For the first time in about seven or eight years, however long it has been since Bobbie and I have been involved with SCW in some way, I find myself experiencing something I never thought I would. For the first time that I know of, I’ll be attending an SCW show without Bobbie there. And not only attending, but I’ll be wrestling in the main event. It’s a weird feeling.
Bobbie has always been the active wrestler. I was only supposed to be her manager and be there to support her and cheer her on during her matches. Now that the roles have been reversed, we’ve had to endure a very heartbreaking loss and Bobbie needs some time to deal with it in her own way. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely wish she could be joining me in Denmark and cheering me on in the main event this week, but what kind of husband would I be if I didn’t understand her need for some time and space away from the SCW cameras? I actually insisted she take some time away, because as hard as this has been for me, it’s even harder for her.
I wish we weren’t going through this during SCW’s most recent tour. We were both looking forward to this one, especially the earlier Iceland stop and has hoped I would have advanced farther in the Blast From the Past tournament, but crap happens right? Life throws wrenches at you trying to knock you down when you’re riding high. But when one opportunity is lost, another one comes along and I don’t plan on wasting this opportunity I’ve been given this week.
I may not be fighting for a World Heavyweight Championship match, but it’s the next best thing. If I win the main event this week, I’ll move on to face Kevin Carter for the Internet Championship at Into The Void IX! But I have my work cut out for me because I have to beat three other guys in order to get the shot at Kevin and the title, and it’s no ordinary match.
But that’s fine with me. I need to experience all of the craziness that being a wrestler brings. It’s how I will get better in the ring. I’ll learn from every experience and every mistake I will make, because let’s face it…I will make mistakes. I’ll get hurt from time to time, but one thing I can promise everyone?
I won’t quit. I’m not going to back down from any challenge no matter how daunting it may seem. I’m determined to be a better wrestler and a stronger human being, because I’m tired of people looking at me as being weak. I’m not weak. And I’m going to prove it.
Had I not been going through a rough time when I faced Eddie Lyons a few weeks ago, I could have beat him. But I’m doing better and I’m not about to let myself get distracted for my match this week.
I’ll be focused! I’m ready to win!!
It’s time for Artie to travel to Denmark for the next several days. It feels weird to be traveling for an SCW show without Bobbie, but he knows she’d be there right with him if either of them felt it was a good idea for her to join him. But they didn’t so she is staying behind with Loki and her parents to keep her company and to comfort her if needed. He knew she was in good hands so this eased his nerves for the most part.
Artie, however, would not be traveling alone. Because he needed the support and attention just as much as Bobbie did, his father had offered to join him on the trip and have a few days of father-son bonding that they don’t get very often these days. And who would Artie be to turn down such an offer from his father. His father, too, needed the time away after having an incredibly stressful year dealing with his soon to be ex-wife- Artie’s mother, Amelia.
Artie had flown to Illinois a day before their flight to Denmark to make things easier. That was yesterday, but the duo is now boarding said international flight which is due to take off in the next thirty minutes. They are walking down the aisle of the plane as they search for their seats with their carry-on bags. “How was Bobbie when you talked to her?” His father asks as they finally find their seats and begin to put their bags in the overhead bins.
Artie sighs as he tosses his bag in next to his father’s and then takes his seat first. “She was alright, I guess.” He replies, sounding a little sad now. “She really wanted to come with but she’s also not ready to face the inevitable sympathy from everyone we see.”
Artie’s father nods as he sits in the seat next to his son. “Understandable. She’s still processing losing the baby and what to do next. You sure you’ll be able to handle it, though?” He asks as he looks at his son with curiosity but also genuine concern.
Artie shrugs and says, “I guess I will find out if it happens. I mean I’m still not over losing the baby, but I’m processing it and grieving in my own way. Wrestling is kind of therapeutic in that way, ya know?”
