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>I’m not sure what I have to do to convince people that I have earned the championship that I carry….
The Mixed Tag Team Champion’s’ voice can be heard even before the video feed actually kicks on. He isn’t looking right at the camera. He is standing behind his desk at Jet City South, and staring out the window that looks out over the entire training facility. Coby doesn’t seem as jovial as normal. The camera closes in on him so that the fans are able to see out the window. Kate, the Gemstones, and several other recognizable faces are in various stages of their routines below. The champion seems almost saddened at the fact that he has to step into the ring with someone from his own gym once more. Either that, or the constant negativity that has come with his being champion was finally starting to get to him.
At this point, I have held this belt for as long as Kris did. I have already successfully defended it more times than he did. Even more, I have actually picked up the wins for The Black Sheep along the way, whereas Mikah was the one that won the titles for the team, and defended them the first time around.
It had to feel unfair to the champion. Coby had done nothing but succeed in defense of his championship, yet every time he opened his mouth he was reminded that it wasn’t actually his. It was Kris’ championship and always would be. If he was a lesser competitor, he would throw a match and be done with the thing, but he didn’t have it in himself to do that to the fans. People paid to see him do his absolute best. Giving anything less than that would feel like robbing them of something. Then again, he wasn’t exactly feeling like his best was good enough.
Still though, months later… I am still having to defend myself against these “well you were handed a championship” comments. It doesn’t matter that MIkah and I are the longest reigning Mixed Tag Team Champions of all time. It doesn’t matter that there isn’t anyone around other than Kate and Todd that even wants to challenge The Black Sheep. We beat every team in the division, beat teams that were thrown into the division, and now everyone is too intimidated to even step up. Yet, the fact that Kris stepped away from the Mixed Tag division and handed me the title to defend is the only thing that anyone wants to talk about. They don’t want to talk about how dominant we have been. They don’t want to talk about the fact that I have more than earned the right to carry this championship on my shoulder. Everyone seems to take the one thing that was out of my control and try and use it against me.
He moves away from the window, looking at the camera almost like he is talking directly to the people that doubt him.
I don’t think anyone realizes how bad that makes them look. Because I would agree with them under certain circumstances. Back when I was first given the opportunity to step up, I agreed that I needed to earn the right to call myself a champion. I have done nothing but be successful since then, so that argument is out the window. But I wasn’t the one to actually win the championship. So what? If the last few months have shown everyone anything, it’s that there isn’t a team capable of taking it from me.
So far, a few teams had tried, and all of them had failed. The rest of the teams in the division suddenly had sights elsewhere or were taking time away. He couldn’t help but see that as all of the other teams waving a white flag.
...and I understand that it’s probably pretty frustrating for the rest of the roster. So many of them don’t get the opportunities that I have gotten. Even worse, some of them get the opportunities constantly and fail to capitalize in the way that I have. A guy like me comes in, gets handed a championship, and hits the ground running. I was a champion on my first night in this company, and have been every single day since. I have one loss in this company, and it was part of Blast from the Past. Nearly everyone that has ever entered that tournament has a story like that. Mikah and I haven’t lost as a team, but both found ourselves out of the tournament. Mikah and Kris both failed to win it a few years back on different teams. Yet somehow I am the only one that gets attacked like I don’t deserve to be here.
My problem with that is, I DO deserve to be here. I have proven that. I am willing to prove that to anyone that still doesn’t see it. I’m not a hard guy to find. I am not someone that runs from challenges or opportunities. There’s always a lot of chatter about me, but nobody wants to actually step up. At least, aside from Kate and Todd. And you know what, had Kate gotten to stay in the match back at Blaze of Glory, she may have been able to pull it out. She was focused on the match. She wasn’t getting lost in the showboating. She was bringing the fight to Mikah, and before that last tag, she was on a roll. We work together at Jet City South, so I know not to underestimate her. WIthout Todd messing it up for her, maybe I wouldn’t be champion right now. I know that Mikah won’t like me saying that, but the fact is that we will never know what would have happened in that match. Maybe Mikah would have turned it around. Maybe Kate would have been able to steal the titles away from us. Either is equally possible. She’s beaten Mikah before but Mikah has beaten her more recently.
