“Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit..”
- Vince Lombardi
Lucian Frost
Aged 7
it’s going to be a very exciting day for young Lucian, today is going to be his first soccer tournament, he had trouble sleeping through the excitement. Having kissed goodnight to mum and dad the night before, laying in bed but just staring up at the ceiling with his mind and heart racing, imaging scoring the winning goal and holding the trophy aloft. Soccer wasn’t exactly the most popular sport at school, having been ridiculed for playing it by the more popular kids, but he wasn’t into football due to his stature and baseball just bored him. Seeing soccer games on television was his only outlet when he was younger, from watching the World Cup live and seeing the odd MLS or two, Lucian grew a passion for the sport and twisted his all American father to allow him to play it. The thoughts of winning it and dreaming of the different scenarios sent him to off to sleep. Lucian pulls the duvet off him and leaps out of bed to pull the curtain aside, the day was picture perfect with the sun glistening and not a cloud in the sky, the broad smile on his young face couldn’t get any bigger as he puts his soccer kit on and heads downstairs.
Lucian’s mother smiles seeing her eager son lump down the stairs, rush with bare foot into the kitchen and almost leaping onto his chair, she walks over and places the bowl of cereal in front of him and kisses his forehead. Lucian smiles as a warm feeling fills his body, a mother’s love cannot be replicated by anyone, the small sentiment like that kiss means the whole world to that little boy. Lucian finishes his breakfast and heads to the door, putting his socks and trainers on with his brand new football boots in his sports bag, they didn’t have to leave yet but the anticipation and excitement of knowing he’d be playing was too much to bare. Lucian’s father came down the stairs to see his son sitting near the front door, he smiles as he goes into the kitchen to be greeted by his wife, he’d sit down and is poured a freshly brewed coffee by her before calling over his young son.
“Lucian” The father says calmly “sit with me for a second”
Lucian gets up and rushes to the seat next to his father.
“Now Lucian” he begins gazing up towards his wife “today is a big day for you!” he places his hand on Lucian’s knee “you’re going to experience competition for the first time and perhaps the joy of winning” Lucian’s face is now brimming with glee at the thought of winning. “Vince Lombardi once said that ‘Winning isn't everything--but wanting to win is’ and I want you to go out there and give it your all! No matter what, you’re a winner in our eyes!”
The thought of his father quoting such an icon in his own eyes was uplifting. The journey to the park was a long one due to traffic, but this gave Lucian the chance to think about the day ahead, if his team loses in the first round then it’ll be so devastating for him. All he wants to do is feel the success of winning. He may only be seven but the thought of disappointing his father was immense, this sport was going against every moral being in his fathers body, all he wanted was his son’s happiness and allowing him to do this was the ultimate sacrifice. Lucian remembers vaguely when he was a lot younger of his father talking about the superbowl, talking about him making the winning touch down, not playing what was deemed as a female sport in Soccer.
Lucian’s soccer team tasted victory in the first round, winning one nil against a stronger side, they went on to reach the final with the winners winning the tournament. Lucian stands near the tournament booth, gazing at the Cup the team will win as well as the little individual trophies, his dreams are coming true with one more win and he’ll be able to lift that cup high into the air. The match was long with the opposing team taking the lead, Lucian was apart of the build up for the equaliser with through ball through the legs to the striker who managed to tuck the ball into the corner.
The match ended one all. Extra time. Lucian’s determination was even more so with the match poised for penalties, his team mates where horrible from the spot so they needed to win the match in this time, the referee blows the whistle as the match gets back underway. Lucian hardly saw the ball in the first quarter as he runs up and down the pitch, exhaustion was getting to him as the second half got underway with the striker passing Lucian the ball. This was his chance to capture glory. Lucian begins to dribble past the midfield and runs closer toward goal, the defender comes but he steps over the ball to cause the defender to slide out of his way, Lucian could see the goal beckoning as he pulls his right foot back and connects with the ball. Time seemed to go slow. The ball floating as it slowly goes towards the goal, the keeper dives but cannot get anything on it, the ball nestles into the back of the net with Lucian just standing there in complete shock. He had done it, he’s scored the winning goal in the final, the referee called for the whistle as his team won the tournament thanks to Lucian’s wonder strike. Lucian’s parents stand at the side of the award table, his father getting out the camera and begins to take photos, Lucian’s team have got their little trophies as Lucian steps up to collect his and lifts the cup height in the air. He had won and it’s a feeling he’d like to experience again.