His father chuckles and nods. “Oh yeah. There’s nothing like being able to kick and punch some other fellas to let out some anger and frustration. Bobbie didn’t want to get back to wrestling to do the same?” It was an honest question coming from his father. The answer, though, was a little more complicated.
“Well, she’s still physically healing.” Artie begins, as he takes a deep breath and scratches his head. “But she’s also trying to decide if she wants to try again, or go for IVF like we were about to when she found out she was pregnant.” He shrugs.
His father seems surprised at hearing this and he stares at Artie for a few moments, trying to gather how he feels about it. “And what do you want?”
Artie again shrugs. Before he can answer, his attention is drawn to the aisle just ahead of them. His eyes narrow and he suddenly becomes angry. “You’ve got to be kidding me? What is she doing here?!”
His father looks confused for a second before turning his attention to who has gotten him so angry. He then stands up and heads over to…Artie’s mother! Artie tries to stop him, but his father is on a mission. He watches as his father confronts his mother who is now equally surprised to see him. She turns her focus to Artie and her face lights up.
He closes his eyes and prays she doesn’t head over to him, but when he opens them he is disappointed to find that she indeed was standing in front of him. But he refused to make eye contact or even say a word to her.
“Artie…” She says, still with a smile on her face even though she was well aware that he wanted nothing to do with her ever again. “I promise you, I had no idea you’d be on this flight.”
Artie laughs and shakes his head. He looks at his father, who adds more to the conversation. “Amelia, you need help. Truly. Are we going to have to get a restraining order so incidents like this stop?”
Amelia laughs and shakes her head. Artie begins to think that is sounding more and more like a great idea. “Oh Arnie, don’t be so dramatic. I’m telling the truth.”
Artie rolls his eyes. “Unlikely. You expect us to believe you didn’t know we were going to Denmark? So what are you going to Denmark for?” He glares at her, knowing full well that she is lying. That is all she has done over the last year. Lie.
“Ok look,” she begins and that is all Artie and his father need to hear. His father brushes past her and takes his seat once again, and both are prepared to ignore her. The plane is preparing for take off anyway. “Yes, I knew you were going to Denmark, but I had no idea when you were leaving or what flight you’d be on. Nor did I know that your father would be traveling with you. Where is Bobbie?”
Artie glares at her more angry than before. “Where Bobbie is is none of your business, so you can keep her name out of your mouth. You lost all rights you had to ask about her.”
One of the flight attendants then walks up to Artie’s mother with a friendly smile. “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to take your seat. We’ll be taking off shortly.” Amelia returns a polite smile and nods, quietly agreeing she would do so in just a moment.
She turns back to Artie. “I heard about Bobbie’s miscarriage…”
“Don’t even…” Artie closes his eyes and shakes his head.
“I won’t bother you anymore for the duration of the flight, but I hope once we get to Denmark that you’ll agree to have coffee or lunch with me so we can at least talk.” Artie shakes his head and refuses to look at her any further. She nods and with one final look to Artie’s father, she turns and walks away, returning to her own seat.
Artie lets out a sigh and shakes his head again, burying it in his hands. “She refuses to give up. Now I’m really glad Bobbie isn’t here.” He lays his head back on the headrest, looking absolutely defeated.
“Don’t you pay her any mind, son.” His father says, patting him on the shoulder. The flight attendants finish up closing the overhead bins, one of the final preparations before take off. “You have a big match on Sunday to focus on so don’t let her get into your head.”
Artie laughs, quietly thinking in his head that it’s a little late for that. He had told himself there would be no distractions this week. This match was bigger than any match he has had so far, and he wanted to prove all of the doubters wrong. Unfortunately for him, it was now his mother who had other plans. And knowing his mother, she wasn’t going to give up until she got her way.
This was going to be a long(er) flight…
I just can’t win. If it’s not one thing, it’s another, and this week? It’s my lying cheating horrible mother who decided to grace us with her presence. The flight to Denmark was long. Over eight hours, and while she kept to her word and did not bother my father or me for the entirety off the flight, just knowing she was sitting a few rows ahead of us made it that much worse. Seriously, what did we do to deserve any of this insanity we’ve experienced over the last year? What are we being punished for?
