of habit, not necessity. He knew these roads. Muscle memory guided his hands on the wheel, turning where instinct told him to, slowing down before curves he hadn’t consciously thought about in years.

He didn’t turn the radio on.

Some things deserved silence.

The cemetery sat just outside town, bordered by old oaks and sun-bleached fencing that had long since stopped trying to look new. The sign at the entrance leaned slightly to the left, the paint faded but legible. Alex parked beneath a tree, shut the engine off, and stayed there for a moment longer than necessary.

Breathing in. Breathing out.

He stepped out of the car and the heat hit him immediately—not oppressive, just familiar. Texas heat didn’t rush you. It settled in. Wrapped around you like it intended to stay. The gravel crunched beneath his boots as he walked through the gates. Headstones stretched out in uneven rows, some polished and proud, others worn smooth by time and weather and hands that had come back again and again. Alex walked slowly, eyes scanning names he didn’t need to read to recognize.

He passed teachers. Neighbors. Old family friends. And memories came with them whether he asked for them or not. He remembered Dylan at twelve years old, sprinting across a football field with no real idea of what he was doing, laughing too hard to notice he was running the wrong way. Alex had been on the sidelines, yelling himself hoarse, not to correct him, but because hearing his brother laugh like that felt like a victory.

He remembered the first time Dylan snuck into the old warehouse where Alex trained. Too small. Too loud. Too excited. He’d tripped over a loose mat and popped right back up, insisting he was fine even as his knee bled through his jeans.

“You didn’t see anything,” Dylan had said, eyes wide.

Alex smiled at the memory as he walked, the sound of that voice echoing like it had never left. They’d been six years apart. Different generations. Different expectations. But Alex had always felt responsible. Not because anyone asked him to be, but because he wanted to be there. Wanted to make the world less sharp for his younger brother.

The headstone came into view before Alex realized he’d slowed to a stop. Dylan’s name was carved clean and simple. No nickname. No flourish. Just the dates. And beneath it, words their mother had chosen, through tears and silence and the unbearable weight of finality. Alex stood there for a long time. Hands on his hips. Jaw tight. Eyes burning.

”I’m here,” he finally said. His voice sounded strange in the open air, like it didn’t belong to him anymore. He crouched down, brushing his fingers lightly across the cool stone. “Sorry it took me so long.” The cemetery was quiet. No wind. No birds. Just stillness. Alex swallowed. “You’d probably make a joke about it. Say something smartass. Tell me I’m being dramatic.”

He laughed softly, shaking his head. “You always hated when things got too heavy.” He sat down on the grass, legs stretched out in front of him. The ground was uneven, uncomfortable. It felt right. “I did it,” he said quietly. “I made it.” The words hung there, vulnerable. “I chased it like we talked about. Every town. Every ring. Every busted knuckle and long drive and cheap motel. I kept hearing your voice in my head telling me not to quit. Telling me to keep going. Like if I stopped, I’d be leaving you behind.”

Alex’s hands curled into fists. “I wanted us to do it together. I wanted to stand at the top with you. Two brothers. Same last name. Same fire.” His breath hitched. He didn’t wipe the tears away this time. “When you were gone… it felt like the future went with you.” He stared at the headstone, eyes unfocused. “People talk about me like I’m strong. Like I survived. But they don’t see what it cost. They don’t see how many times I wanted to stop and couldn’t. Because stopping felt like admitting you were really gone.”

He exhaled shakily. “I named my son after you.” The words came easier than he expected. “Dylan,” he said again, softer. “I hope that’s okay.” A smile tugged at his lips. “He’s got your stubborn streak. Your heart, too. And that laugh… Christ, that laugh. Sometimes it sounds so much like yours it knocks the wind out of me.”

Alex leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “I get a second chance with him. Not to replace you. Never that. But to do something right. To be there. To guide him without crushing him.”

His voice dropped. “I’m trying to break the cycle. The pressure. The silence. The way pain just gets passed down like an inheritance.”

He glanced up at the sky, then back down. “I wish you could meet him. You’d love him. He’d drive you insane.”

A quiet laugh escaped him. “You’d teach him all the wrong things.” The laughter faded, replaced by something steadier. “I miss you,” Alex said simply. No dramatics. No flourish. Just truth. “No matter what happens next. In my career. In my life. Wins, losses, championships, failures… none of it changes this.” He tapped the stone gently. “You’re part of me. Always.”

He stood slowly, brushing grass from his jeans. “I won’t forget you. Not ever.” Alex rested his hand on the headstone one last time, grounding himself in the cold certainty of it. Then he stepped back. As he walked away, the weight didn’t vanish. But it shifted. It no longer pressed him down. It followed him forward. And for the first time in a long while, Alex didn’t feel like he was carrying the past alone. He felt like he was honoring it.

Standards Don’t Apologize

The camera comes on quietly.

Alex Jones is seated, shoulders relaxed, hands folded loosely in front of him. He doesn’t look like someone preparing for a fight. He looks like someone preparing to speak the truth and fully aware that truth rarely needs permission. He doesn’t rush.

“Miles Kasey.”

A pause follows, not for effect….. for consideration.

“I’ve listened to you. All of it. Every word. Every accusation. Every carefully chosen phrase meant to make you sound certain. “And the thing that keeps replaying in my head isn’t the anger. It isn’t the slogans. It isn’t even the championship you keep holding like it’s proof of something. It’s the moment you said I’m choosing to lie. “Because that tells me everything. You didn’t say I was wrong. You didn’t say I was mistaken. You didn’t say I misunderstood you.”

“You said I was lying. Deliberately. Intentionally. As if the only way my words could exist is if I were acting in bad faith.”

A faint shake of the head.

“That’s not strength, Miles. That’s fear. Because if I’m not lying… then I might be seeing something you’re not ready to admit. I’m not rewriting history. I don’t need to. History doesn’t change just because it’s inconvenient. You keep saying you outgrew Wolfslair. You keep telling the world you became the black sheep. That you stopped asking for approval. And yet here you are, still defining yourself by the place you claim you escaped. Still measuring yourself against the people you insist no longer matter. Still needing to be seen as the student who surpassed the teacher. You didn’t leave Wolfslair, Miles. You just changed the story you tell yourself about it so you could live with staying exactly where you are.”

Silence stretches.

“Let’s talk about that championship. You’ve spent an extraordinary amount of time explaining what it isn’t. Not a stepping stone. Not a consolation prize. Not small. I never called it any of those things You did. Every time you felt the need to justify why you’re still holding it. You call it a burden. A responsibility. Something you chose to carry for the sake of others. But responsibility doesn’t mean permanence. And leadership doesn’t mean refusing to move forward. Sometimes it just means you’re afraid of what happens when the protection is gone.”

“You say you’re not chasing the World Title because you don’t need to prove you belong. That’s not confidence. That’s insulation. You wrapped yourself in purpose so no one could ask you why you stopped climbing.”

“Real belief doesn’t avoid the test. It seeks it out. Because belief that’s never challenged is just comfort wearing a crown. You accuse me of being a gatekeeper. Of standing in the way of the future. Of hoarding standards like they’re relics. I never closed doors. I taught people how to survive once they walked through them. You want to protect the next generation? Then stop standing in front of them calling yourself their shield. Let them find out who they are without you framing the story for them. But that’s the part you won’t do. Because the moment they don’t need you… your identity starts to crack.”

Alex’s voice doesn’t harden. It doesn’t need to.

“ATTACK FOR THE NEXT GENERATION.”

He says it slowly.

“It sounds powerful. It sounds righteous. It sounds like something people can chant without thinking too hard about what it actually means. Legacy isn’t a slogan. It’s what survives after the words stop working. You keep calling me a man stuck in the past because it’s easier than admitting you’re terrified of the future you don’t control. Not the future you talk about. The real one. The one where the title changes hands. Where the division moves on. Where the only question left is whether you ever risked being more than this. You say this is about now. About the grind. About people earning something real. Then why does everything you say sound like it’s meant to convince yourself?”

“You learned how to survive this business. I believe that.”

“But survival isn’t dominance. And responsibility isn’t courage. You talk about control. About knowing exactly who you are. Control is always the first thing to go when a man builds his identity around never being questioned. You said at Inception I won’t get the grateful student. The respectful nod. The version of you still figuring himself out. Good. Because I’m not interested in teaching you anything. I’m interested in seeing what’s left when the speeches stop protecting you. No slogans. No moral framing. No speeches about responsibility. Just you, standing in front of someone who doesn’t confuse comfort with progress.”

Alex straightens slightly.

“You said you’ll expose me. Miles… you’ve been exposed this entire time. At Inception, the future you keep talking about doesn’t need my permission. But it does need to meet the standard.”

The Weight of Momentum

The gym felt different now.

Not quieter. Not calmer. Just… heavier. Like the air itself carried the residue of recent breakthroughs, hope, tension, pride, fear, all woven into something neither father nor son knew how to name yet. The windows were cracked open, letting a thin line of winter air drift inside, cutting through the usual humidity. The ring sat in the center like an altar, ropes taut, canvas freshly cleaned, the faint smell of disinfectant replacing yesterday’s sweat.

Alex arrived early. He always arrived early. Habit. Control. Fear wearing discipline’s skin. He leaned on the apron, hands braced on the canvas, staring at the empty ring where he and Dylan had found a fragile truce days earlier. He replayed Dylan’s words in his head: “Then teach me how not to burn out.” Alex wanted to believe he could. But a man who had spent half his life surviving flames didn’t always know how to guide someone away from them. Bootsteps echoed across the gym floor. Dylan. Bag slung over one shoulder, hair still damp from the shower he’d clearly rushed through, a fresh bruise blooming along his jaw from a sparring session the night before. He didn’t hide it. He never did. He wore his damage like proof he belonged.

“You’re early,” Alex said.

Dylan shrugged. “Didn’t sleep much.”

“Nightmares?”

“Energy.” He tossed the bag down near the steps. “I just want to work.” Alex’s stomach tightened. Work was good. Work was necessary. But work was also Dylan’s escape, and escapes have edges.

“Alright,” Alex said, forcing calm. “Let’s warm up.” They started slow. Roll-throughs. Drop downs. Technical grappling. The rhythm was good….measured, smooth, controlled. Dylan kept his breathing even. Kept his movements tight. But Alex saw the spark beneath the surface, the fire itching for release. And fire never stays contained. After fifteen minutes of drills, Alex nodded. “Sequences. Standard, nothing fancy.”

“Got it.”

At first Dylan obeyed. Arm drag. Hip toss. Rebound dropkick. Transition to a hold. Clean. Crisp. Correct. But on the next sequence, Dylan pushed speed. Just a notch. Barely noticeable to anyone else. Not to Alex. “Slow it a touch,” he warned.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re pushing your pace.”

“That’s the point.”

“It’s too early….”

“I’m fine,” Dylan repeated, sharper this time.

Alex exhaled, stepping back. “Your call.” The kid hit the ropes again.

This time he exploded.

Speed doubled. Steps sharper. His body moved like it was trying to outrun something only he could feel. The sequence became raw improvisation—exactly the thing they had argued about days earlier. Leapfrog. Rebound. Springboard….his foot slipped. Not enough to fall, not enough to break the flow, but enough for a flash of panic to dart across his eyes before he buried it under adrenaline and kept going. Alex’s jaw clenched. He knew this version of Dylan. He had been this version. The version chasing the high of belonging, the rush of proving something invisible and impossible.

“Dylan,” he called out. “Ease up.” No answer. The kid was trapped in the rhythm now, almost frantic. “Dylan.” Nothing. Then it happened. A simple bump. A basic flat-back. Something Dylan could do in his sleep…but he didn’t tuck his chin. He hit hard. The sound cracked through the gym like a gunshot. Dylan’s body bounced once, awkward, wrong. His breath left him in a violent gasp, and he rolled to his side, a hand clutching the back of his neck. Alex moved before his brain registered the thought. “Hey. Hey. Dylan….look at me.”

“I’m…” Dylan wheezed, trying to sit up. “I’m good.”

“No, you’re not. Stay down.”

“I’m….fine….” He pushed up to a seated position, one eye squinted shut. His breathing was uneven. Too fast. Too shallow.

Alex recognized it instantly. Not pain. Panic. Adrenaline overload. Crash incoming. “Kid, slow your breathing.”

“I said I’m okay….” Dylan’s voice cracked mid-sentence. His hand trembled against the canvas. Sweat poured down his face far too fast for the amount of work they’d done.

This wasn’t exhaustion. It was collapse. Alex swallowed the rising fear. “Look at me.” Dylan didn’t. He stared at the mat like it was moving beneath him. “Dylan. Look at me.”

Finally, the kid lifted his eyes, and Alex saw the truth flash there, raw and terrifying. He wasn’t fine. He wasn’t even close. “I can’t….” Dylan choked out. “My chest…Dad, I can’t….”

Alex’s blood turned to ice. “Lie back. Now.” Dylan tried to lower himself gently but lost control halfway, collapsing onto the canvas with a thud. His legs twitched involuntarily as he tried to steady his breathing, but it only got worse. Short, shallow, rapid. A dangerous spiral. Alex slid an arm behind his shoulders, lifting him just enough to keep his airway clear. “Breathe with me,” he said, voice low, calm, authoritative, but shaking underneath. “Just breathe. Follow my count.”

“I…I can’t.” Dylan gasped. “It…it won’t..stop…”

“I know. I know.” Alex kept his hand steady even as fear clawed at his chest. “In for two. Out for three. Come on. You trained with worse than this.”

The kid tried. Failed. Tried again. His heartbeat thudded through his chest so loud Alex could almost hear it through the canvas. This wasn’t a physical injury. It was burnout hitting the wall at full speed. Too much ambition. Too little rest. Too much pressure, some internal, some inherited. Dylan sucked in another sharp breath, then winced, clutching his ribs as if something inside had seized up. “Dad…..something’s wrong….”

“I know,” Alex said quietly. “I’m right here. You’re not alone. Just breathe.”

Minutes passed like hours. The gym around them blurred into nothing. No sounds, no sparring, no noise, just a father trying to keep his son from drowning in his own body. Dylan’s breathing slowly, agonizingly, began to steady. Not normal. Not healthy. But stabilized. Finally, Dylan’s head fell back against Alex’s shoulder, sweat running down his jaw. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice raw.

Alex closed his eyes. There it was. The apology that shouldn’t exist.“Don’t apologize,” Alex murmured. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I pushed too hard.”

“Yeah……You did.”

“I just… I wanted…” Dylan’s voice cracked. “I wanted to show you I could keep up.”

And there it was, the truth buried under weeks of bravado. Alex exhaled slowly. “Kid… keeping up was never the problem.”

Dylan shifted, wincing again. “Then why do you……why does it always feel like I’m one mistake away from disappointing you?”