He put the odds at 50/50, and had even told Kate as much. It wasn’t her effort that caused the match to not go her way. Coby wasn’t dumb enough to guarantee that Mikah would have been able to pull it out either. That would be an insult to a trainer that worked in the same gym as him.
....I know I don’t have to worry about how Mikah is going to perform. Whether we have time to train together in the gym or not, we are always on the same page. We talk before matches, and we are both very familiar with these two, especially Kate. The only thing that I have to do is hold up my end of the deal. I have to find a way to out-wrestle Teddy… or Todd. Whatever...
He gave saying it without sarcasm his best shot. He wasn’t convinced that he had stuck the landing.
...and I don’t want to sound like all of these people that come out and call this guy talentless. That’s never been my style. I don’t want to be one of those people that dismisses someone as a threat without giving them their due. But that being said, I don’t think that he has what it takes to beat me. I don’t think that he takes this as seriously as I do. I don’t think that his head is actually in the game.
Maybe that is a bad choice of words…. Maybe the actual problem is that Todd treats this too much like a game. I mean, the guy has the talent. He has the training. He has the ability. The problem is that he can stay focused on that in the ring. He gets lost in playing to the crowd. He tries to get under the skin of his opponent by making an ass of himself. Just look back at our last match if you need any proof. There were times that he legitimately turned the tables on me and took control of the match. The problem was, he would kill his own momentum with something stupid when he should have kept on the attack. He gave me too many openings to fight my way out of trouble. Even worse, he tagged himself back into a match that his partner had control of. All in all, he made retaining the titles Quik n Easy… pun intended.
...and I love Kate to death, but that showing didn’t warrant this return match at all. She held her own against a Hall of Fame talent in an undefeated tag team. That’s no small feat. You can’t make up for a partner that isn’t focused on the task at hand though, and I think that is why Todd always gets all of this hate. The guy will blow a match for his team on one night, and then run to social media and ponder which company he should pick to make a run at a World Championship. Does that actually make sense to anyone? The guy would be a champion right now if he could stay out of his own way. He and his wife could have dethroned The Black Sheep. He could have ended our streak… but he stepped on his own toes. Maybe it used to be kind of funny but now he’s not just bringing himself down. He’s taking Kate down with him, and that’s rough for me to have to watch happen.
I had a choice heading into this rematch. I could have bit my tongue. I could have let it all slide and tried to put on a happy face. I chose to go the opposite way because I’m hoping that maybe something that I say will sink into his head. Hopefully when the bell rings and we start this match this weekend he is actually ready to go. It would be nice for the guy to actually challenge me. It would be refreshing if he could keep the pressure on. I want to be challenged inside that ring. That was the reason that I came to Sin City. I don’t want someone to go out there and make it easy for me. If I wanted to do that I could have signed with any number of other companies. I didn’t. I came here, because this is where the best of the best are supposed to be. I wanted to prove that I could make it here, because if I could do that, then I would know that I could do it anywhere in the world.
I have held up my end. I have given it my all every time that I have stepped into the ring. Every championship defense has ended with me picking up the victory for my team. I can’t do anything to prove my worth that I’m not already doing. Maybe the naysayers are just something that I’m going to have to deal with until after my time in the Mixed Tag division is over. Maybe once this championship is no longer on my shoulder, people will start to see the man under for the talent that I have. Maybe that’s me giving everyone way more credit than they deserve again.
I guess only time will tell.
Kate… Todd… It’s not personal, but I don’t think that the two of you have what it takes as a team to take these championships from Mikah and I. Don’t take offense though. I honestly don’t think that there is any team on the roster that can. Certainly there are combinations of stars that could rise up and give us a real run for our money. So far, none of them have had the confidence in themselves to try.
...and #ThatsWhatsUp
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