I don’t know how my mother found out about Bobbie’s miscarriage, but at this point it doesn’t really matter. Nothing she says will change what I told her last time I saw her. I want her out of mine and Bobbie’s life for good. She’s done far too much damage to repair any of it at this point, so I don’t understand why she is continuing these attempts at reconciling.
She doesn’t care that I have the biggest match of my life so far coming up on Sunday. If she had her way, I wouldn’t even be wrestling anyway. I’m a grown man and she still feels like she has to protect me and run my life. I never used to mind it, but now that I’ve seen how much hurt it can bring, I want it to stop.
Even despite that I think I have to give in and meet with her at some point before Sunday. I’ll do my best to tune her out and not listen to what she has to say, but as long as I sit down and let her say what she needs to say, that should hopefully be enough for her. At least I hope it is.
I guess this could be sort of a good thing to happen right now. If I’m going to continue wrestling for the foreseeable future, I need to work on working past the distractions. I have to make sure that I don’t let what is happening outside of the ring affect my ability to fight my opponents and win when I need to. My mother is perhaps my biggest stressor in my life lately so this is the perfect opportunity to focus on picking up the win after that bell rings and moving on to face Kevin Carter for the Internet Championship.
But that doesn’t mean I am looking forward to this meeting with my mother. My stomach hurts just thinking about it…
After landing in Denmark and settling in for their stay for the next few days, Artie sent his mother a message agreeing to meet for coffee. His mother was thrilled, but his father couldn’t believe he was agreeing to this meeting. But he knew he had to do it. If not, she would find a way to confront him on Sunday before his match, and that…he couldn’t let happen. He had to do things on his terms.
So he currently finds himself in a small local cafe in Copenhagen, seated at small table in the front corner. His mother is seated across from him, both with their cups of coffee in front of them. Artie is slowly stirring in some cream and sugar, avoiding eye contact with his mother. She takes a quick sip of her coffee, smiles and continues looking at him.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Artie.” She says, gently placing her coffee back down on the saucer. He just rolls his eyes and says nothing in response. “I don’t know where to start with everything I have to say. I know none of it will matter to you or even Bobbie if you tell her.”
Artie looks up, finally making eye contact. “You’re right. It won’t.” He says with more venom than before. And he made sure she knew it, too. “And I doubt I will tell Bobbie any of this. She has enough on her plate right now.”
Artie’s mother nods. “I completely understand. Going through a miscarriage is devastating.” She sounds as if she really does care. Give how she treated Bobbie the last times she saw or spoke to her, that is hard for anyone to believe, especially Artie.
“Why are you acting like you even care?” Artie bites back, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. “You made it pretty clear the last couple of times what you think about Bobbie.”
She nods and lets out a sigh. She lowers her head for a moment, looking to be holding back tears. “I said some awful things to her. I know that. And I am not about to sit here and make excuses for my actions, either.” She pauses, trying to choose her next words carefully. If she had any chance of repairing her relationship with Artie, she had to choose every word carefully. “I’ve been in therapy the last couple of months, and it’s helped me realize..”
“How awful you are?” Artie says as if finishing her sentence for her.
She doesn’t say anything for a long while, but slowly nods her head. Artie leans forward and takes a sip of his coffee, wanting nothing more than to leave. He stares at his mother, waiting for her to continue saying whatever she has to say so he can leave.
“I don’t think I ever told you this, Artie, but before we had you, I…had a miscarriage.” She says the words slowly and almost painfully. Artie’s eyes widen as she reveals this information to him and he tries to find something to say, but he’s left speechless. “I know what Bobbie is going through, Artie. Because I went through the same thing.”
Artie shakes his head. “W-why? Why didn’t you say anything?”