Alex felt the words like a punch. Because he’d known this was coming. Known it from the second he saw the kid hit the ropes too fast. Known it when he first saw the ambition burning too bright. Known it for years. “I’m not disappointed,” he said softly.

“Then what….” Dylan broke off, fighting another surge of breathlessness. “Why do you look at me like I’m fragile?”

Alex opened his eyes, staring at the empty gym. At the ring he’d bled in. At the ghosts that never left him. “Because I’ve watched too many people break,” he whispered. “And I don’t want to bury my son.”

Silence dropped heavy between them. Not angry. Not tense. Just real. Dylan shifted again, his breathing finally close to normal, though his body still trembled lightly. “Dad… I’m not going to die in this ring.” Alex didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Because he had once believed the same thing. Dylan let his head rest back against him. “I didn’t know it scared you that much.”

Alex laughed, short, humorless.“Then I wasn’t doing a very good job hiding it.”

“You weren’t,” Dylan muttered weakly.

Alex almost smiled. “Smartass.”

“Runs in the family.” They sat there a long moment before Dylan whispered, “What happens now?”

Alex looked down at him, at the pale face, the trembling fingers, the exhaustion etched into every movement. “Now,” Alex said, “we stop pretending your body can match your ambition without consequences.”

Dylan swallowed. “I don’t want to slow down.”

“And I don’t want to lose you. So we meet in the middle.”

Dylan blinked, confused. “How?”

Alex shifted, moving them both gently to a seated position against the ropes. “By admitting what this is.”

“What is it?” Dylan asked quietly.

Alex looked him dead in the eye. “You’re burning out.”

Dylan tensed, shame flickering through him. “I’m not weak….”

“I never said you were.”

“It feels like failing.”

“It’s not.” Alex placed a hand on his shoulder, grounding him. “Kid… burnout isn’t weakness. It’s what happens when someone gives everything and forgets to leave anything for themselves.”

Dylan’s throat worked. “So what, I stop training?”

“No,” Alex said. “We train smarter.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Then that,” Alex said, tightening his grip just slightly, “is what I’m going to teach you.” Dylan stared at him a long moment. Not angry. Not defensive.

Just… tired. And open.

“Okay,” he finally whispered.

Alex nodded. Because for the first time, the kid wasn’t asking how to win. He was asking how to survive. And that was something Alex had waited years to hear. He stood slowly, helping Dylan to his feet. The kid wobbled but stayed upright. Alex kept a hand on his back until he steadied. “We’re done for today,” Alex said.

Dylan opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again. “Yeah. Okay.” They walked toward the bench together, the gym silent around them. The breakthrough had been powerful.

But this?

This was necessary. Because growth didn’t always come from triumph. Sometimes it came from collapse.

I work with fucking children

”Well… it seems like I touched a nerve”

Alex smiles slowly. Leaning forward, he reaches out and picks up a chocolate chip muffin, giving it a bite and taking a small amount into his mouth before taking a deep breath and giving a small chuckle under his breath.

”I seem to have that effect on the Kasey family. See, a few weeks ago I faced LJ in a one-on-one match, and I told him exactly what I wanted from him. I told him I wanted him to be better than his brother. I told him I wanted him to step up and try and end me. I almost begged him to do it. And he couldn’t. It’s almost like none of these kids want to actually be the stars they claim to be. There is a certain amount of ruthlessness that you need to climb to the top of this business,  a killer instinct that boils deep down inside. It is okay to have emotions, it is okay to be empathetic towards your friends and family.”

“But in this business, in that ring, you need to step up. You need to let those emotions and empathy and sympathy all melt away into nothing. You need to be cold. You need to have total apathy toward what people believe and want. It is a lesson that I have tried to teach LJ. It’s a lesson I tried to teach his brother. And going against LJ a few weeks ago, I thought I would be able to beat it into his brain,  what he needed to do to become a star. To live that life that he seems to want so badly. Something that his girlfriend has already got half-figured out, that he seems to not be able to figure out. It’s a puzzle box that he stares at blankly because he simply isn’t willing to pull the trigger… just like his brother.”

“So LJ, since I know you and your brother both love to listen to everything I have to say and then bitch, piss, and moan about it, let me tell you this. You have something special. You have something special inside you, and you have this spark that you should take advantage of. And if you ever want to learn, if you ever want to take advantage of that spark,  then you should come to me and let me help you.”

“Your brother is too far gone… don’t be like him… a man in denial of the truth.”

Alex pauses and smiles to himself again. He takes a deep breath and adjusts his leather jacket, leaning back in a chair and kicking his legs up onto the table in front of him, looking at the chocolate chip muffin sitting on the plate.

”Truth.... something that I’ve always tried to say. Something I’ve always tried to live up to. Now, each and every one of you has your own truth. But after addressing LJ and offering an olive branch as well as a position at my side, I feel the need to say a few things to his older brother, Miles. And I will keep it short and sweet since he and I are going to be facing each other for the Internet Championship. Miles, I want you to think about the pure irony of you going out to the ring last week and running your mouth about me. You want to sit there and talk about me not saying things to your face when you chose the exact week that I wasn’t there to do the same thing. Because you are a hypocrite.”

“You are a hypocrite and a child. You talk about me feeling like I’m beneath the Internet Championship, you should feel like you are beneath that championship, but you don’t. And the reason why you don’t is because you honestly think that Carter deserves to be the World Champion. He has taken everything from you. He has taken your credibility, your spot, a championship that should’ve been yours, and now apparently he’s also taken your balls.”

“So… I want you to watch and see what I do to Ryan Keys. Because all the marketing for this match is talking about how I’m going on to you for the Internet Championship… but Ryan Keys pushed you to your limits.”

“What a joke…”

Alex takes a deep breath, pushing up from his chair and pacing back and forth, his face twisting as he becomes irritated at everything that has gone on. He closes his eyes and takes a long deep breath again, the breathing exercise to try and calm down the anger that is bubbling up inside.

”And an unfunny one at that. Ryan, you are most definitely out of your depth, a sacrificial lamb being led to slaughter. As I said, all the marketing for this match is billing you as a man who has pushed Miles to the limit over and over again, so now they are putting you in the ring against me. Miles is the Internet Champion. Miles thinks he’s at the top of his game. I know I’m at the top of mine. Since you returned to this company you have been as mid as it gets. Two wins, two losses. You want to reignite your career and you want to stand up and be counted. Well, all that’s going to happen when you stand up to me is that you are going to get slapped down. Hard. You ran your mouth about how you were going to beat Miles, that you were sick of the ‘almost’ tag. I don’t live in a world of ‘almosts,’ Ryan.”

He grits his teeth and continues.

”You ‘almost’ had a career in this company. And who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to do something in the future. But right now, all I see in front of me is a guy who failed the first time he was here and is failing now. You returned and expected to be welcomed back like some kind of conquering hero… but a month-long championship run with the Roulette Title in 2017 doesn’t exactly make any of us give a shit about you. You want to be welcomed back like a conquering hero? You want people to take you seriously? Then you need to do something about it. You need to step up and actually be a challenger the people can respect.”

“But since you’ve been gone, I’m going to give you a little recent history lesson. Because the last eight years have been very important. SCW almost closed down. But it reopened back up, it bought the company that I was in, it loaded me here with a contract, and I became a three-time World Champion here. Cementing my legacy and being able to say that I was in the SCW Hall of Fame. I have beaten the best of the best in this company. And aside from being the World Champion, I have also been the Roulette Champion, and I’ve held that championship a hell of a lot longer than you ever did. I am a former Mixed Tag Team Champion, and I was the leader of one of the most dominant stables this company has ever seen.”

“I am the head of a gym that has produced world champion after world champion after world champion.”

“My DNA is now ingrained in this company. I made a bigger impact than you ever could hope to. You walked out of this company and had to come crawling back after there was nowhere else that would take you. So now here you are, losing to Miles and having people actually believe you pushed him to his limit. And then putting you up against me, giving you some kind of false hope that you are going to come anywhere close to me. Ryan, let me tell you what’s going to happen. You and I are going to go down to that ring. I’m going to beat the hell out of you, I’m going to laugh at you, I am going to walk out with my hand raised as my theme plays. Then, I’m going to forget about you. Just like the SCW fan base did the second you walked out of here the first time. Because that’s all you are, boring, and utterly forgettable.”

The Texas Debut
Houston, Texas[/b]

The sun beat down hard against the cracked parking lot asphalt outside the small independent arena. The air shimmered with heat, the faint smell of gasoline and hot metal lingering. Alex stood beside the rental SUV, one hand resting against the door, his other clutching a bottle of water he hadn’t even opened. He stared ahead at the warehouse-style building with a bright red banner reading

LONE STAR WRESTLING LIVE TONIGHT!

The sound of laughter and chatter drifted from nearby, fans already lining up for the show, wrestlers smoking and talking trash behind the venue. The kind of atmosphere that took him back twenty years.

Back to when he was reckless.
Back to when he thought he was invincible.
Back to when he made the same mistake his son was making now.

He felt the weight of that memory like a chain around his chest. Dylan hopped out of the passenger seat, gym bag slung over his shoulder, his face bright and excited. The orange Wolfslair logo across his hoodie almost seemed to glow in the sunlight. Alex finally opened the water, took a sip, and exhaled. “You nervous?”

“Should I be?” Dylan grinned, walking a few steps ahead before turning back. “It’s just another ring, right? I’ve been training for years. I’ve done this in the gym a hundred times.”

“A ring is a ring, sure. But a crowd changes everything.”

Dylan shrugged, that same stubborn smirk Alex knew too well spreading across his son’s face. “Guess we’ll find out.” Alex watched him start toward the door. Every instinct told him to grab Dylan by the shoulder and stop him, tell him they weren’t doing this, that he wasn’t ready, that there was still time to turn back. But this wasn’t about readiness anymore. This was about pride. About letting go. He followed him inside. The building’s interior was small but alive. Folding chairs surrounded a makeshift ring in the center, and a crowd of maybe two hundred filled the air with anticipation. Posters plastered the walls—local heroes, old names, and a few who had gone on to bigger things.

Alex couldn’t help but glance at one in particular. A name he recognized. Someone who’d been there when his brother Dylan was still alive. The past always found a way to sneak in. Backstage, the locker room smelled of sweat, oil, and the faint chemical sting of mat cleaner. Dylan found a spot on the bench and started taping his wrists, humming under his breath. Alex stood nearby, watching in silence. “You gonna stand there and stare the whole time?” Dylan asked, not looking up.

“Just making sure you don’t forget anything.”

“Like what? My boots?”

“Your head.”

Dylan smirked. “Relax, Dad. I’ve got this.”

Alex ran a hand over his jaw and sighed. “You’ve got confidence. That’s good. Just… don’t let it turn into arrogance. You go out there, you respect that ring, respect your opponent, and—”

“—and I’ll learn something.” Dylan finished the sentence for him, grinning. “Yeah, I’ve heard it all before.”

“Then maybe it’ll finally sink in.”

For a long moment, they stood there in silence—father and son, both too proud to say what they actually felt. Alex wanted to tell him how proud he was. Dylan wanted to tell him how much this meant. But neither of them said a word. When showtime hit, the lights dimmed, and the crowd roared. Alex stood in the back corner of the curtain, arms folded across his chest, watching as his son made his entrance. Dylan’s name echoed through the sound system—“Dylan Jones!”—and the kid came out in simple black tights, Wolfslair logo stitched on one knee pad. He moved with energy, slapping hands, smiling wide, but there was a nervous shake in his right hand that only Alex noticed.

The opponent, a veteran named Ricky Vega, already waited in the ring. Mid-thirties, broad shoulders, the kind of guy who knew how to make a young rookie look good… or make him look like a fool. Alex had wrestled Vega years ago. He remembered that smirk, that cocky strut.

The bell rang.

For the first few minutes, Dylan held his own. Basic chain wrestling, lockups, arm drags, headlocks. Smooth. Crisp. Just like they’d drilled. Alex found himself nodding slightly. Then Dylan got cocky. He hit the ropes and went for a running dropkick—a move they hadn’t even practiced—and Vega caught him mid-air, slamming him down hard with a spinebuster. The crowd ooohed. Dylan arched his back in pain. Alex’s jaw tightened. “Keep your head, kid,” he muttered under his breath. Vega taunted, pulling Dylan up and clubbing him across the shoulders. Dylan fired back, instincts taking over. A sharp forearm to the jaw, then another, the crowd coming alive. Dylan hit the ropes again—another rookie mistake—and ran right into a lariat that nearly turned him inside out.

Alex swore under his breath. He could almost hear his own father’s voice from years ago—the same frustration, the same helplessness. The match wore on. Dylan showed heart. He refused to stay down, even after a brutal backbreaker and a running knee to the ribs. Every time Vega covered, Dylan kicked out at two. The crowd started chanting his name.

“Dylan! Dylan! Dylan!”

Alex felt his chest tighten, pride and fear colliding. Then it happened—Vega went for a suplex, but Dylan countered midair, twisting out and landing behind him. He hit the ropes one last time and nailed Vega with a running knee strike. The crowd exploded. Dylan dropped into the cover.

One! Two! Three!

The bell rang. The crowd cheered. Dylan’s music hit. Alex exhaled for what felt like the first time in ten minutes. Backstage, Dylan was practically glowing, drenched in sweat but grinning ear to ear. He dropped onto the bench, gulping down water. “Did you see that counter? He didn’t even see it coming!”

“I saw.” Alex crossed his arms. “And I saw you almost get your head taken off two minutes before that.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t, did I? I kept going. That’s what matters.”

Alex sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You got lucky. You made mistakes…”

“Can you just say I did good for once?” That stopped him cold. Dylan stared up, eyes still bright but tired now, the adrenaline fading. “Every time I try to do something right, you find what’s wrong. You think I don’t know I made mistakes out there? I’m not blind. But I went out there and did what you taught me to do—I fought through it. I learned. Isn’t that the whole point?”

Alex opened his mouth to answer, but the words didn’t come. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to say he was proud. But that same old fear clawed at his chest. “You’re too much like me,” he muttered finally.

“Yeah, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”

Alex stared at him for a long moment before turning away. He walked to the door, paused, and looked back. “You did good out there. Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Thanks… I think.” Dylan grinned faintly.

They left the building late that night. The Texas air had cooled, a faint breeze carrying the distant hum of highway traffic. The lights from the arena flickered out behind them. For a while, neither spoke. The drive was quiet—not tense, just heavy. Finally, Dylan broke the silence. “You ever think about Uncle Dylan when you watch me wrestle?”

Alex’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. He didn’t answer at first. The question hung there between them. “Every damn time,” he admitted softly. “He was fearless. Reckless. Just like you. I thought I could protect him from himself… and I couldn’t. So maybe sometimes I try to protect you too much.”