Lucian Frost
Aged 14
The alarm clock begins to vibrate on the oak side table, Lucian’s limp hand fumbles around until it finally hits the snooze button, no one was going to disturb his sleep this morning. A knock comes at the door before his mother bursts in and draws the curtains open, the bright sunlight shines into his sleepy eyes as he lifts the duvet up for cover, Lucian’s mother proceeds to yank the duvet off her teenage son and remind him what today is.
“It’s your football try outs today!” she says happily, Lucian didn’t like how happy she sounded so early in the morning “You have got to do this for your dad! So GET UP!”
“I am” Lucian sluggishly replies “just give me five more minutes to give me time to get up!” Lucian grabs the duvet off his mother and snuggles back down.
“Do you think I was born on a banana boat?” she yanks the duvet back off him and chucks it on the floor “get up mister, grab a shower and have some breakfast!”
After his mother leaves his room, Lucian reluctantly gets out of bed, stands by the window to see that the neighbours daughter is standing at her wardrobe picking clothes. He’d often wondered what it would be like to go out with someone so beautiful as her, but the closest he’d ever come would be perving at her from his window, she turns to look at the window as Lucian ducks down just in case she catches him looking at her. He waits until he thinks the coast is clear and heads out of his room and into the bathroom for a shower.
Breakfast was all about his father talking about football, how he was a quarter back in his college years, how he got most of the girls because of his jock status. Nothing seemed to bore Lucian more than to think about American football. He reluctantly agreed to have a try out for the team because of what his father did years ago with the soccer tournament. Lucian knew his father wouldn’t be at the try outs due to work commitments, his mother was hanging out with some of the other moms, he was heading to the school to what they believe is his try out but he’d have other ideas. His father drops him off outside of the school leaving Lucian to walk into school, some of the jocks looking at his size and stature make snide comments, he didn’t care as they think he’ll be trying out for the team so they can destroy him with a few hard tackles. Lucian had decided to go for another try out, something his parents could disprove off but he’d rather do that than ‘football, amateur wrestling.
Lucian had watched professional wrestling for a little while now, playing No Mercy on the N64 as well as buying Video’s with his allowance, the sport intrigued him as the showmanship and the fans utter devotion opened his eyes to a new world. Lucian never thought he could make it like the guys he’d watch on TV, he was so much smaller than everyone else it would have been impossible for him to compete or be treated as an equal, but there was several who had an amateur background to which lead Lucian to sign up for the try outs this afternoon. The morning dragged on with Science and Math, lunch was tedious as normal with jocks throwing pieces of paper and food at other students, it then came time to head to his supposed football try out. He felt horrible lying to his parents as they didn’t deserve that, having supported him in all ventures of life from soccer to collecting weird items as a hobbie, the one little thing his father asked him to do and he was about to defy him in order to try out for the wrestling team.
Lucian goes into the locker room and slips into his training gear, making sure no one could see him just in case he’d come to ridicule, he goes into the sports gym to see the turnout had been poor. The gym teacher stands there with one other, Lucian believed his name to be Michael but he wasn’t too sure, the teacher looks at the small stick thin boy before him and lets out a laugh.
“You want to try out for the wrestling team?” He tries to say with a straight face “YOU!” The gym teacher bursts out laughing with Michael joining in.
“I know” Lucian tries to justify his decision “I am not of the stature of a typical wrestler” he looks at the average sized Michael and compares himself to that “but I have the heart to succeed!”
“Stephen Hawkin has the heart to succeed but I don’t see him in my gym” the teacher says leaving Lucian to think about what he’d just said “You want to try out, fine by me, but do not come crying to me when you’re left on the mat broken!”
The teacher begins to tells him the basics of how the sport works, Lucian had already spent time in the library studying the moves and take downs prior to this, the teacher demonstrates softly on Michael before trying them out on Lucian. He was sure the teacher was putting more pressure than he was meant too, he gets up and rubs his muscles and shakes his arms to get the feeling back, no one was going to deter him from this as he gets ready to try his first take down on Michael. The two lock together, Michael tries to end it but Lucian holds his ground, the teacher looks very bemused as Lucian managed to keep up with the trained amateur wrestler. All of a sudden Lucian managed to get the pin on Michael, pressing his shoulders to the ground from out of nowhere. The Teacher is in complete shock, as is Michael as Lucian gets to his feet, he brushes himself down as Michael quickly gets up and looks at the teacher to see if anything illegal had happened. It was a legal pin. Lucian had bested his training partner against all odds.