The tears are now streaming down her face. “Because once we had you, there was no reason to. You were our special little boy, Artie. Hell, even now that you’re all grown up you still are. And always will be.”
He shakes his head. “I mean when you knew that Bobbie and I were having trouble having a baby? Why did you choose to say the things you said, instead of actually empathizing with her?”
“Because I wanted to save you from experiencing the same pain that your father and I went through. I thought if I told Bobbie to let you go that–”
“Wait, what?” Artie interrupts her. “You…told Bobbie to let me go? When?!”
His mother’s jaw drops open and she stares at him. She thought he knew, but clearly he did not. “She…she didn’t tell you? It was a few months ago. Look, I know I shouldn’t have said it, but I just thought you deserved to be a father. Before I found out I was pregnant with you, I was considering letting your father go!”
Artie shakes his head and pushes himself away from the table. “I’ve heard enough. This was a mistake. I have a match that I need to prepare for and if I listen to anything else you have to say it’s only going to be a distraction that I don’t need.” He stands up from his seat and turns around, ready to leave.
“Artie, please.” His mother pleads with him. She stands up and reaches for his arm. “I’m so…so sorry.”
He pulls his arm away from her, turns and walks away without another word. As he is walking away, he is processing everything his mother just told him over and over in his mind. It all made sense the more he thought about it, but could he really see himself forgiving…
No. He couldn’t focus on this now. He had to focus on his match on Sunday. The Clusterf**k Fatal Fourway. How fitting, he thought, because his own personal life was turning more into a clusterf**k everyday.
Hello, hello, hello everyone. Artie here. You’ll have to forgive any awkwardness or weirdness during this, because I’m still getting used to this whole promo thing. Funny how it’s never been Bobbie’s strong suit, either, but I’m working on it. And I’m trying to find ways to improve on it every week. But it’s not easy, ya know?! Then again, I guess it’s not supposed to be. Or is it? I don’t know!
What I do know is that I’m getting closer and closer to stepping into the ring with three other guys in the main event, and that is something I did not see happening so soon after being eliminated in the very first round of the Blast From The Past memorial. I thought I’d have to go to the end of the line and work my butt off to get anywhere, but I guess the bosses saw it just a bit differently. But that’s fine by me! I’m not about to pass up this chance, because when it’s all said and done? I just might be the one with my hand held high and being announced as the number one contender to the Internet Championship.
But talk about walking into a challenge, right?! This isn’t a one on one match, or even a triple threat. No. This is a Fatal Four Way and not just any Fatal Fourway. Something the bosses have named the Clusteryouknowwhat Fatal Fourway. Sorry, I don’t really like to swear, even in cases like this so I’m going to avoid dropping any F bombs because I can. If you don’t like it, that’s your problem I guess. I like to pride myself on being a good guy and part of that is not having to use foul language just because I can.
So apparently there are no disqualifications and no count outs in this match. Literally anything goes and I can’t help but feel like I’ll be the first one that at least two of my opponents will be looking to get out of the picture first. And not because I am the biggest threat. Quite the opposite. They’ll want to get rid of me first because to them and to everyone else, I am the easiest target. I’m the least experienced so I should be the easiest to handle first. Well, think again guys. It is because I am looked at as the weak link that I’m going to walk into that ring and try and be the strongest and biggest threat.
But I have to be realistic at the same time. I have three other opponents that want to be the number one contender just as much as I do, and they’ll do everything they can to make it happen. And with the exception of Felix, two of them have already held gold in SCW so they will certainly be wanting more. Speaking of Felix…do people really think that he stands more of a chance than I do at winning this match? I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but Felix is just…weird.
I mean look at who he associates himself with. The Barnhardts. If that’s not weird enough, he has this thing for spewing out statistics for all of his matches. As if that is really going to help him or give him the leg up winning anything. From what I have seen, it hasn’t and it’s definitely not going to help him this week against me. He needs to find a new schtick if he wants to be taken seriously, but what do I know right? I’m just the underdog here. Heh…the underdog going against the Cat. Well this dog’s bite will be far worse than the Cat’s claws!
