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.”