“Training is every Thursday” the teacher says after an awkward silence.
Lucian nods his head and takes his leave from the gymnasium. Inside he was dancing with joy, he thought he was going to get beaten and made an example off with everything against him, however he’d managed to compete with them and from out of nowhere get a legal pin. Winning is something Lucian liked doing, especially with everything against him.
He gets changed and heads out of the gymnasium, he is running late for his final class of the day, but something catches his eye in the car park to his right. Lucian walks over to the car park to see his father leaning against the family car, the father looks up to see Lucian standing there, he shakes his head in utter disappointment.
“I managed to swap my shift to watch my son try out for the school team” he says slightly chocked up “I wanted to support him because I know what it’s like trying out for a team, it’s hard, especially for you being the size you are against those guys built like a house!” the father begins to play with his keys “sitting in the stands, so proud to watch my son, only my son wasn’t there” he stops playing with his keys “My son chose not to be there, why is that?”
That complete high changes in the blink of an eye to the feeling of letting his father down, like a brink smashing against a river and dropping down to the riverbed below, that sinking feeling prevented Lucian to answer straight away as he saw the disappointment in his fathers eyes.
“I’m sorry Dad, but that isn’t what I want to do, I know I said I would but look at me Dad” Lucian says pointing to his body “How is a five foot five boy going to compete against six foot something guys who eat Cadillac’s for lunch!” He hoped his father would smile but nothing. “what hope did I have, I tell you, one of them is bob and the other is no!”
“At least you would have tried! For me!”
“I did try” he blurted out “I did try to do this, for you, I talked to mom and she said this was the right thing to do for you... FOR YOU!” the last two words echoed in the car park for a few seconds “I am not you dad, you where a high school and college hero, I am never going to be my dad rather a shadow in your success! If I had done this then I’d of failed besmirching your good name!” he lets out a sigh “I tried out for the wrestling team instead, I KNOW, I couldn’t try out for football but I go for another physical sport like Amateur Wrestling, but I did really well and I’m going to practice on Thursday!”
Lucian’s dad puts on a smile “Well I’m glad you got into the squad, son” he slaps lucian’s arm “I’ve always wanted what is best for you, I’d hoped you had done this one thing for me, guess it’s too much to ask sometimes” Lucian’s dad opens the door to the car and drives off leaving Lucian standing there in it’s dust.
Although he had managed to accomplish a win against a much bigger and better opponent, it had come at the cost, defying a father and feeling the utter shame and disappointment of letting him down. Winning is something that he’s come to enjoy but winning comes at the cost at times. A harsh but valuable lesson.
Lucian Frost
Today
It had been a long journey travelling from one National Wrestling Alliance territory to another, going from the desert in Nevada to the redneck state of Texas, his body shattered from the journey and venturing to see the venue took it out of him as he found a hotel and had his first good night sleep in ages. The masked enigma is going to be doing double duty this weekend, competing for the World Class Championship Wrestling on Saturday night, and then having to travel back during the night to prepare himself for New Year Rising on Sunday. Lucian Frost had the chance to end Sunday night holding both SCW Tag Team and the WCCW Texas Heavyweight Championships, a cross promotion champion that hasn’t really been seen in Sin City Wrestling since it’s inclusion to the NWA. Such a tantalising thought however for this to happen he’d have to battle two tough challenges in Ronnie Rocker and the Young Lions.
It had been weird waking up to peace and quiet, Nevada had the feeling of being alive with the most unique of sounds, Lucian wasn’t use to the quiet after spending a lot of his time in Vegas. Although he could leave Saturday night holding two championships, will he be doing it Sunday night and what condition is he going to be in when competing against two of the youngest stars on the rostrum. Lucian had battled the young lions and defeated them in tag and singles competition, both encounters have been well fought and needing several days to recover, he didn’t know how much of a threat Rocker would be but with a title match, travelling from Texas to Nevada and preparation, Lucian knows he won’t be one hundred per cent in body but he’ll be fighting through the pain when the bell sounds Sunday. Winning is the only option this weekend.
