Conflict of interest
He was hiding.
Not intentionally. It was a subliminal. Since the match was announced he had trained in secret, not taking his time out on the main floor with the others, waiting instead till the end of the day before locking up, or getting there early. It was a hard thing. Being a leader. And, for better or worse, that’s what Alex was. A leader. Not just because he was now the reigning, defending word champion of sin city wrestling, but also the founder and lead trainer of wolfslair. The new York gym, but also Orlando, his sister still holding a higher position but scaling back her duties as she became General Manager of up and coming company Pro Wrestling Excellence.
So it all fell on Alex. It was on him to make sure both gyms ran smoothly, to help push the members to reach their goals as well as his own. It was alot of pressure, and it was pressure that Alex thrived in.
However, there wa sa nagging thought in the back of his head, how long was this going to last? The success, the growth. It was different and new. All the members in their own way were improving, becoming what they were supposed to. It filled him with pride and happiness. But there was the problem. He didn’t feel like he should. These were adults. Grown human beings capable of their own careers and destiny.
So, after his victory, his redemption and his defence, a match was announced that shook who he was to the core. But, Alex would never admit it.
He watched them, they finished their training for the day, the entire gym. The New York contingent, the Orlando group, all under one roof for the first time in what felt like years. In reality it had only been a few months. But, Alex still watched them, all of them. Sierra, Lachlan, Miles, Johanna, Alicia, Dickie, Aiden. The rest of them all laughing and moving around the gym and out the door. Alex smiled, knowing how far they had all come since coming to Wolfslair, and there it was again. The feeling of pride.
They say Pride comes before the fall. And maybe that was his curse. Pride. For years Alex had felt it, pride in his accomplishments, from title wins to names he had collected. Touting them in promo after promo and interview after interview. At nauseum in some points. It made people angry, jealous and in some cases sick. But therein lied the beauty of what Alex was capable of. Using it all to make those around him feel insecure.But this was different.
”Not going to say goodbye?” Austins voice boomed through the small office area. The doors were shut, the windows too, just the blinds pulled open so Alex could see out onto the floor. His wife Sonya gave his sister Charlie a hug, Alex just slowly shook his head, he looked back down at his paperwork, shuffling them before signing the bottom of one of the contracts with a grunt. Austin rolled his eyes, moving his hands to Alex and pushing the papers down onto the desk and away from Alex. ”Not even to your sister huh?....come on..” Alexs’ nostrils flared. He knew Austin was right.
He was trying to put him in a better mindset, it was what Austin always tried to do. Maybe he was the real leader. ”You’re acting like I’ll never see them all again Aus..”
Alex chuckled, Austin didn’t. It was almost like he knew what was on Alexs’ mind before Alex did. The last few months had been hard, Alex questioned everything about himself, why he was getting opportunities, if he could take advantage of them and of course, was he the same competitor he always was? But this was different. Some of the members of wolfslair had come from somewhere else, trained somewhere else. And maybe, just maybe they didn’t quite trust him, maybe they were there for other reasons.
”Besides, I have bigger things to worry about.” He heard Austin scoff, he could feel the attitude change and Austin moved towards the door opening it before leaning against the wall folding his arms. Austin didn’t have to say anything, he never had to say anything. He looked out towards the group, all of them still laughing and smiling He looked back at Alex, nodding in their direction. He sighed moving up to Austin with a shake of his head ”You’re persistent you know that?” He just smiled, Alex sighed and walked through the door.
The mats beneath his feet squeaked as he kept moving toward the group. There was high fives, laughter, quick hugs and like that it was done. The Orlando crew left, there was sadness and the sound faded and disappeared. Alex moved back into the gym as the others left, his hands felt heavy, they weighed down his shoulders. There was work to do, he knew it, they knew it and now Alex had to start it.
Choices
”Did you all believe that this was going to be the end of me?”
Alex sat on the end of an old wooden chair, his head hanging down with his hair flowing. He stared at the ground, he should be happy, celebrating. But for whatever reason, he wasn’t.
”So many thought Jack Washington was going to beat me, take the Sin City Wrestling world title from me and send me back down to the Internet or Roulette divisions or maybe, just maybe kick my ass out of this company and get rid of me for good. Truth be told. He was close. Closer than most. See, Jack is what you would call a prodigious talent. He doesn’t have to work as hard as some because everything comes natural. And kickin my ass came very very natural. But even after he did that, even after he came into the biggest match of the year at the biggest even of the year he still couldn’t stop my redemption. He was it, the final piece of the puzzle, the final little missing passage in that chapter.”
“But now, that piece is in place and that chapter is finished and you’d think I’d be happy. Right?. That I can leave the past behind me now and look toward the future. But what is that future? Where do I go from here? I mean, the number one contender has been decided. And it’s Mac Bane, the former champion, the goddamn bulldozer who I escaped twice now. And I suppose that is something to look forward to.”
“But, I can’t just focus on that.”
“See, being a champion, the champion, means that everyone is gunning for you. Everyone. Not just the number one contender. But everyone else who thinks they’re owed a title shot or they have somehow earned one by simply existing. I have a target on my back and everyone has a goddamn gun. And the sad part about all this is before the match with Jck, my biggest fear was losing to him again, but before that it was getting beaten without successfully defending this….”
Alex pulls the SCW title up, looking at it before lowering it back down and holding it between his knees.