Dylan looked out the window. “I get it. But you can’t protect me from everything. I don’t need that. I just… need you in my corner.”

Alex glanced over at his son, a small smile finally forming. “Guess that’s something I can do.” The rest of the drive was quiet again, but it wasn’t the same silence as before. It was lighter. Simpler. The kind that comes after a storm when you both realize the world didn’t end. By the time they reached the hotel, Dylan was half-asleep in the passenger seat. Alex sat for a while before shutting off the engine. He looked over at his son—at the resemblance, at the determination, at the reflection of a younger version of himself. He thought about the years he spent running from grief, from the memory of his brother, from the guilt of surviving. And for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel haunted by the past. He felt anchored by the present.

He reached over and placed a hand on Dylan’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

“You did good, kid,” he whispered.

Dylan stirred but didn’t wake.

Alex leaned back, staring out at the dark Texas night, and smiled faintly. Tomorrow, the road would call again. Tomorrow, the training would start again. Tomorrow, they’d go back to Wolfslair, father and son, student and teacher. But tonight, for the first time in a long time, Alex let himself feel peace.

The mirror didn’t haunt him anymore. It reflected hope.

CAW CAW! BANG! FUCK DEAD

“Is this what you all wanted?”

Silence

“This should be it, right? What you all wanted. Me to lose and Carter to go on being your world champion? It’s what so many of you seemed to champion when asked. It’s what everyone in the crowd wanted when Carter and I went toe to toe. I wanted to become a full-time SCW world champion. I wanted to save the championship from itself and make sure that this company had a world champion it could believe in. A world champion that was worthy of holding that title. A world champion that wasn’t a complete joke and someone who wasn’t a hypocrite. But, in the end, he beat me.”

“Everything I have ever done was for the betterment of this company. I wanted to hold that championship above my head again so I could prove to everyone and show the world that SCW matters. That the world championship matters. I wanted to be a champion that wasn’t a shit-talking hypocrite who hid his true intentions behind a smile. I wanted to be a world champion who was serious, who was a beast in the ring, and who had the weight of a veteran’s voice behind everything that he said. And I failed.”

“I failed miserably…”

“And why is that? Hmm? Why did I fail? Think about it. I have the experience advantage. I have the skill advantage. The power advantage. The technical advantage. I have every advantage conceivable over Carter. But still, he walked out as the champion, and I walked out holding nothing. I beat him when it didn’t matter, but when the bright lights were on, he was able to walk away with the title. And the truth is, the real cold hard truth, that he can’t admit to himself because he doesn’t have that kind of self-awareness, as he shouldn’t have. He shouldn’t have beaten me, and he shouldn’t have walked away with that championship. He didn’t deserve it, he doesn’t deserve it, and now he’s going to get exposed. But unfortunately, not by me. Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

“But just to reiterate, Carter should not be the world champion.”

Alex growled under his breath, trying to hold back all the emotions that were getting ready to explode, the anger and the frustration. All of it.

“You understand that, don’t you, Alexander? After all, you’ve been on the receiving end of the typical bullshit from Carter. He would stand there doubting the fact that he has been the world champion and you haven’t, shitting on every single one of your accomplishments—including the fact that you yourself have been a world champion. You know something I can’t stand in this business? It’s hubris when it comes to thinking your accomplishments outshine others. Sitting there and talking about how you are the SCW world champion and another company’s world title means nothing. I dealt with that when I first came into this company, Raven…”

“Fenris, a man who was well-respected as a champion in SCW. A former MMA fighter. You would’ve heard of him, you would’ve seen him. When I stepped foot in SCW, he pretty much asked who I was and shat on every single one of my accomplishments. Me, a multiple-time world champion over 15 years. A guy who had taken on and beaten the best of the best, made to look like a fool because someone decided to use a comeback that was meant for middle schoolers with nothing else to say.”

“The old Conor McGregor ‘Who the fuck is that guy?’ A stupid comeback that seems to not get old with stupidity.”

“It’s basically what Carter did to you. You’ve been in this company for a while. You went away and made something of yourself and became a world champion in another company before coming back. But you have always been a danger. Something that Austin knows. I respect Austin James Mercer, and I respect his opinion, and he told me just how good you are. Something that I’ve known from watching you. But you and I have never faced. You and I have never had the pleasure of being able to get into a professional wrestling ring and seeing which one of us is the superior Alex.”

He smiles slowly before continuing.

“Many would say that it is me. I’m a three-time SCW world champion. An 11-time world champion. I have held championships all over the world and have been a multiple-time champion in this company over multiple divisions. I have beaten some of the best, and I am a member of the SCW Hall of Fame. On paper, Raven, it’s not even close. But we don’t rely on reports and paper, do we? This is the professional wrestling business.”

“We settle things through fights.”

“So, here we are, Alexander. Facing off at High Stakes. And the simple reason why? Because there’s nothing else for us to do. You and I have had words backstage, said in the heat of the moment because we were both going after Carter. But in the end, you failed to get the job done in a tournament, and I failed to get the job done one-on-one with Carter. Just think about it, somewhere out there is an alternate universe where this match is happening, but it’s happening for the SCW World Heavyweight Championship. An alternate universe where you beat Aiden Reynolds and I beat Carter.”

“But… that isn’t what happened.”

“So now what? Where do we go from here? I’m sure that a lot of people are going to tell you that if you beat me, it’s not going to mean a lot. Sure, I beat Finn for the world championship, but I promptly lost it to Carter. Some are going to tell you that if you beat me, you’re not beating me in my prime and you’re just taking advantage of an old man. Who knows? Maybe they’re right. I’m as cynical as they come. But no, Alexander, if you beat me, then you have every right to gloat about it. Use this win to go after anything that you want. That is, of course, if you win. But what if you don’t?”

Alex pauses and shakes his head before stepping forward and continuing.

“You are a hell of a lot better than your record and your failures lead some to believe. There are so many who automatically write you off because you have never succeeded in your quest to become the SCW world champion. But I know better. I know that a win over Alexander Raven is nothing to be overlooked. It’s nothing to be taken for granted. I beat you, and I know that it’s a win worth bragging about. A win worth talking about. And it’s one that can get me back on track to what I want to do, even if what I want to do hasn’t actually presented itself yet. The truth is, I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing. It’s clear that the world championship is not in the cards for me right now.”

“So… where to? Well, one step at a time. One match at a time. One win at a time. And one loss at a time. That’s all this is. A High Stakes match to find out who the better Alex is. And does it really need to be any more than that? Does every match need to have a story of hatred and anger behind it? Does every match need to be for a championship? Can’t it just be between two exceptional athletes trying to figure out who the better professional wrestler is? That’s what we have. And that’s all this match needs to be.”

Regret

It’s funny how regret can follow you. Like other memories and emotions, regret is something that can follow you throughout your entire life and morph and change. Regret turns to sadness, sadness to anger, and anger to hate, and before you know it, your entire existence becomes all about that one moment you wish you could change. A moment you wish you could go back in time and alter so that the future could be what you wanted it to be.

For Alex, regret had become something as natural as breathing. For the last 20 years, one regret had ruled his life above all others—his younger brother’s death. It was a moment in his life that touched him so deeply that his firstborn son was named after his younger brother. Dylan was born a year after his uncle had died. Alex had tried to be a good father. He was involved in Dylan’s life, even as the relationship with Dylan’s mother disintegrated to the point of breaking.

Alex never let his feelings about Dylan’s mother stop him from wanting to be there as a father.

But as the boy got older, the inevitable happened. He became a teenager and pulled away from both of his parents. Struggling to find common ground with his son, Alex pushed back and became more of a disciplinarian. And as Dylan’s mother pulled away to the point of not even contacting him, Alex instead made sure that he was the one to help forge Dylan into a man. But he wasn’t alone. His wife Sonya had been there for the boy too, becoming a real mother to him as his birth mother faded into memory. But now she was gone too, and the boy was struggling with it—and Alex had no idea how to help him.

”That’s enough for today. Come on.” Alex stood outside the main ring inside the gym. Dylan was inside it, drenched in sweat as a few of the other trainees leaned against the ropes and looked on. Dylan raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he should do. ”Come on kid…”

”But we aren’t done. I still have a few other drills to run and I have some submission classes.”

Alex put his hand up and shook his head. It silenced his son for a moment, the other trainees backing away as they understood the seriousness of the situation. Dylan took a deep breath and exhaled before nodding in acceptance, sliding from the ring and following his father. The two made their way out of the gym and down the street to a small burger place. They walked in, and Alex ordered before sitting down at a table. Dylan looked down and simply waited.

”Mushroom Swiss with caramelised onions and barbecue sauce, right? And a chocolate fudge milkshake?”

Dylan nodded, and a small smile escaped his lips before he forced himself back to his solemn expression. ”Yeah… you remembered….”

Alex sat back and clasped his hands together, tilting his head as he studied his son’s expression. ”Of course. I’m not going to forget something like that…” The two of them sat in silence for a moment. Their drinks arrived and Alex grabbed his milkshake, taking a sip before Dylan followed.

”So… what are we doing here? I’ve got a lot of training to do. You know that more than anyone.”

”I just thought you could use a break.”

”Why? Do you think that I’m falling behind? Am I not keeping up with the other guys physically? A lot of them have been training a lot longer than me, and I think I’ve done really well at being able to keep up with them. But if I need to work harder, then why have we come out here for a burger and a milkshake when I should be back at the gym?”

”D, would you stop?” Alex shook his head. His son took a deep breath and blinked a few times. Alex sighed heavily and sat forward. ”I just… I know you’ve been going through a lot. I mean everything. Over the last couple of years, not even just what happened between myself and Sonya. I just thought you could use a break. To decompress. Maybe just to let us both know that everything is gonna be okay.”

The burgers arrived. Dylan stayed silent for a moment and seemed to be deep in thought. Alex let his son continue thinking, not wanting to interrupt him. If there’s anything Alex had learned over the years, it was that letting someone work through their emotions was usually the best way of getting through to them. After a little bit more time, Dylan finally spoke. ”I know why she left… I know why you and her couldn’t be together….”

”And you know it didn’t have anything to do with you, right? Like, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

He nodded and shrugged before taking a bite of his burger. ”I know. It sucks, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s that no matter who else comes and goes from my life, I know that you’re gonna be there, Dad.”

Alex smiled, slowly taking a bite of his own burger before drinking the rest of his shake. They sat there for a moment just enjoying each other’s company. Dylan was right—Alex would never abandon any of his children. But Dylan, being the oldest, was the only one who understood. He was the only one who understood the gravity of the situation. The only one who understood that there would be regret. Anger. The raw emotions that come from losing someone and having a family broken up. Dylan understood. The others wouldn’t. And that was something Alex would definitely regret.

King of the Internet

”Maybe I’ve been looking at this the wrong way. See, the last few weeks I’ve been feeling like I’ve been demoted. Kicked out from the main event scene. Stopped from getting a rematch for the world championship that I so surely earned. You see, people tend to forget that I was the one who ended Finn Whelan’s reign. I was the one who took the championship from him and stopped the mediocrity that it had become.”

Alex paced back and forth, breathing deep as he refocused and tried to push down all the anger he was currently feeling.

”Then in one moment of weakness Carter was able to take that championship from me. And instead of getting a rematch I had to sit back and watch as he defended it against J2H. Everyone applauded, everyone loved it, he was viewed as a hero because he had vanquished someone whose ego was writing checks his actual ability could not cash. And now J2H is gone. Something we should all celebrate. There are only so many egos that can fit in this company and his ego was rivalling the size of mine—and I just couldn’t have that. So if Carter wasn’t going to get rid of him, it was going to fall to me.”

“But I didn’t have to. What I did do was beat Carter while he was the champion. I want you all to think about that. Think about the fact that in this business, if you beat the champion, you should become the number one contender. But that didn’t happen with me, did it? I beat the champion and then promptly got forgotten about. Forced to stand to the side while someone who is one of my trainees gets a shot ahead of me, and I am put in a match with three idiots fighting over a championship that is beneath me.”

“And it is beneath me.”

“That might seem arrogant to so many of you, but it’s true. Hell, it’s even beneath Eddie Lyons. Eddie should be going for that world championship. I should be going for that world championship. Bill Barnhart is the type of person who should be going for the Internet championship. Along with Miles, because he has had infinite chances to become world champion and just keeps falling on his ass. And as personally entertaining as it is for me to watch Miles fail constantly, again and again, it is getting a little bit tiring when I haven’t even had my rematch for that world championship after beating his fucking husband.”

Alex growled and threw his hands in the air.

”But I am going to take all of this chicken shit and turn it into chicken salad. I am going to go into this Tables, Ladders and Chairs match and walk out with the Internet championship. Because I can. And because I need to prove a point. Eddie Lyons thinks he’s better than me. He thinks he is the next big thing, that he deserves to be a champion and I don’t. The other three men in this match all deserve to have me beating the crap out of them for various reasons. Eddie is standing in front of me due to his own hubris. A man who believes he is worthy of standing as an equal to someone like me when in reality he is nowhere close. As much as he wishes he was one of the best of the best, the truth is that Eddie Lyons is a bridesmaid who will never be a bride.”

“But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you Eddie? You stood there and told me that legends don’t have to remind people of their legend. Listen to yourself. Do you know the kind of people we deal with? You may think I’m an arrogant, smug piece of shit, and you might think that I treat you like an afterthought, but I want you to look at everyone else in this company. See, while you are smart enough to acknowledge everything I’ve done and everything I’ve been through, the majority of people we face on a weekly basis don’t. Do you think Bill Barnhart has the same level of respect for my career as you do?”

“He doesn’t… many don’t.”

“You want to look down on me because I’m willing to take shortcuts? Really, you should be looking up to me because I’m the only one honest enough to admit it. How many have lied to your face? Really Eddie, how many have lied to your face and made you look like a fool because you believed them out of the goodness of your heart, only for them to betray you? You are a patsy to people who eat you up and destroy you because they are willing to pull the trigger when you aren’t. You don’t have a killer instinct. You don’t have what it takes to become a real champion, so you constantly come back to the Roulette or the Internet championship, knowing that they are attainable. World championships will always elude you until you can pull your head out of your ass and become unbreakable…”

He couldn’t help but laugh at himself, using Eddie’s own nickname against him.

”But there is still hope for Eddie Lyons. Something I cannot say for Miles Kasey. A kid who had all the talent in the world, talent that I saw and wanted to nourish. Talent that everyone in this company and in this business has been willing and wanting to explode. We have all been waiting, Miles. All of us. We’ve been wanting you to live up to that potential. To lead us into a new era. To become a world champion. In the end, we were wrong about you. Your husband is the world champion and he’s the one who broke through that glass ceiling before you. And if I’m being completely honest, you are the last member of your family that deserves that spot.”