Lucian had chose to travel around Dallas to try and get use to the city, he stands in the middle of Reverchon Park, he’d noticed some of the nearby couples looking at the masked man, but this didn’t bother him as he begins to walk across the grass area. The light breeze rustling the branches of the trees, the sound of young children screaming in excitement as they play in the play area with parents watching close-by, Lucian walks past with many of the parents watching him with worry and anxiety as some grab a hold of their children. He knows it’s not a natural occurrence for a masked man to walk around Dallas, it’s only natural for people to stare and wonder what his intentions are, he wasn’t going to go into the play area to harm or take kids but the responsible parents are looking out for their wellbeing. He applauds that. Having managed to walk down a track he finds a unique stone bench, a flint wall shaped in a half crescent with the bench built into it. Graffiti had be left in the shape of engravings and pen, most in the shape of hearts but other derogatory, Lucian sits down in the middle of the bench and just glances around at the trees surrounding him. Perfectly covered away from the world, the children’s screaming cannot be heard over the sound of silence with the odd bird tweeting, Lucian feels very tranquil at this moment in time as he gazes at the camera.
“It feels weird sitting in Texas with everyone in the SCW being in Nevada preparing for the big opening to two thousand and thirteen, and here I am in Texas kicking off the year in another region and having the chance to become a champion in this region, it’s not ideal coming into my first tag title defence but it will be testament to my character if I can prevail in both encounters. Be a storybook tale if it happens, not exactly NWA gold like Spike and Misty, but it’s a succession for SCW going to another promotion and conquering them and capturing one of their championships! Half of the roster is either aligned with NXT or Supremacy or Seven Deadly Sins, I’m not one of those wrestlers who hold’s that banner, I am representing SCW at New Year Rising with this on-going stable war and I’m representing SCW in World Class Championship wrestling!”
Lucian watches as smoke appears out of nowhere, he reaches into the smoke and pulls out the SCW Tag Team Championship, the smoke slowly fades away leaving Frost holding the title belt.
“Young Lions have made their presence felt in the tag division, they where the team pinned for us to be holding these championships, they also defeated the surf boys who’ve had no significance to this division in quiet some time. Trevor says we’re entering hell and how scary and dangerous they are, not sure if you remember Trevor but we beat you and I beat your partner in singles competition whilst Kain fended you off. To say you are scary and dangerous is like saying Spike Staggs is a cuddly pink flamingo, completely absurd and very laughable, to say you’re scary and dangerous isn’t going to intidate me and certainly not Kain, it’s more laughing and poking fun of you.. I’m sure SCW would be proud of laughable champions saying stuff like that!”
“I was thinking back to my childhood recently and I’ve not had bad experience of winning and experiencing triumph against adversity, something quiet similar to yourselves as you look to dethrone the newly crowned champions. No one ever thought an unknown team would beat TWO established teams in Sinful Obsession and Young Lions, an unknown team partnering for the first time winning the titles, you say our history is only a months worth, not going to deny it but it says something if the established team cannot beat two complete strangers in a contest. That unknown partnership goes on to form an alliance and you mock, fair enough, but what will your excuse be when we beat you for a second time and me being Max Burke for a third time? You say it won’t be because we’re the better team it’s because we had the better night, to be fair you’ll be fighting me when I’m tired and already had a match the night previously, the chance to ‘pounce’ is now but even with my body battered and bruised, even if Mark Ward tries anything with Kain, Blood Omen will still beat you Young Lions because if we are ‘overconfident’ then you’re not ‘championship calibre’, losing two title shots in a row, go back to beating the surf boys if you need your ‘scary and dangerous’ factor back!”
Lucian drapes the championship over his right shoulder and looks at the mask’s reflection in the main plate of the championship.
“Winston Churchill once said that ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts’ and for you Young Lions that courage to dethrone us will continue after New Year Rising. Quoting Churchill once more he said ‘never, never, never give up’ and I urge you to do this as one day your reckoning will happen but it will not be January Thirteenth Two Thousand and Thirteen, that day belongs to Blood Omen”
Lucian gets up from the bench and watches a couple of people dressed in running gear jog passed, they don’t pay attention to the masked man sporting a title belt, ear phones placed in the ears as they look forward and go up the woodland path. Frost extends his arms out to the side before swinging them around to clap and with the clap the place he was standing is emerged in smoke. As the window blows the smoke away it is shown that Lucian Frost had disappeared, literally in a cloud of smoke. It is going to be a tough couple of matches in two days, to be a champion you’ll have to be willing to sacrifice and be the top of your division, this will be the case if he manages to walk out Sunday night holding two championships from two promotions. The Super J Cup is lingering in a few weeks, will Lucian Frost be able to prove that he is capable to be a threat within the NWA by beating Ronnie Rocker, Young Lions and Escalabor or will this be the downfall from grace for the inaugural Roulette Champion.