”But now, I don’t know what to be afraid of, I don’t know what I should be desperate to protect or fight for. See, a year ago when I did lose this title, the fight was obvious, the need was obvious. I needed to start from the bottom and fight my way back to the top. I did it by facing the best like Fenris, Ben Jordan and Vinnie, and sometimes I stumbled, I failed and other times I succeeded. It took me to the roulette title and then when I had to put that on the line to face Mac, the fear was failing again, after I won the fear was losing it right away and then the final hurdle was Jack and now I have no idea what I should fight for.”
“Do I fight to simply keep the title? To prove I’m the best? Nah, that time has come and gone. Now the best thing I can think of is to fight for those around me. To give my friends and family a sense of pride.”
“And that is where Levi Russow comes in.”
“Levi fucking Russow. As far as the pecking order in ACW goes, it’s not like I could find someone lower right now could I? Now, for the uninitiated, or for the people who don’t care, Levi is a star in other promotions, a man who for years considered himself to be a veteran wrestling god among men. A guy who in the places where he worked and stayed was indeed important. But when he spreads his wings and tries to fly often comes crashing down to earth in a realisation that he really isn’t as good as he believes. Are you Levi?”
He can’t help but smile and shake his head before standing up, pushing to his feet and stepping forward.
”And you desperately want to recapture that feeling, that feeling of being important.And I get it, I understand it better than most. You watched people you trained with, people you knew surpass you, you watched your own son surpass you. And now here you are, in your early forties and instead of being a beacon for the younger generation or people who you’ve worked with you are nothing but a whiney self absorbed child with dreams of recapturing the self importance you had. And that’s what all this is about isn’t it? This isn’t about you hating me for any substantial reason, this isn’t about you thinking you can slingshot your way up the ladder to face me for the title. No Levi, this is about one thing and one thing alone…”
“Your ego.”
“It’s currently bruised and broken. It’s been destroyed all because people you trusted, people you trained with and helped train decided to walk away from you and train with me. And the sad part, the ultimate tragedy of all of this, your hate, your anger, your ego, it’s all misplaced. It shouldn’t be aimed at me, it shouldn’t be aimed at Lachlan or Miles. It should be aimed at yourself. This has never been about me taking credit for their success or saying I trained them. This whole thing, Wolfslair is a brotherhood.”
“Steel sharpens steel.”
“Yes Lachlan and Miles have become even better athletes and wrestlers working at Wolfslair Orlando and Wolfslair New York, this is true, it’s a fact, a matter of fucking record. But what you are too stubborn to see is that I have numerous times stated how I have improved with them. Seeing their youthful exuberance, seeing how they think of new ways to move and think. Miles and Lachlan have helped me become a world champion again as much as Austin, Alicia, Johanna, my sister and every other member of Wolfslair...this Sin City Wrestling world heavyweight title is not MY championship…”
“It’s OUR championship.”
Alex growls and sneers, his eyes flash and for a moment the respectful leader, the gym head and world champion disappears and instead we see the arrogant one, the guy who did everything he could to become a champion, no matter the cost.
”For months Levi you have thrown cheap shots anyway you can, without ever actually addressing me, running your mouth behind your phone. And myself along with Finn, Charlie and other head trainers ignored it. We went about our business and trained, we became stronger. All the while you threw petty barbs at us, and why? Because people who you considered to be your friends decided to train somewhere else? Or was it because you weren’t invited to be a part of it? Because I didn’t come to your son and ask Jack if he wanted to be a part of it?”
“Or, is it because I didn’t ask the mighty Levi Russow to become a trainer? To help the next generation prepare and become better wrestlers? Is that it Levi? Is it less about Miles and Lachlans decisions and more about mine? And your exclusion? Is that what bruised your ego so easily? Oh Levi, the reason why I didn’t ask Jack to come to Wolfslair is because that would have been disrespect to you. A kick right in the nuts. But, as far as you? The reason why I didn’t ask the great Levi Russow to train others?”
“It’s because you’re not good enough…”
He pauses again, thinking about it for a moment before placing the SCW world title down and folding his arms over his chest, the corner of his mouth twisting up in a small smirk.
”And it’s not because of any lack of skill or foresight when it comes to the ring or the art of professional wrestling, I’m not going to be a stone faced liar here and say you’re not a fucking great wrestler Levi, because you are, your whole family is and Jack could be a legend someday, but you? You are the fuck up that we have all seen. You’re the cautionary tale that we tell the kids to make sure they stay on the straight and narrow. You are the dictionary fucking definition of wasted talent, potential and being your own worst enemy and not being able to get out of your own way.”
“And you want to train with impressionable youth and try and guide them? Mother fucker you couldn’t guide your way out of a walmart with a store map, GPS and a twenty year employee helping you…”
“And instead of improving yourself and being the wise veteran worthy of respect that you see yourself as you’d rather come at me. Attack me, talk shit about me and jump the line for a match with me when, truth be told, in SCW you haven’t earned shit. You faced Alex Rush, good for you, you had a chance to prove your worth against Ken Davidson and instead you shit the bed, went on a tired old rant about it, never taking responsibilities for your failures, and now here you are. After lucking your way into a match, a match that I am sure you thought I would either ignore or simply back out of. Due to some vain belief I’m intimidated by you in some way shape or form.”
“I’m the fucking world champion Levi…”
“I walked through hell twice with Mac Bane.”
“I faced my fears and earned my redemption. What the hell could you possibly do to me that is worse than what I have already been through? So at Climax control, take your veiled threats, bruised ego, childish subtweets and cheap shots, roll them up into a tiny, neat little ball...and shove em right up your Russow…”