“Shit, at this point LJ should be going for the world championship. LJ should be in this match instead of you. You are boring and uninteresting, and every single time I look at you, I wonder why I wasted so much of my time trying to teach you how to be a real professional wrestler. All of that time, all of that effort, everything I ever did for you, and all you have done is piss it away with stupid decisions. You wanted a world championship match? You should have gone up to Finn and asked for it. And then if he said no, you should’ve punched him in the mouth face-to-face. But you didn’t. And now you wanna come up with some kind of lame excuse as to why you fail, while also telling me that I’m a hypocrite for doing what I did to Finn.”

“But there is a difference between you and me, Miles. You were friends with him. Finn cared about you. He and I? We’ve always hated each other. And yes, his ex-wife fell for me, his ex ex-wife wanted me to make his life a living hell and to take that world championship from him—but he and I were never friends. You were. And you took that friendship and pissed it down the toilet all for a shot at something you could never win, because you simply do not have that level of talent. And you do not have the talent to beat me. And that’s what you’re going to have to do to become the Internet champion.”

“Beat me…”

“And I have to tell you, kid, I don’t see you being able to do it. You’ll try. You’ll make grand statements about how you are going to overcome being an underdog, and how you are going to rise up and break through that glass ceiling—but in the end, you just won’t be good enough. This is the cycle you’ve gotten yourself into and unlike others, you do not have the will or the way to pull yourself out of it. You are spiralling right down the toilet bowl. And you can’t pull yourself away. I hope that I’m wrong about you. I really do. I hope that I fail to become the Internet champion and that I look up to see you holding that title over your head—but I just can’t see it.”

He chuckled and rolled his eyes before folding his arms over his chest, shifting his focus to the final man in this match.

”But at least Eddie and Miles have something about them that can be considered a redeemable quality. Bill, on the other hand, has nothing like that. It’s been said many times that this company would be better off if Bill and his wife just left and took Felix with them—and I stand by that statement. But do you know why I stand by that statement, Bill? Do you know why every single time I have been put into a match with you, all I do is roll my eyes and feel sick to my stomach that I have to deal with you? Because it has nothing to do with the type of man you are. You are a professional wrestler, you are a fat, tough human being who can take a beating. You love your wife, you love your dog. You have your friends. There is nothing inherently wrong with you as a man.”

“You simply live your life, try hard, and want to do what you love as a profession. The reason I despise you so much, Bill, is because you are taking up opportunities for others. Here we are in this four-way match for the Internet championship and you did nothing to earn it. You got placed in this match as a warm body because we needed an extra. You are not going to win this match. You are not going to be the Internet champion. You are not going to get anywhere close to that championship, and every single person in that arena knows it. Miles knows it. Eddie knows it. I know it.”

“Shit… deep down, you know it.”

“But you are still going to fumble-fuck your way through a promo, you are still going to turn up to this match, you are still going to attempt to win it and get in all of our ways. You are still going to be involved in all of this and at the end of the day, all you are doing is making a nuisance of yourself because you cannot be a real challenge. So the four of us are going to do everything we can to win this title. We are going to do everything we can to grab a hold of it and give it a better life than it had around Kevin fucking Carter’s waist. And while part of me thought of it as a demotion, I’m now seeing that the Internet title needs me. It needs my experience. It needs my name. It needs everything that I am so the Internet championship can thrive and become a prize. That is something the three of you simply cannot do. So I’m going to save it, and I’m going to become the King of the Internet.”

By Law

It had been months since Alex had heard from his ex-wife, or soon-to-be ex-wife. They had separated, and it was far from mutual. Sonya had stormed out after their fight, Alex finally letting go of all the frustrations that he had kept inside for the better part of the year. Never fully feeling supported by his wife. The woman he had shared almost a decade of his life with. A woman he had a child with, built a business with. He never wanted to be with anyone else, he wanted to grow old with her, to ride off into the sunset with her.

But as the passion for professional wrestling returned, she didn’t feel the same way. Instead of believing that Alex should stay retired, to give up any lingering dreams he had and motivation for getting back into a professional wrestling ring, she wanted him to stop, to give up, to walk away. And that was something Alex could never do.

When he put his mind to something, he would do everything in his power to make sure his dreams came true. And as such, the marriage ended. A side effect of that was that Alex had fallen for and started a relationship with Finn Whelan’s ex-wife, Aaron Asphyxia.

And now Alex found himself sitting in his lawyer’s office. His hair tied back in a bun as he wore a black and white suit, his hands clasped together as he stared across the large mahogany table at the ageing man who had always taken care of his legal troubles. Anytime Alex needed a contract drawn up or something legally done with the gym, he would come to this man. Robert Stevens. A man in his late 60s who was not just a partner at his law firm, he was one of the founders.

He had short grey hair, wire-framed glasses that he only ever used for reading the fine print, which currently sat down the bridge of his nose as he slowly and meticulously went through the small stack of papers in front of him. Alex leaned on his left arm, his elbow on the side of the chair as he stared across, wondering exactly what Robert was about to say. After a few moments, the older man cleared his throat and put the papers to the side before taking his glasses off and placing them on top of the stack. His voice was deep and gruff and commanded respect. Before Robert had gone to college to become a lawyer, he had spent four years in the military. This man was disciplined and regimented. His presence commanded respect, and he was one of the few people on this planet that Alex respected implicitly.

”Well, your wife has waived all rights to the gym. All she is seeking is a small amount of alimony for your son. And she has also agreed to joint custody. In fact, this is one of the fairest agreements I’ve ever been sent by a lawyer.”

Alex laughed to himself and ran his index finger and thumb across his forehead. ”Yeah, I figured she’d be fair. She always said if we ever broke up and needed to separate, she would be.”

Robert chuckled and shook his head. ”I still wouldn’t normally trust a soon-to-be ex-wife. I’ve had to do a lot of paperwork for a lot of messy divorces. But yours so far has gone very smooth. In fact, so smooth that it should only be a week or two before we get everything done. We’ll just need a few more signatures, and you and Sonya will be officially divorced.”

Alex stayed silent for a moment. He looked down at his hand, his eyes focusing on his finger where his wedding ring used to be. He lost himself in the moment, the seconds ticking by as they seemed to stretch out. Robert cleared his throat, and it snapped Alex out of it. He looked up at his lawyer with a small nod. ”Good… thank you.”

Alex stood up. Robert took a deep breath and sighed heavily. ”Are you alright? And don’t bullshit me, kid. Going through a divorce is never easy.”

Alex just shook his head and moved toward the door. ”Yeah… it’s not. But life isn’t meant to be easy.” He opened the office door, walking through it and hearing it click behind him. He still had a long way to go, but at least this part of his life, this chapter, was almost closed.

Too easy

”This company does not deserve me.”

Alex takes a deep breath, his face a mixture of mild annoyance and frustration.

”A few months ago I was the world champion. I saved this company from dealing with Finn Whelan being champion. I took that championship out of his hands and made sure that his reign of terror ended. And how was I thanked? I had to put my championship on the line against someone I had beaten not too long before. And then, in one moment of weakness, he was able to beat me. A fluke. A one-in-a-million chance. Lightning struck, and he was able to become the luckiest human being on the face of this fucking planet. And Carter McKinney held the SCW World Heavyweight Championship over his head.”

”And how was I thanked? I was put against him in a non-title match before he went to face that arrogant clown J2H. And I beat him. I beat him because 99 times out of 100, I destroy Carter McKinney.”

”But then what?”

”I beat the kid who is the current champion. I beat him before, and I beat him after. I never got my rematch. But I was shifted to the side while J2H took his shot. I had to listen as that arrogant little douchebag ran his mouth about things he has no idea about, and he ended up failing. He failed to beat Carter. And he didn’t fail because Carter is a better wrestler. He didn’t fail because Carter is a deserving champion. J2H failed because he beat himself. He beat himself because he couldn’t get past his own ego. And because of him, Carter is still the champion. I don’t have my rematch, and instead, I’ve got to sit back and watch as a kid from my gym steps up and gets a chance.”

Alex scoffs and throws his hands in the air.

”And I am absolutely proud of Aiden. And I’m going to step back and let him take charge and go for the World Championship. But don’t take this as an admission that I’m suddenly too old to step up and become champion again. Because trust me when I say this, I still have a hell of a lot left in the tank. But one thing that has really gotten under my skin, aside from not being able to get my rematch and being shoved aside, is that I’m now being put up against people who have absolutely no business being in the same ring as me.”

His voice rises and some bass enters it.

”Justin Smith. One of the biggest jokes in this company that isn’t named Bill Barnhart. I mean, what kind of bullshit is this? Some wannabe hardcore deathmatch indie mud show wrestler who made his name getting into bare-knuckle brawls going up against me. A three-time SCW World Champion. A man who has won over 10 world championships and has been at the top of his game for the better part of two decades. And I’m expected to get into a professional wrestling ring and face this buffoon? This absolute joke of a human being who has one of the worst records in this company? What exactly do I have to gain by wrestling you, Justin?”

”Well?”

”Cause I can answer that right away. I gain nothing. I beat you, and it doesn’t advance anything. I don’t get to say that I’ve beaten the top contender. I don’t get to say that I’m still on top of my game. I beat you, and I say that I beat a nobody. Someone with a horrible record. But if you somehow shock the world and beat me, then I’ve lost everything. I’m no longer the world champion, I’m no longer a top contender, and I lose all credibility to everyone and everything in this business. So I am going to do everything in my power to stomp your head into the mat and walk away as the winner, but I just want you to know how offended I am that I am even in this match. And how offended I am that I have to sully my reputation and my legacy by beating you.”

”So get ready, Justin, because this week I’m coming for your head and nothing is going to stop me.”

Blackhole

She was gone. Gone from his life, gone from everyone’s lives. It was a less-than-clean break, but it was still a break. The morning after Alex had laid his entire heart bare,  she had decided to leave. Nothing else needed to be said. Sonya didn’t even try to defend herself or her position. She didn’t try to listen to his point of view or apologise. She simply woke up, packed her things, and left. Leaving the house that she shared with him. Taking the children that she had with him. Leaving a phone number for a lawyer so they could get custody and everything else sorted out, because she didn’t want to talk or say anything else.

She didn’t even fight. Confirming what Alex felt. That he was right in their relationship had been over for some time. Dead and buried. Neither of them could bring themselves to admit it until Alex had found his voice.

He was going to fight, but not for her. Not for Sonya. But he was going to fight for his children. He was going to fight for his young daughter and young son. His six-year-old son Kyle and his 4-year-old daughter Emily. He was going to fight for them. He was going to make damn sure that he stayed in their lives. But now the house was empty. And Alex woke up in the morning knowing that he was not going to be able to hear anything. It was going to be silent.

And sometimes the loudest noise you can hear is silence.

Alex woke up, his eyes flooded open and focused. He picked up his phone, noticing the time before sitting up with a groan. Looking next to him, he shook his head. The other side of the bed was empty, something that he had really felt over the last eight years. But here we were. He took a deep breath, getting to his feet and going about his day, having a shower, getting dressed, making coffee, and something to eat. Doing his warm-up run around the block. All of it before heading to the gym. And this is where he knew the day was going to get more interesting but also painful.

This was going to be the first day that everyone was going to notice Sonya's absence. And he knew it. Alex set up the gym, throwing the roller door up, putting down the mats, and tightening the ring ropes. Opening the door into the weight room and into the locker rooms. He tossed the keys back and forth from one hand to the other before walking into the office. He walked over to his desk and stopped cold. Looking up across the floor to the other desk. Her desk. It was cleared out and clean. Alex bought his hand into a fist and lightly tapped his desk before shaking his head, unsure of what to do.

He heard voices. Members of the gym who were turning up ready to work out and get ready for the day. He let out a deep breath and sat down, going over all the paperwork that he now had to re-file and organise. His workload had gone up, but it was all for a reason that in his mind, at least, was justified.

He got to his feet and moved out to the main floor, looking around. Everyone was starting their usual daily routine. Cardio, work, weights, and grappling. The gym was alive and a buzz with movement and life. He smiled and looked down, everything would keep going. Life goes on.

Alex walked around the gym. Keeping an eye on a few things before catching the eye of Alicia Lukas. Alicia walked over and folded her arms over her chest. She took a deep breath and looked at the door leading into the office before looking back at Alex. ”Hey…I need to talk to Sonya, I have an idea that she might enjoy. Is she in?” Alex’s heart sank.

He took a deep breath and shook his head, looking at his longtime friend. ”No….”

Before he could elaborate, Alicia gave a small shrug and stepped back ”That’s cool. I’ll let her know whenever she gets back.”

”She isn’t coming back…”

Those words hung in the air. The air itself was thick with tension. Alicia swallowed hard and folded her arms over her chest, showing that she wasn’t fully comfortable with having this kind of conversation. She took a deep breath and tilted her head before asking the question that was the only one that seemed to matter. ”Why?”

Alex took a deep breath. He knew this was it. The moment when he was going to reveal that everything in his personal life had crumbled and broken down to nothing. But it also needed to happen. When you have a personal life that is so intertwined with your business one stuff like this is bound to happen ”Sonya and I” Alex paused for a moment trying to find the best words to break this news but also knowing that it was better to rip the Band-Aid off then to Finesse it in any way shape or form. ”We have decided that our personal life and professional life need to be separated. She and I are getting a divorce, and because of that, she is leaving Wolfslair. Effective immediately.”

Alicia stayed silent for a moment, taking in all of that information. She took a deep breath and nodded slowly before reaching out and putting her hand on Alex‘s shoulder, realising that this must be much harder for him than it would be for anyone else. She took a deep breath and stepped back, leaving Alex with his thoughts. But she also looked over and narrowed her eyes as she saw Aaron approaching Alex.

Alex swallowed and looked around before opening the office door, allowing her to walk in. The second they were alone, Alex moved toward his desk, moving around it and sitting down. Aaron sighed heavily, looking at the empty desk to the side. ”She left?” Alex nodded slowly. He kept his emotions hidden. He didn’t want to show anything too ostentatious when it came to all of this. But in taking a deep breath, he betrayed those emotional barriers.

Aaron moved through the office before turning and leaning on Sonya’s desk. Her long hair flowed down and framed her face for Alex to see. Aaron was beautiful. And dangerous. ”She signed away her stock in the company. And her rights to the name and business.” Alex sighed. Aaron. Odder as if she was taking in all the information.

Aaron tilted her head; her mind was working 1,000,000 miles a minute, and she looked at Alex. She took a deep breath, preparing to ask a question that she never thought she would have to. ”Was it…was it because of me?”

Alex took a deep breath. Standing up and moving around his desk, and stepped toward her. He shook his head and looked away, sliding his hands into the front pocket of his jeans before answering. His voice was calm, cool, and collected. Designed in a way that was deliberately going to take away her fears and her anxiety. ”No, she thought it did. But it wasn’t you. This was a long time coming. You are right in a way. But it was something that I needed to do. I haven’t been happy with her for a long, long time, Aaron.”