Sorry…I can’t. I…I have to laugh for a moment because why would anyone, especially a thirty-five year old guy give himself the nickname of The Cat? And thirty-five? Is he serious?! I think someone is lying about their age because that guy looks about twenty years older than he says he is. But hey, if it helps him sleep at night who am I to judge him, right?
Anyway, enough about him. There’s nothing much else I can say about him anyway, so better to move on to the other two. Now, I plan to save Miles for last, for obvious reasons, so let’s get to Connor Murphy. The Irish Bad Boy as my wife likes to call him. Ooh man, if Bobbie were here right now, I’m sure she’d have a lot to say about me having to face Connor Murphy. She’s had this odd attraction to him in the past because of his whole bad boy look and attitude. Most people would be like, well Artie, how can you deal with your wife flirting and going crazy over other guys? The answer is simple.
She’s never acted on anything. It’s all harmless fun and the fact that she had a thing for Connor in the past is all the more reason and motivation for me to beat him and walk away the winner. Bobbie is rooting for me anyway, so I’m not at all worried about going up against Connor. He may be a former champion in SCW, but he hasn’t really done much of anything in a long time and he only recently returned, too. If you ask me, Connor is still a big Nobody. Ooh…see what I did there?
I’m well aware that Connor was a member of that weak group that called themselves The Nobodies. I’d ask why they would do that, just like I asked why Felix would call himself The Cat, but being a member of The Nobodies is more obvious than anything. He knew what he was doing, and if you ask me, that nickname and association will stick with him for the rest of his life. Maybe for Connor though he will find a way to do better for himself now that he is back. No doubt he’s going to try in this match on Sunday.
But just like Connor is a fighting Irishman, I can be quite the scrapper and fighter myself. I’m actually looking forward to throwing him around the ring a few times, or maybe I will find a Shillelagh and bash him upside his stupid head a couple times. Maybe that will knock some sense into him, because he definitely needs some. I hope he doesn’t underestimate what I’m going to bring to this match, but if he does? Well, that is his mistake. He’ll learn just like the others.
And that brings me to my final opponent and someone I have a great deal of respect for. Someone Bobbie and I have called a friend for some time, and possibly the only one I am not looking forward to going up against. Miles Kasey. Dang it. Why do I have to go up against Miles?! He’s definitely the biggest threat in this match and not just because he’s the most built and athletic out of all of us. He’s also a former Internet Champion and i know he is going to do everything in his power to make sure he gets to go up against Kevin Carter.
If I weren’t in this match, I would be rooting for him. I really would. But Miles has to understand that I want this opportunity more than he does. He’s already been the Internet Champion. I haven’t. I haven’t even held any championship, but I want to. I want to prove to everyone that I can be a champion and that I’m not Bobbie’s scrawny husband. Do I like that I might have to pin or submit Miles in order to prove that? No, of course not. But I know when all is said and done that if that happens, Miles would gladly raise my hand in victory. He’d show me the same good sportsmanship I would show him if the roles were reversed.
Here’s what I want to happen, though. I know it’s every man for himself in this match and only one of us can win, but I hope that at least in the beginning, Miles and I can work together and take out Felix and Connor, and then maybe…just maybe…we can put on a bit of a one on one match for the ages and show why putting us in the main event was a good idea. I don’t plan to hurt him or make him bleed or do anything that in any other match would be considered a disqualification, but I’m going to fight tooth and nail to be the one that moves on to face Kevin Carter.
One match. Four Men. No DQ’s and No Count Outs. Anything goes and only one man can win. And gentlemen? As long as I have anything to say about it, that one man will be me!
ARTIE MILLER…YOUR FUTURE SCW INTERNET CHAMPION!!!