She sighed heavily. As if the weight of the world had lifted off her shoulders. She cleared her throat, sitting on the edge of Sonya’s desk as Alex stepped closer. ”I was right. You do deserve better. You deserve someone who is going to support you and is going to have your back. You deserve someone who is going to help you realise those dreams that you have locked away inside. And she didn’t. I’m glad that I’m not the reason she left, but I’m not going to apologise for anything that I’ve said to you. Because it isn’t wrong, Alex. What you’re feeling, what I’m feeling. It isn’t wrong.”

Alex stepped forward. He looked down into her eyes as she sat on the edge of the desk. He reached out, his thumb and forefinger gripping her chin as he brought her gaze to his. Alex nodded and leaned in, his lips crashing against hers, and after a few moments, he pulled back, their hands and fingers intertwining as Alex put his forehead against Aaron’s. They didn’t say anything else to each other. The truth is that they didn’t need to. They stood there, hands together, forehead to forehead. Enjoying the moment. And for the first time in a long time, Alex felt the cold, dark cloud that was hanging above him disappear.

Part 2: You’re wrong

It is so hard being the champion. Holding that world title and taking it everywhere you go while being recognised is the best in the world. It’s emotionally draining. But very few people are able to handle that level of pressure. Alex Jones is one of them, and he holds the world championship to his chest, sliding it over his shoulder as he moves about looking at different artwork in the world-famous art museum, The Lourve.

”I hope this isn’t being looked at as too cliché or predictable. The last thing I’d want to do is be cliché and predictable. Something that I don’t want to be, especially after my opponent decided to be exactly that. But I look at all this artwork, and I can’t help but wonder what the artists were thinking while they were painting, sculpting, and dreaming. And that’s the truth. Artists are dreamers. They will dream about what they want to create and what they want to convey before putting a brush to canvas or holding a chisel to a sculpture. It’s the truth and it’s the way of things. But what we do is also a form of art.”

“We destroy our bodies and abuse our bodies in the effort to create art. And we do it for all of the people who are fans of this sport. All of the people who pay to get into the building or pay their hard-earned money to watch our supercards. Everyone who decides to watch on television and waits with bated breath for the next instalment of climax control to go up. Everyone who pays their hard-earned money to see a supercar or to go on the cruise that we have every year. People are fans of the art that we create. Whether you hate the individual or love the individual, you are a fan of what we are able to do on that canvas.”

“But professional wrestling isn’t the same thing. Being predictable and cliché in art can still be looked at as charming or artistic. In professional wrestling, it is looked down upon. Frowned upon. And when I look at my opponent, all I can see is someone who has fallen into that trap of being cliché and predictable. And I’m sorry, Carter, I’m sorry because I haven’t been a very good teacher. I hope and pray that you will break out and do something convincing, something that would make everyone believe in you. Including Me.”

“But, when given a chance to step up and be an artist and to be different, all you’ve done is fail. And now I stand here as a failure myself. As a veteran in this business and as someone who has looked at it as a champion and someone who is in a position to teach people like you, I take your failures as my own. And now I’m faced with the pure disappointment of having someone like you fail to do the one thing that they should have done. Be relevant and present in the moment. You didn’t do it, Carter. I laid all these little breadcrumbs for you to follow, and instead of following them and doing everything that you needed to, you fell in a heap and all you did was go after the low-hanging fruit that you thought was going to deliver salvation. But in the end, your art is nothing. It’s boring. And you are undeserving of the world championship, and I’m going to prove it.”

Alex shrugs and keeps walking through the halls, looking at all the artwork. Aaron follows him, wearing a long black dress that makes her look like a piece of artwork as well.

”I laid down all of these little hints that you could’ve latched onto and said something. Instead, what happened was a complete disappointment. All you did was take what you said on climax control and push it out longer. Things that I already destroyed and talked about. You fell into a trap that I laid that I didn’t think you were going to fit into because I thought you were smarter, and in the end, all you did was disappoint me. But at the same time, it’s not your fault.”

“Being a champion, a real champion, is difficult. When I first looked at this company, do you know who the champion was? Think back to when Honor wrestling fell apart, think back to when that company dissolved into nothing. Who was the champion? Fenris. And I was holding off coming to SCW. But Austin just couldn’t wait. He joined the company and went after Fenris, and those two beat the hell out of each other. And when all was said and done, Austin was much kinder to Fenris than I would’ve been. He allowed Fenris to believe he was Austin‘s equal when in reality he wasn’t. And I vowed that I would never allow someone to live in that delusion.”

“You are not getting that from me.”

“You i’m not getting that delusion. I’m not going to stand here and talk about how great you are, Carter. I’m not going to give you a little paddle on the back and tell you that you deserve to be here because the truth is, you don’t. You don’t belong here. You don’t know the pressure that it takes to be a champion, and why would you? You’ve never been put in that position. If you haven’t been a world champion before, you have to fight for that. You have to fight for that respect, and you have to fight for that position, and when you have earned it, you have a weight that is lifted off your shoulders, and you are ready to be the face of the company. But you’re not ready for that. You’re not ready to be the face of the company, and I can’t just stand by and let you fail.”

“I can’t sit back and watch you drag the company down with you.”

“So, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that from happening. You might think of this is arrogance or some kind of bullshit powerplay from Me to divert the focus away from how I want the championship or however you want to frame it. But the truth is that I want someone to beat me who is going to earn it and be ready for that position, and that simply isn’t you. And as I said, it’s not your fault. You’ve never been in that position before, and you don’t know what it takes. You don’t know what needs to be sacrificed to be a champion. I have sacrificed so much to stand at the top of this business, you have no idea. Maybe one day you will, but that moment isn’t now because you simply haven’t got to that point yet.”

Alex stops and lays the championship down in the centre of the room on a black podium. All the other pieces of art are scattered around it, and the championship is sitting there with it all. Showing where Alex believes the SCW world heavyweight championship should be. A work of art.

”Watching you essentially say the same thing over and over again just allowed me to sit back and realise that I was right. There is so much that you could’ve said about me, Carter. So much that I’m sure you’re going to cover in your next little piece of promotional material as we barrel toward our main event. Our match is going to shape the future of this business. And I gave you a chance to show the world that you should be the world champion, and all you did was fumble the ball. All you did was fail. You took everything that you said when you had the ring on climax control and just pushed it out further. You chased me from the ring, and you had a chance to make a statement, and you failed in that moment, just like you failed in this one. You sat there playing guessing games like some kind of child and then went for the low-hanging fruit that was sitting in front of you instead of coming up with something important or something that was meaningful.”

“I am so disappointed in that it breaks my fucking heart.”

“And all you needed to do was be honest. All you needed to do was close your eyes and look inside yourself, and come up with something intelligent to say, and the best you could come up with was talking about how every single person you’ve been in that elimination chamber could’ve beaten me. Really? You think all the people in that chamber had a shot against me? None of them did. You won and came out the other side, and now you have a shot of becoming the world champion, and in your moment of greatness, all you had to say was that the people who you beat could have been in the same position as you and had the same shot? Are you serious?”

“At blaze of glory, you were presented with an opportunity to prove yourself inside that elimination chamber. And for the most part, you did. But to stand there and say that everyone else in there had close to a shot against me is an insult not only to me but also to this world championship. It is also an insult to you because you were supposed to be the best of the best. But you weren’t. You want the best of the best, were you? If you can stand there and admit that everyone else in that match also has a chance to beat me, then you are essentially saying that you weren’t the best, you just kind of stumbled into that position. I want someone who earned that shot, not someone who blindly stepped into it because they were the luckiest person at the time.”

Alex rolls his eyes and continues. Clearly annoyed at Carter‘s words.

”You think that Bill Barnhart stood a chance against me? Or Miles Kasey? Well, of course you think Miles did. What about Jayden Harris? Or how about Eddie Lyons? Miles, I understand because he’s your man. You want to believe that you’re better half still has a chance. But all the others? Eddie and the young Harris? Because they came from wrestling families? The only person in that match aside from you who would’ve stood a chance against me is J2H. He’s the only one in that match whom I would have stood back, thrown my hands in the air, and looked at as an equal. Not anyone else. Your theory about any of them being able to stand up and beat me is laughable. But you went out there on national television and you said that anyone in that match could’ve had a shot against me.”

“Why?”

“To pad your ego?”

“Because you want to feel better about your win? Is that what it is? If my words cut you so deep that you’re going to stand there and make excuses and say that some of those men in the elimination chamber could’ve beaten me, then you are even more weak-willed than I thought you were. If you’re gonna stand there and own your elimination chamber victory, then own it. Say that you are better than any of them. Say that you proved you are better than even J2H. Don’t print around it and dance around it. Own it. The fact that you would say that just goes to show how weak you are. None of them could’ve stood up to me. But you could have. But you fucked up. You fucked up by saying that they were in any way shape or form good enough to face me.”

“You are delusional, boy. Straight delusional, and how you view the professional wrestling landscape and world, and who you believe should have any type of shot against the champion. No matter what you think of me, turning around and saying that someone like Bill Barnhart had a snowball's chance in hell against me shows where your mindset is and shows how weak you are going to be when you step in the ring with a real champion.”

Alex chuckles and shakes his head, rubbing the back of his head.

”This is all part of your grand plan, isn’t it? It’s everything you want. You love playing the underdog. You love having everyone around you telling you that you can’t win because it seems to fuel you when you get to go and run your mouth about how everyone doubts you and how you’re going to overcome the odds. Being the underdog is a choice. But are you really? You stood there and called me a hypocrite. You stood there and talked about how I wouldn’t have beaten Finn if it wasn’t for my lovely other half's help. You are running down my championship rain every chance you get, focusing on everything that I said you shouldn’t. Focusing on me being a hypocrite when I have told you time and time again that I absolutely am and don’t give a shit what you say about it. You think that calling me a hypocrite and calling me out for kicking Finn in the nuts is going to somehow make me feel bad or make me look bad? I flat out told you I don’t give a shit. I told you that I will take every shortcut necessary to keep this championship.”

“But if I’m so bad and I’m so over the hill and not able to beat Finn fairly, then how exactly are you the underdog? If I’m not good enough to hold this championship and how are you the underdog in this story and how are you? The one that everyone needs to focus on? Well, it’s simple. You are the underdog because you need to be.”

“You don’t have anything else, Carter. You need to be the underdog. You need to be the victim. You need to be the one that everyone believes is going to lose. Because, God forbid, people stop believing in you and thinking that you can rise above all of that. God forbid people actually believe that you were going to be the champion because then, when you fail, it’s an even bigger disappointment. You need to be the victim because when you choke, as everyone knows, you are going to. It’s less of a problem. You have those lowered expectations, and when you fail, the expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and you don’t feel as bad. It doesn’t hurt as much. You can go home to your husband and shrug and talk about how no one expected you to win anyway, but you gave it the best shot that you could. You are the underdog, and you are the victim because you need to be. Because you don’t have that champion mindset. You don’t have that killer instinct that will allow you to do everything you need to become champion. You would rather make excuses.”

“And that is what separates people like you from people like me.”

“You thrive on being the underdog and being the failure. You keep those expectations low because when you fail, it’s easier to explain them away. If you are allowed people to believe, if you are allowed people to stand there and know that you are going to be the champion and you are good enough to be, and you fail, then those expectations drag them down as far as they drag you down. But if you play the victim, if you talk about how I am such a hypocrite and how I am going to do everything in my power to stop you from becoming champion, and then it happens, well, you get plausible deniability. You get to play the victim all you want. And it’s all because you don’t have the confidence to actually be the champion people think you should be. And that is why you aren’t ready to be the champion.”

“That is why you’ll fail. And that is why what I’m about to do to you is going to be the most beautiful moment of art this company has ever seen.”

Manipulation

It’s a funny thing, growing older. In some ways the adage that with age comes wisdom is completely true. But in others growing old and facing one’s own mortality, coming to terms with the fact you are not indestructible or immortal can break that wisdom and lead to a heightened level of irrational thinking.

And stupidity.

We call this a midlife crisis.

Alex had started going through this months ago. Coming to terms with the fact that no matter what he did his body was going to break down and not allow him to do the one thing on this planet that he wanted to do. So instead he decided to throw himself into everything else. Running the gym, training the next generation as well as training his oldest son while also trying to be there as a father for his two youngest that he had with Sonya.

But throwing yourself into work, especially a job that was running parallel with your dreams was never going to work. And Alex wanted more. That is where we join him. Just after his first appointment flying back in from getting experimental stem cell treatments. He had arrived home. Realizing that Sonya had already left and gone to the gym, he followed. Walking through the front door he looked up, Sonya stared at him and shook her head going into the office.

Alex knew he was in for a fight.

He walked into the office after Sonya and folded his arms over his chest ”Arent you going to ask how it went?” Sonya ground her teeth together and stayed silent. She was angry, her body language showing it clearly. Alex shook his head and sighed ”I see….you really are pissed at me aren’t you? For improving my life.” Alex shook his head and looked away.

Sonya took a deep breath and put her pen down. She sat back and tilted her head to the side staring at her husband with a mixture of anger and disappointment. ”Improving your life….if that’s all it was I would be happy. But you and I both know that’s a lie.” She paused and took a deep breath ”You and I both know that you did this because you want to get back in the ring. You want to go back to wrestling. But for how long? That treatment will make you feel better for a while but in a few months maybe a year your body is going to break down again. And then what Alex? I’m going to be left to pick up the fucking pieces again”

Alex rolled his eyes and shook his head. Now it was his time to be angry. His turn to be disappointed. ”Really? So, I go get this treatment, my body feels better than it has in about a decade, I want to get back in the ring and help train everyone here as well as maybe have a few matches and you’re going to get angry over that? Angry over me trying to live my dream again?”

”You live your dreams! You lived with them for 20 years. And now you can’t let it go. And you’re not the one who suffers. Yes, you get hurt and yes, you have to leave those dreams behind but you lived that life. Me, the kids, everyone here who cares about you? We are the ones who have to suffer through this. You’re being selfish.”

”Selfish?” Alex shook his head, shocked that she would say something like that. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath before throwing his hands in the air. ”Nice, I do something for myself and that makes me selfish. I do something because I’m sick and tired of standing around here acting like everything is fine. That’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been acting like everything has been fine when it hasn’t been. I’m not happy, and you don’t care.”

Sonya shook her head, getting to her feet she moved past Alex. The two of them stayed silent. As Sonya left Alex shook his head. He grabbed a small coffee cup and tossed it across the room. The anger welled up inside him as he ran his hands through his hair and paced back and forth. The door opened and Aaron stepped in. She took a deep breath and shook her head before falling her arms over her chest. ”I hate that she talks to you like that”

”Yeah, me too.” Alex kept facing away from her, he took a deep breath trying to calm himself down before shaking his head and running a hand through his long hair. He turned and looked at Aaron with a small shrug.”Not much I can really do about it. Was there something you needed?”

Aaron just shook her head. ”I just came in to check on you. That’s all. I heard the argument, hell everyone out there heard the argument. I just want to make sure you are okay.”

”I’m not but I will be…”

”I should go give her a piece of my mind. How dare she talk to you like that. You were doing something for yourself. Doing something to make your body feel better after all the sacrifices you’ve made.” Aaron growled and looked toward the door.

Alex shook his head and stepped toward her. ”No. Don’t do that. Just let it go, please. Why does it matter to you anyway?”

”Because you deserve better! You deserve someone who is going to support you. Someone who isn’t going to make you feel guilty about making choices for yourself. When will you see that? The months any time you have tried to do anything for yourself, she has been right there in your face trying to stop you. I’d never do that.” Aaron shook her head and turned to leave Alex with his thoughts.

Alex shakes his head taking a deep breath as she leaves. She’s right, and part of him knows it. He’s miserable, unhappy, unfulfilled. This isn’t the type of relationship he wants or needs. A decision needs to be made. And time is running out.

Punishment

”Three times. Three times I have become the world champion of this company. After the second time and my body started breaking apart, everyone wrote me off. Everyone. I rode off into the sunset and I went home to just train the next generation. And people forgot about me. This entire company forgot about me. They welcomed others from the past back with open arms. People with the last name of Harris, J2H, Kris Ryan. They all got welcomed back with smiles and happiness.”

Alex chuckles to himself and shakes his head. Holding the SCW world heavyweight championship in his right hand he turns it toward himself and looks at it.

”But I stayed away. I stayed away and watched as Austin pissed his career down the toilet. I stayed away and watched as the young Australian from my gym came in and became a mid-card star. I watched as Alicia Lukas got treated like an afterthought. And I watched as Finn Whelan was able to become the longest-reigning world champion of all time. Over 400 days of him holding this world championship. And none of you being good enough to take it off of him. And in the beginning, I didn’t really care. In the beginning, I smiled as Finn became the world champion. Letting him believe in his little delusion that he was the be-all end-all of the professional wrestling world made me laugh with a certain amusement that I hadn’t felt in years.”

“But, that fire was still there. You know the one don’t you? I’m not arrogant enough to believe that I’m the only one who feels these things. And it’s not just in the professional wrestling world. It’s everywhere everywhere. You see it in the eyes of a retired baseball player who has become a manager on a team. They watch the young men run out onto the field and get ready to play a game that they are no longer physically able to. You see the defeat in their eyes, but there’s always that fire…that spark, that ember.”

“You see it in the eyes of different commentators on Fox Sports or ESPN while they watch an NFL game. Hell, I saw it in Tony Romo’s eyes when he was commenting on a game. He still had that fire burning. But his body could no longer keep up with it. His body had betrayed him.”

“Just like mine.”

“But, a few months ago, I decided to do something about it. I looked into everything. Different rehabilitation programs, regular medicine, and alternative medicine, and eventually I settled on stem cell research. I know stem cells are a dirty word. But they worked. The treatments made me feel 1 million times better. So good that I was able to get back in the ring. So good that I was able to come back. And when I made that decision I made that decision not just for myself but for the entire company.”

Alex loves to himself and shakes his head before getting to his feet. Pacing back and forth taking a deep breath here then continues.

”And now, my first match as the world champion. I’m going to be facing someone who lives perpetually in his brother‘s shadow, and also his girlfriends. My first title defense is going to be against someone who keeps failing to blast through that glass ceiling even though he has an entire fan base of people standing right behind him trying to push him toward it. All of the big stars in this company, all of the big names, and this is what I have to face. I can’t look forward to whoever is going to win the blast from the past because I have this other match in front of me first.”

“I have all of these amazing professional wrestlers scraping and chlorine to win a tournament to face me. Or Carter if he is able to shock the world. Alexander Raven has returned, and we have J2H floating around the company, Finn should still be trying to come for this championship if he’s able to find his balls in Kayla’s handbag. But in the end, I’m stuck facing Carter and his extended family.”

“And I warned you.”

“I warned you to your face Carter what I was going to do to you and your extended family. And the company listened and instead of keeping me away from them, they put me against one of them. Kind of funny isn’t it? I’m laughing about it, but I can promise we won’t be. You Carter, and you LJ, and hell Miles might have some feelings about it. None of them are going to be amusement at what I’m about to do to you.”

Alex slowly smiles and continues taking a deep breath.

”But the question is, should I feel bad about what I’m about to do to LJ? I mean think about it LJ, if it wasn’t for Carter and this situation that he finds himself in would your path have crossed mine? Possibly, but this soon? While I am the world champion? I don’t think so. You have been put in an impossible situation. Facing the New World champion who just beat a guy who many thought was unbeatable. And you haven’t been able to do anything of note the entire time you’ve been here.”

“Carter has been a champion and also just won an elimination chamber to earn a shot at Me. Your brother Miles has been bouncing all over the place winning championships and trying his hardest to break through that same glass ceiling. Carter has. Those two might be failures, but at least they’re failures who have ambition. You on the other hand seem to lack ambition and our content with playing second fiddle to everyone. Whether that is your brother or your girlfriend. And now that I think about it if I wanted a real challenge, the company should have booked Alexandra against me not you.”

“I am going to hurt you. Very very bad.”

“And it isn’t even your fault that this is happening LJ. You are just in the wrong place at the wrong time and you are part of the wrong family. I don’t dislike you and I don’t hate you. I have no personal issue with you whatsoever I don’t even have a professional issue with you. You are a young kid trying to rise up that ladder and become something greater than you are. The only problem is you lack the talent to do it. You lack the killer instinct to do it. You are exactly the same as your brother and your brother-in-law. And now you’re going to have to face a world champion who is very very pissed off. Good luck kid. You are going to need it.”

Heart Shaped Box

There is a stigma that goes with seeking help. If you have any type of depression or anxiety seeking help for that often leads people to believe that you are mentally unstable or something is wrong. But, seeking help is never a negative. In fact, it takes great strength to realise when you need help and even more strength to ask for it. Going to therapy was never something that Alex thought about. It was a new revelation for him, being strong enough to go and talk about how he felt. It was something that his wife had brought up to him on a few different occasions and this time he had completely agreed.

In the beginning, it was hard. Alex struggled to open up. To talk about anything. But as the weeks went on, he slowly started to talk. At first, it was about simple things – the struggles of balancing his work and his personal life with his children. Eventually, it moved on to feeling like he was letting his kids down.

But then there was more. Struggling with the prospect of never being able to do what he loved to do again. Feeling like his body was betraying him. The anger that he felt deep inside himself as he came to the realisation that he was not immortal. That he was not invulnerable. And that is where we were at now. Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath; he was leaning forward on the small leather couch sitting across from his therapist. A lovely older man with a British accent. His hair was cut short and parted down the left side as it swung over the back of his head covering a small bald spot on the top of his crown.

He wore wire framed glasses and had a five o’clock shadow. He looked like every single stereotypical therapist you have seen in a movie. His office was very bland. A few bookshelves with self-help and psychology books going from left to right alphabetically sat along the far wall, as well as some statues and awards scattered across the place with pictures of the therapist with friends and family.

[color=red“I just… I knew that one day my career would come to an end.”[/color] Alex shook his head again, clasping his hands together and staring ahead as if he was staring into space. “A job like mine, being largely physical…it takes a toll on you. It destroys your body and it destroys your spirit. But it still doesn’t mean that I’m not sad to see it all end. Especially since it wasn’t on my terms. And I don’t think my wife understands that.”

”Empathy isn’t always easy to come by. In fact, some people really struggle with it. But it’s not with everything. Physical pain or a loss in the family with some kind of death or terminal illness, that is something that people can empathise with. The loss of a job or the ability to do that job? It’s not always as simple as that to understand it.” Alex gave a small nod as the therapist closed his notepad and got to his feet.

Alex stood up as well, shaking his therapist's hand knowing that they were out of time. He turned to move towards the door as he left and contemplated the therapist's words. He was right – not everyone can empathise straight away with any given situation. It takes time and understanding.

Alex drove back to the gym. as he pulled into the parking lot and stopped his car. He took a deep breath. His hand started shaking, his heart started racing. This had been happening more and more. This feeling of dread and anxiety that would overcome him before entering the gym.

It was hard, seeing all of their bright young faces. Their careers ahead of them or in some cases they were in the middle of them. Looking at people who had known for years like Austin and Alicia, ones that he had stood beside and helped become stars. They could still do what Alex could not. And it made him physically ill. It filled him with sadness and pain as well as anger that he couldn’t get rid of. An anger that made him surge with heat and fury. Something he never felt before.

With a groan and a grunt, he got out of his car, closing the door and grabbing his small briefcase. He moved up and threw the main door and around to the office. He looked over with a smile giving Austin a small nod as he saw the hulking tattooed former world champion doing drills with the young kids. Getting them to run the ropes, getting them to do front rolls, getting them to do flatpack bumps. All the things that Alex used to show, it was now Austin‘s job. He then looked over to the grappling mats where Alicia was sitting back on her heels on her knees, explaining different submissions and how to get in and out of them with the female talent. Alex took a deep breath and forced a smile. He was happy but at the same time there was something inside him that hated what he saw. It made him feel irrelevant and useless.

He was jealous. Jealous that they were still able to do what they all loved to do and he couldn’t.

Austin called Alex over, and Alex shook his head and gave him a thumbs up before going into the office putting his briefcase down. Sonja looked up from her laptop and smiled with a nod ”Hey, how was it?”

”It was good, talked through a few things, it’s really helping. Talking to someone who is impartial and not swayed either way…” Alex sat down across from Sonja. She smiled and nodded at him and the two sat and went about their work, Alex looking through his emails before seeing one sent from his surgeon. An advertisement for stem cell research. He leaned closer, his eyes moving across the words and all the information. ”Hmmm…”

Sonja slowly looked up from her laptop with an eyebrow raised, ”Something interesting?”

Alex nodded and sat back, twirling a pen in his fingers. ”My orthopedic surgeon sent me some information on stem cells…..he seems to think it might work…”

”Work for?”

”My knee….it could give me…well…everything.”

Sonja took a sharp inhale and got to her feet, pushing out the breath in a way that made her seem even more annoyed than normal. Her nostrils flared and she stepped forward, getting closer to Alex as she leaned down across his desk. She grabbed the top of the laptop and slowly closed it. Alex turned his head, looking up at his wife as she clearly wanted his attention.

”What?”

Sonja shook her head and uttered one simple word. ”No”

”No?” Alex replied and raised an eyebrow.

Sonja shook her head again and leaned closer. ”Alex, please, don’t even think about it. You’re retired. Going through something like this, these treatments, they might work or they might not, but at the end of the day it still means that you’re going to go back to something that you’ve spent a long time trying to get over and end. You should just keep up with your therapy and get back to doing what we have been building. Keeping this gym going.”

He took a deep breath and shook his head, ”But I-”

”But nothing! You’re retired…accept it…please…”

Sonja stormed out of the office leaving Alex sitting at his desk. Alex shook his head and stared out the window, not hearing or seeing Aaron enter and shut the door behind her. ”Hey…you…you ok?”

Alex flipped his laptop open and growled back, ”Yeah…fine…did you need something?”

Aaron swallowed hard and looked down, she seemed sheepish and almost hurt that Alex snapped at her. She shook her head and turned grabbing the door ,”No…sorry…I…nevermind”

Alex sighed heavily and stood up. ”Wait…” Aaron turned and Alex folded his arms over his chest. ”I’m sorry, I was being rude…I’m not okay, but there’s nothing that can be done…I guess I’m going a little crazy with the whole retirement thing….that’s all.”

Aaron nodded slowly and sighed stepping forward closing the distance. ”Yeah, stepping away feels…wrong. Like a part of you is missing…and it’s a part you always want back, one you’ll do almost anything to get back. I get it…If you need to talk, ever…I’m here.” Alex gave a small nod and a smile, it was nice, knowing that someone understood, Aaron went to leave and Alex cleared his throat.

”Hey…thanks….I appreciate it…” Aaron shot him a small smile and closed the door, leaving Alex in the office alone as he opened the laptop to read more information about the Stem cells

The Answer

San Francisco, California. The opposite side of the country from where Alex Jones currently calls home. The opposite side of the country from where his gym and home are located. He takes a deep breath, slowly walking along the walkway where he can look across the bay and see the Golden Gate Bridge. He stops taking a deep breath.

”Well, that wasn’t what everyone expected was it? The main event of Inception, ending in a disqualification. I get it, people don’t understand why it happened. Honestly? Frustration is something that can get into anyone’s mind. It can eat away at you and it can cause you to lose part of yourself. And, I did. Finn and I went at it and at the end of the day, I could have thrown that chair down, and he and I could have continued the match. I could be standing here as the new Sin City Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion.”

“I want to be really clear on this since a lot of you don’t understand, or don’t seem to care. But no, I didn’t ask Aaron as a fixer to come down to the ring and get involved in my World Championship match. I didn’t ask her to go after anyone or throw a chair into the ring or anything. Why would I do that? Why would I destroy my own shot at being the World Champion?”

“Do I look like an idiot? With how long I’ve been in this, with how long I have been winning world championships and being a part of all of these different companies, you really believe I wouldn’t be smart enough to know what was about to happen?”

“This issue between myself and Finn is not over. Because coming up at Blaze of Glory I get another opportunity at Finn. And there’s a lot of people who are complaining about this. You see Andrea Hernandez has to defend her championship inside an Elimination Chamber. Meanwhile, on the men’s side the elimination chamber is for a shot at Finn. Or, a shot at Me when I become the world champion. And I keep hearing the little whispers, the little complaints, everyone wondering why I’m getting another shot at Finn and why I don’t have to be in the chamber.”

Alex rolls his eyes and throws his arms in the air. He has black bandanna tied around his long hair that flows down his shoulders and his back. A black and red Wolfslair shirt over the top of a pair of baggy blue jeans.

”it’s simple. We don’t have to be. Finn has been the champion long enough that beating everyone in a chamber like that wouldn’t do anyone any favours whatsoever. And at this point in my career, with everything I’ve done, I’ve earned the right to call my own goddamn shots. So, while the rest of you are all scrambling over each other to get a shot at myself or Finn, I’m going to be doing everything I can to beat the shit out of that arrogant little pissant and take the SCW World Heavyweight Championship. And I’m going to do it at the biggest show of the year. I’m going to become a three time World Champion in this company.”

“Yes, three times. And that would be just in this company. I have won so many championships that my trophy room needed to be expanded. And coming up at Blaze of Glory, I have a chance to add to it. Meanwhile, there are a list of hopefuls, stepping into the chamber, all getting ready to beat the living hell out of each other to earn the right to face the World Champion. And that is how it should be. The SCW World Championship should be looked at as a – surprise – something to be earned. Something to be fought for. People like me have earned the right to come back and say that we want a shot at that title. We don’t take back doors into it.”

“And that is what everyone will be fighting for in that chamber, including my opponent this week.”

“And trust me Carter, this match is more exciting to me than you realise. See, I’m not gonna sit here and bullshit my way through this. I’ve never been one to do that. I’m not going to Big Brother/Little Brother you. I’m not going to go down that same road that others do and start spouting off some nonsense about how you haven’t done anything in this business. I’ve seen plenty of what you’ve been able to accomplish in your time under the SCW banner. You started off in SCU, and you grew from there. You’ve done everything you can to get your name out there and be viewed as a star and the truth is, you are one. People love you, Carter.”

“You come out to the ring and people applaud and cheer. They get on their feet and they clap their hands and they stomp their feet and they do everything they possibly can to show their appreciation and love for you. Getting the fans behind you in a way that you have? It's not easy. In fact, it’s one of the hardest things that you can possibly do in your life. But you’ve been able to do it. You’ve been able to do it and when you won the Internet Championship off of Peter Vaughn. I sat at home watching that show and I saw the entire crowd explode.”

“It was amazing.”

Alex nods slowly and gives a small round of applause before taking a deep breath and continuing.

”I’m not someone who is delusional enough to say that you can’t beat me. Anyone can beat anyone else on any given night. But against me, you are definitely Ice skating uphill. You might think that my focus is going to be just on Finn and getting that World Championship. But what if I told you there is a motivation for me to face you and to beat you that goes well beyond that World Championship? Intriguing right? You see Carter, I’m very happy that Miles was able to find you. I’m happy that you two are in love. And you are, we all can see it. The way he looks at you, the way you look at him, you have a storybook romance and a storybook love that most people should envy.”

“But, there is a small problem with it. You see Carter, Miles was a member of my family. He was someone who I affectionately called one of my kids. Miles, along with Lachlan Kane, Sierra Williams, Aiden Reynolds, Johanna Kreiger, Kallie Reznik… they are all my kids. Ones that I have had a hand in training and trying to build up as champions. And there was a time where Miles simply disappeared. We all know this story.”

“He took off without saying a word to any of us. Took off to see you. Now, I’ve never been in the way of anyone finding true love, but the fact he just walked away without saying anything to any of us was a bullshit move. And nobody, nobody took that harder than me. Finn might like to play the victim like he was so hurt by the fact Miles walked away, but we all know that self-centred piece of shit only used it as an excuse. But me, Carter? I was hurt by it. He was a member of my family, a member of my gym. I gave all of my attention and all of my knowledge to that kid and he spat in my goddamn face. And that happened when he started seeing you.”

“Now, it might not be any of your problem. I’m very very aware that this whole thing was probably due to Miles being an immature little dickhead. But at the end of the day, we let him back in and he spat in our faces again when he attacked Finn. Now, I stabbed Finn in the front. I told him I wanted a championship match and went after him. Miles, on the other hand, stabbed him in the back. A big no no. And you, instead of helping to guide him toward a better outcome, instead you blindly followed him.”

Alex rolls his eyes and shakes his head before leaning close

””Carter, let me tell you a little something. Something that you might not get. You are here in your little fantasy land where you believe that love between you and Miles is both of you just blindly agreeing with the other person following them around like a little lost puppy dog. Avoiding conflict wherever you can and just smiling for the cameras and smiling for your family and never having an argument between yourself and your significant other. But real love? Real love is pain. Real love is walking through that pain and telling your partner and the person that you love when they are being a complete raging arsehole. That is something that you as a human being failed at.”

“You failed to call Miles out on his bullshit. You failed to be the partner that he needed instead of being the partner that you thought he wanted. Now, I don’t think you’re a bad person, Carter. I think you are a good human being. You have an amazing heart, and you show it every single time you get in the ring. Even if you are outmatched physically, which you are most of the time. Even if you are outmatched by someone with more experience, like you are most of the time. You still put everything on the line. And that’s what you’ll have to do against me.”

“But, you and Miles have a lot of things in common. One of which being that you are constantly banging your heads against a glass ceiling. Everyone talks about his potential but I want to talk about yours. Your potential. The potential that you refuse to acknowledge except and push push. And hell, the truth is that if you and Miles had gone about things differently, you could’ve come to Wolfslair…”

“You could have trained with the champions. But instead, all you are is a former Internet Champion who has had many many other chances to step up and become the main event star that a lot of us saw you as. But exactly like Miles you just squander opportunity after opportunity and end up being a nobody. And it breaks my heart. It really does, Carter. I know that you should be better than this. I know that you should be more than this. But the fact that you’re facing me this week, well, I have a lot of issues I need to work out with you. And it isn’t just the Miles stuff.”

Alex closes his eyes and instantly his demeanour changes. As his eyes open up again, he looks cruel, cold, like something is wrong.

”Right now. you are standing in the way of me getting to that World Championship. Momentum is everything in this business, Carter. I’ve been around long enough to know what happens when someone breaks that momentum. And facing you? If I beat you and steamroll over you like I know I can, then that will give me momentum going against Finn. If I lose to you? I break that momentum. So what do you think is going to happen, Carter? You know how much I have left in the tank. You know how angry and how frustrated someone can get when they think that their championship aspirations are being taken for granted.”

“So, I have to ask, what do you think is going to happen? What do you think is going to be the line that I will cross? Because when it comes to that championship there isn’t a line that I won’t cross. And you are standing in my way. You might not think it, but you being booked in this match against me is you being an obstacle. And I have made a career out of removing obstacles. I have made a career out of doing everything that I possibly can to get world championships and this is going to be no different. If I have to destroy you to get that momentum to go and beat Finn and take that championship at Blaze of Glory, I will do it. And I’ll do it without an inch of remorse.”

“I am not like you.”

“You are a good person. A kindhearted person. Someone who is filled with respect and love who will do everything they can the right way. I’m not like that, Carter. I am not a good man. I’m not a good person. I have done a lot of things in this business and my personal life that I should be ashamed of that I’m simply not. It is all a means to an end and I will destroy you to get to Finn. And if you somehow drag your broken carcass to the elimination chamber and win it? Then you’ll be facing me again. But this time I will be a World Champion. Because unlike you and unlike Miles? I know how to actually reach my potential.”

Gone away

It was 5 am. Alex Jones had arrived at the gym, turning on the lights, cleaning the mats, and getting all of the computers turned on and ready to go. Going through paperwork, making sure everything was in its place. He closed his eyes and shook his head, his heart sinking as he looked over at one of the rings inside the main room. His fingertips stand still on the canvas, His other hand moved up and slides across the bottom rope.

He pulled himself up onto the apron, stepping into the ring. He leaned on the ropes, he had an urgent inside himself to start running across the ring, to run the ropes, to hit them like he used to, but as he took a step he felt his knee click. His body popped a few times in different places. He shook his head sliding from the ring to the floor and walking over to the large metal roller door, leaning down to unlock it he slid it straight up in the air waiting for everyone else to arrive. He moved back to the office. Sitting down with the pile of paperwork in front of him, he went about his day.

As everyone arrived, he looked up through the window, giving them a small nod of acknowledgment. From students, to professionals, to members of the gym who were in his inner circle. They all received the same greeting. From Finn Whelan to Austin James Mercer and Alicia Lukas, they all got the same small head knot. Even his wife Sonja.

Alex just went about doing paperwork sitting at his desk sipping a coffee and showing no emotion even as he heard the sounds that always emanated from the gym. The sound of talking, laughter, weights hitting each other and being lifted as well as small competitions being run on the grappling mats and in the ring. It was a sound that Alex loved, a sound that used to fill him with so much happiness and something he would usually partake in. But right now? He couldn’t bring himself to even look outside, he couldn’t bring himself to look at any of the wrestling rings that he had set up all the grappling mats. He couldn’t even bring himself to talk to anyone.

And there were only two people who knew about his injuries. Two people who knew that it was the end. Finn and Sonja.

But, it wouldn’t be long before everyone else realized the truth. It wouldn’t be long till the whispers started and the rumors filled the gym. Things like this do not go unnoticed. People would see that Alex was not out there, that he was not getting in the ring, that he was not being physical and active. Even though he would work out while no one else was around, it was all cardio and weight work. He hadn’t stepped inside a professional wrestling ring in weeks.

He signed a piece of paper moving it across his desk before hearing the click of the door and locking up. Sonja stepped in slowly smiling and moving across to her desk. She looked down realising that all the paperwork that had been sitting on her side of the office was now on his side and was done. She shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. Her long blonde hair tied back in a bun. ”I appreciate that you have done so much paperwork and made my life easier. But, isn’t there anything else better that you could do with your time?”

”Like what?” his answer back was short and sharp. There was almost no emotion in it.

Sonja sighed and shook her head stepping to his desk, she placed her hands flat on the top of it and leaned forward ”Oh, I don’t know, maybe go out there and help some of these talented youngsters that we have under our roof? Give them some of that knowledge that you’ve accumulated over the last 20 years?” Her voice oozed with authority and a hint of sarcasm. Alex shook his head continuing to sign more papers and read through them. Sonja, clearly frustrated, slammed her hands on the desk a little harder trying to get his attention.

Alex took a deep breath and sat back ”What?….” his voice was still flat and emotionless. Almost cold in its delivery matching Alex‘s demeanour

Sonja shook her head and folded her arms over her chest ”Really? We’re going through this again?” This isn’t the first time you’ve been told that you can’t wrestle and every single other time you’ve gotten up got in the ring and at least helped these kids. You even returned last time.”

Alex took a deep breath and sat back ”It’s not the same. Every single other time it’s been an advisement that I should retire. But at the end of the day, I’ve had a medical release and I’ve been able to go back to work. Every other time it has been a suggestion. But not this time. My doctor wouldn’t even entertain the thought of signing a medical release to allow me to go back to work. It’s over Sonja. I’m done.” Alex got to his feet, moving to the filing cabinet to put away some of the papers. Standing and turning his back on his wife.

Sonja ground her teeth together and took a long deep breath. ”Yeah. I get it. Every other time you’ve been told you shouldn’t be doing something. It was just a suggestion. This time, there’s a finality to it. Being told you shouldn’t do something and being told you can’t do something are two completely different things. But does that mean that you’re going to hide in here for the rest of your life? That you’re not going to go out there and actually help these kids?”

Alex’s breath hitched in his throat, his life and problems being laid out like that right in front of him by the woman who was supposed to love him and support him hit him in the chest. He slammed the filing cabinet door shut and turned. ”Help them? How? By sitting on the ring apron or on the top rope and telling them all these different stories about the good old days when I could do what I’m trying to teach them to do? They need to be shown, physically shown. And it’s way better if someone like Austin or Finn does that. Or Alicia. Help look at what Finn has been able to do with Miles. What Austin has been doing with Aiden. Or Alicia and Aaron have with Kallie….” Alex trailed off and took a breath calming himself down

Sonja stepped closest reaching out and taking Alex’s hands in hers ”And you can’t contribute? You can’t go out there and tell them anything about your career or what you’ve accomplished?”

”And what would that accomplish?” He raised his voice and stepped closer ”Forcing me to be around all of them, around a ring and around the business. What would it accomplish aside from making me miserable?” He looks to the window and places his hands on his hips ”What do you want me to say? What do you want to hear? That I’m scared? That I’m depressed?….well….I am…ok?…I am… and I have no idea what to do about it”

Sonja, caught off guard by Alex and his passionate confession took a deep breath, stepped forward, and just wrapped her arms around him. The two of them stand in silence unsure of what to say to each other.

Pitiful.

”Well, what a return that was. One filled with a chance to win and go after whoever the winner was going to be in the world championship match. I said "whoever" the winner was going to be, but I called it then and I knew I was going to be right. There was no way in hell Miles was going to be able to beat them. Meanwhile, I had to come back after a lengthy layoff and get thrown right into an over-the-top-rope battle royale to try and earn a shot at whatever championship I wanted”

Alex can’t help it chuckle, his long dark hair tied back in a bun as his trimmed beard sits close to his skin only showing a few glimpses of the small streaks of silver that had formed since we last saw him.

”And, I wanted a shot at the world championship. A shot at Finn. See, other people have issues with him but he and I have our own history. Something that I’m sure a lot of you are going to end up hearing about about. But the fact remains that my first match back was that Battle Royale. I had the same chance that everyone else did going into that match to win and earn my shot. But I failed. I got my arse dumped out onto the floor and I watched as the chance flew out the window. But, something that you all have to remember is that one on one I’m still the baddest motherfucker on the planet”

“We saw the return of Connor Murphy, we’ve seen the rise of Miles‘s little brother. And we’ve seen as Finn stays on top of the pile and everyone else is too scared to challenge him directly.”

“Let may be very clear here. I’m not here to just have some kind of nostalgia run where everyone gets to see me a few times, applaud me, and watch as I ride off into the sunset. This isn’t a situation where I want to come back and go out in front of a live crowd wave my hand in the air thank everyone for their time and effort in watching Me and then leave. It’s not what I want. It’s not what anyone wants. I’m back and I’m back to take heads and championships. I’m back to have one more run as a world champion in a main event star. A chance to prove why I was put in the Hall of Fame.”

“And a chance to prove that I’m better than Finn. That I’m better than all the other names that have been floating around this company while I’ve been sitting at home.”

“How quickly people forget. But the truth is, I don’t blame people for it. I don’t blame most of you for forgetting the kind of man I am. I don’t blame you for forgetting that I came into this company and led a young Austin James Mercer to the world championship. I don’t even blame people for forgetting that I stepped forward and became a double champion when I beat Mac Bane for the world championship while I was the roulette champion. And while we sit back and see that he along with recent Hall of Famer Mark Cross and a whole host of others never returned to the company or gave a shit about SCW. I’m still here, and I’ve always been here.”

Alex growls and sits forward. He wears a red and black Wolfslair t-shirt and black jeans with black boots. A leather jacket sits on the back of the chair as he sits down and stares forward.

”I love this company. And I have noticed that while a whole bunch of stars have left no one has really stepped up to become the next big name. Finn returned and has done an excellent job as the world champion but where is everyone else? Why hasn’t Fenris come back? Why is J2H happy being Kevin Carter‘s bitch? Why has Alexander Raven disappeared? Why is Ben Jordan only floating around instead of being one of the baddest people on the planet like we all know he can be?”

“And why are we pretending that Miles Kasey is a main event star?”

Alex shakes his head, pushing off the table. He gets to his feet and steps sideways, grabbing a beer and popping it open before taking a sip and placing it back on the kitchen counter in front of him.

”Look, Miles, kid, I have watched you try everything in your power to break through that glass ceiling that seems to be above you. Everything. You came to ask and you wanted to get better. But while everyone else was committed to getting better, you have been committed to doing nothing. Your entire career became an afterthought after you met Carter. Now, I’m not one to speak ill of someone’s love life. And I’m glad you have found someone who loves you. I’m glad you have that relationship. Everyone deserves to have that one person in their life that feels like they complete them.”

“However, when that relationship almost completely derails everything you’ve done all because you couldn’t be bothered to talk to the people around you there is a problem. And you sat there and acted like you were a victim. You walked back into the gym and we all welcomed you with open arms because of thin. Because he went to bat for you because he told us that you deserved another chance because you were just a young dumb kid in love and you wanted to come home.”

“And like a pack of blazing dip shits, we believed him. And we believed you.”

“And then what happened? Just as you were getting accepted back into the fold, just as we looked at you as one of us again and you started to get that Park mentality what did you do? You walked out there you attacked Finn from behind numerous times all to get a shot at his world championship. now, while I admire your determination to become a world champion and while I admire the steps that you were taking the fact that you did it to Finn is the problem.”

Alex shakes his head, clearly disappointed in the steps that Miles took in getting to Finn and trying to become the world champion.

”The worst part about all this is that you just didn’t get it. Finn and myself and everyone else in that gym weren’t pissed off at you because you wanted a world championship match. We all want to be the champion that is why we do this. We were pissed off because you decided to go about it in a way that dishonored him and dishonored you. And when confronted with this fact, when presented with the idea that you were wrong instead of realizing it and apologizing you double down and then try to act like the victim.”

“The victim…”

“Acting like we all didn’t have your back from day one”

“Acting like none of us would have been there for you if you had asked. Acting like Finn would have said no if you asked for a shot. You stopped around like a child talking about how everyone thought you were a joke and how you needed to prove us all wrong. Miles, I never thought you were a joke. The years every single one of us has been talking about your potential. Talking about how you could rise up and be a world champion. Talking about how all you needed to do was believe in yourself.”

“Attacking someone from behind isn’t believing in yourself. Especially when that person is someone who let you into his home, who did everything he could to help you, that isn’t an act of someone living up to their potential that is an act of somebody trying to take a shortcut. And we have never been about taking shortcuts. You come into this company, you come into this business and you earn everything that you get. Earned his shots at that world championship, and I earned my world championships. Hell, even Kayla Richards who you seem so happy with throwing under the bus because she doesn’t like you earned everything that she has. And that’s coming from me and I hate the bitch”

“But you? You whine and cry and act like everything should be handed to you on a silver platter because you have skills. Yes Miles you are an incredible professional wrestler but it means nothing, and I mean nothing, if you can’t string it together and get your head out of your ass. Even Carter, Carter has his head on straight. Carter is someone who could be a world champion just like you but he has way more of an upside because unlike you he doesn’t play the victim card.”

Alex can’t help but laugh to himself as he folds his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.

”Look at everything you’ve done. Attacking him from behind, deliberately distracting him so he would lose matches. Costing him the mixed tag team championships. And what was it all for? What did it accomplish miles? You got that main event and you had a chance at the world championship but in the end, you failed. You failed. I’ll say it again again just in case it hasn’t drilled into that ignorant skull of yours.”

“You. Failed.”

“And it cost you almost everything. Friends, family, respect. You have Carter, and he loves you, and that’s great. In your mind, you’re probably thinking you don’t need anyone else. And maybe that’s true. But you had brothers and sisters, members of a pack, all of us ready to cheer you on and be behind you.”

“Now, I haven’t kicked you out of the gym and I allow you to train there because part of Me still believes you can be redeemed. Part of Me still believes that you can wake up to yourself and stop being such an arrogant dickhead. And yes, a small part of it is that Finn and others like to see you suffer because you come into the gym and no one wants anything to do with you.”

“And since I know you’re going to bring it up, that’s super kick was for your own good.”

“I wasn’t going to sit back and allow you to constantly get involved in Finn‘s shit and think that you can get away with it. So I kicked you in the head. I didn’t apologize and I don’t plan to. Just like I won’t apologize for giving you the tough love that you sorely need. I’m gonna get in the ring with you Miles and I’m going to beat the hell out of you. And maybe, just maybe you’ll learn something.”

History is a flat circle

”Move, now. Get up, hit the ropes and drop down. No Slackers.”

Alex stands on the ring apron, his arms folded over his chest. A black and red wolfslair shirt on and a pair of training shorts. Inside the ring some of the newer trainees where rotating with each other, hitting the ropes, dropping down and leapfrogging and switching.it up. Since his loss to Mac Bane he had been a domineering and almost dictator like personality. Working his trainees and team mates to the bone.

He sneers and shakes his head jumping down from the apron. Charlie Jones, his younger sister, manager of Wolfslair Orlando and now the General Manager of upstart promotion Pro Wrestling Excellence steps next to him as Alex looks over at Johanna Krieger and Aiden Reynolds, two international stars signed to PWS Apex and SCW respectively. ”Get in and show them.” Johanna and Aiden look at each other and get up and they start to roll with the trainees who are out of their depth, one by one Johanna takes their back sinking in a choke and Aiden locks in a variety of limb locks. Cries of pain ring out and Alex shakes his head.

”Going a little hard on them aren’t we?” Alex raises an eyebrow as Charlie turns her back and leans on the ring apron. Alex scoffs and lays his hands flat on the mat, his eyes tracing back and forth as Johanna and Aiden step down from the ring and go back to working out with Austin and Alicia. ”They aren’t going to get any better just being beaten down and then beaten up by your more..elite names.Alex groans and rolls his eyes pushing off the ring

”That’s it for the day, hit the showers. Use some ice” The trainees all groan in pain and gingerly move from the ring as Alex lets out a sigh looking at his sister. ”Steel sharpens steel Charlie. I need to get these kids ready, they need to know that they aren’t going to break like glass” He moves away leaning down grabbing some of the workout gear packing it up as various other workout sessions go on without him, Alicia and Johanna rolling on the mats trading submissions, Austin and Aiden having a contest involving cardio.

Numerous others, names we have not seen or know who work in the independants also train and seem to be working hard. Alex smiles slowly as Charlie’s next words ring out in his ears. ”But they aren’t steel yet, you can break them and not in the good way.”

Dallas Texas, 12 Years Ago

22 year old Alex Jones stood in the ring, there were other young men around him, Alex had two years of training and in ring experience behind him, he wasn’t sure about the others. Outside the ring, an aging Texan legend “Wild” Bill Harrison stood with his arms crossed. His long black hair that used to be a thick mane connecting with his handlebar mustache was now thinning on top and tied back.

Even in his 60’s he was a commanding presence. A mountain of a man at six foot five and still in the high two hundred pounds. He let out a grunt, one that seemed to be annoyed and angry.

”Pathetic.”

With that one word the other trainees all seemed to look defeated, all but Alex who raised an eyebrow and pushed his chest forward. Bill circled the ring, his footsteps very heavy. ”You all have no heart at all. I don’t even know why you’re in my ring. Some of you have experience in companies but it just shows how soft your generation is.” The air was thick with tension, Alex breathed deep as Bill growled locking eyes with the young grappler. ”Indian squats….go till you can’t stand...you pussies.” Bill blew his whistle. Alex sneered and started doing squats, the others growl and already look defeated. But Alex didn’t care, he was driven and ready…

Pain was only temporary….

”Alex?....are you fucking listening to me?”


He snapped out of it, turning back to Charlie who raised her eyebrows, her long black hair was tied back away from her face, her eyes raising as she tilted her head waiting for her older brother to acknowledge her. Alex just slowly smiled and gave her a nod. ”I hear you….Charlie, you remember what we went through…” He stared right into her eyes, he could see a switch get flipped, her eyes darted to the side, the memories seemed painful for her.

He stepped forward putting his hand on her shoulder, Charlie flinched and pulled away. ”Yeah, I remember. I also remember it was hard on Dylan, I remember I quit wrestling for six years because of it…” Her voice trailed off, this was one of the first times she had brought up Dylan, one of the first times his name had been uttered inside the halls of Wolfslair New York. ”Dylan didn’t….he didn’t do what he did because of the training, it was because of things outside wrestling, outside the life…you know that…”

There was an awkward silence, Charlie swallowed and snapped out of it looking over at all the trainees, laughing and mingling. Alex wasn’t yelling at them, cursing at them or trying to belittle them, he just smiled. That was the difference. Context. He knew when to be hard on everyone, when to be soft, when to listen and when to talk. Charlie gave a small nod and looked over at them to. ”Yeah, I guess you’re right, besides you’re not like the guy who trained us. You actually care….I wish Dylan was alive to see it”

Alex swallowed, he tried to hide it all, the emotional impact of thinking about their deceased younger brother. The feeling of coming home to find him on the floor, Charlie kneeling next to him, cradling his head in her lap, tears streaming down her face and screaming for help. A chill went up his spine, but he shook his head before offering a smile to his sister. ”I think he…would have loved it here…” Charlie let out a sigh and folded her arms over her chest, silence was all that was between them now. But, they both knew….Alex was right.

Deja Vu

”I could have sworn I have done this song and dance before. Recently in fact…”

Alex Jones, the (now) former SCW Heavyweight champion, sits in front of a chessboard. Not a traditional one, no. The pieces are modeled after various figures in greek mythology, his left hand moving over to the knight, modeled to look like Area, the god of war. He slides it up and to the side, in the L motion, dropping it in the middle of the board.

”This is the first match of the new year. New year new me right? That’s how the saying goes. New year's resolutions and all that jazz?. The truth is, I don’t need to change. I’m fucking incredible the way I am. I am now a two time SCW World champion. An eleven time world champion. And I get it, I do, So many of you can claim to be a forty seven time world champion in a whole host of different companies that no one gives a shit about and haven’t been active in decades. I’m looking at you Matt Knox. But me? Look at my history. Look at the companies that I have been the champion of, that I have risen to the goddamn top of. Aside from SCW…”

“There’s Honor wrestling, twice I became the champion there. I was the first Honor wrestling champion, the first one to hold that belt high in the air. Oh, by the way, completely unrelated but, welcome Finn Whelan to SCW everyone….”

Alex winks and moves a pawn forward before clearing his throat.

”The fact remains I held that title twice, once as it’s first champion and then again as the most important to bring that company back from the brink oif death, buying it some extra time to get the SCW merger done. But, then there’s WWH. Everyone knows that company, for better or worse. Myself, Austin, Kat Jones, Mercedes Vargas, Alicie, Sierra, Finn, we have all been in that company over the years. And in my case, in Kats case, in Finns case, we all held the WWH world title. There is IWF, the company everyone sees finally popping up all over twitter? Yeah I was the Imperial champion there too, not that anyone would knows….”

“Record deletion is kinda lame…”

“But I was at the top there, and the XHF network? That giant conglomerate of companies? Guess what? The original XHF? I was the world champion there to. That is just a small sample of the world titles that I have held, the companies I have represented and been at the top of. This is what I have done my entire career. And while some of you are so narrow minded you don’t see the scope of the wrestling world and are happily sitting there thinking SCW is the only wrestling company that matters, people like myself have been on top everywhere we have gone..”

“So, while some of you want to act like the new year is some kind of magical reset button, I’m here to tell you that it’s bullshuit and you’re just as untalented as you were last year…”

He smirks and shakes his head, moving another Ares knight before turning and getting up from the table, a walk off checkmate that he didn’t even need to exclaim as we hear a groan from the other side of the table, a decidedly feminine one as a few choice German expletives are heard moments later.

”And I have to be honest, most of you have to know by now that Mac Bane is counting his lucky stars, he’s keeping four leaf clovers, he’s looking for Rabbits to steal their feet, cause he knows how lucky he is to not only get out of that fourway with the title but to also have not only won it off me but also do it in a match where I don’t even get my rematch. I want you all to think about that for a moment. I beat Mac Bane, I beat him a second time in a rematch that HE wanted. Then, when he is able to get handed another opportunity this match conveniently has a stipulation that stops me from getting another shot…”

“How is that fair? How is that right?”

“It isn’t”

“See, I carried this company on my back and I defended it against Mac and his cronies yet Mark and Christian seem to be blowing Mac Bane. Wolfslair has been successful as a unit but we have never EVER talking about SCW like it has needed saving. So, I’m locked out. Truth is, that little stipulation would have been fine if it was just on Mac, since he had opportunity after opportunity but in the end it screwed ME over. It made ME get shoved down to the bottom of the ladder. And I have never left the company or taken a break after losing a title.,..I have never walked off like a child…”

He smirks and sneers shaking his head.

”Which brings me to Jack Washington. I have so much history with Jack, I have seen his face across the ring from me just as much as I have Mac. See, I beat Griffin Hawkins for that title, I faced Jack and he was able to beat me. I didn’t take the rematch against Jack for a few reasons. One was that I didn’t believe I deserved it. I held the title for two weeks, The other was, at the time I wanted to see sopme new blood as a world champion, that was you Jackie boy. You deserved that time in the sun and I sat back and watched, I went back to the bottom of the ladder and prepared to work my way up expecting you to be there when I worked and earned my way back to you…”

“Unfortunately it didn;’t work out that way. You traded that title back and forth between yourself and Kris Ryans before losing it to Mark Cross. You and I never got to face each other while you were the champion. However, we did face while I was the champion. You got your shot against me, you got a chance to prove the first time wasn’t a fluke and we went at it and as expected you were a goddamn challenge Jack, I will never sit here and say you weren’t a challenge or you’re not a threat Cause I know damn well you are. But while I have always acknowledged you as part of the main event scene of SCW you have never afforded me the respect I deserve.”

“That’s why you’ll never reach my heights Jack.”

“That’s why you will never be a respected part of the company. You make excuses, you make childish comments that make zero sense. Shit, I watched and listened to you against Supreme Machine. You sat there and rattled on about the guys name. His name Jack. The guy could have been named “Fluffy McNuggets” and it wouldn’t have mattered. What mattered was that you were teamed with Krystal Wolfe who has been one of the most dominant bombshells over the last few months and you weren’t able to get the job done. You had a shot to go through and win the blast from the past, to get a match against Mac Bane and end his reign of terror. Something I can’t do..something I’m not allowed to do…”

“But, you failed, you failed and now for some reason, my first match  back, from time off that I never asked for….is against you…”

“And I have a need to prove myself again Jack, a need to get in the ring and get back on that horse. And the only way I can make sure Christian and Mark wake up and see what they’re doing and where they went wrong is to make sure they know I am un-fucking-deniable. So get in the ring with me Jack, get in the ring and lets burn the goddamn house down again, and lets show Mac and his cronies that SCW doesn’t need saving…”