Post by eagles on Sept 14, 2007 22:45:42 GMT -6
Knights in full armor carrying broad swords held in front of them ready for combat step onto the sandy field and begin to circle around the field wild the crowds that fill the stands mill about in anticipation and impatience. The knights cast such matters from their mind, focusing only on each other knowing that this battle will mean life or death for one of them, this would be their chance to prove who the greater man was, who deserves to live and who deserves to die.
A movement from one knight prompts them both into action causing them to rush toward each other their swords clanging together as they begin their dance of death, in a deadly circle they turn the sound of steel on steel their music, the crowds shouts their singers. They continue to dance about in a seemingly endless blur until just like that, one man falters and the other man spins on his heels to behead his opponent ending the deadly dance almost as quickly as it started. The crowd gets silent in shock then steadily their roar of approval begins to fill the air… then everything goes black.
It goes black and the camera pans back from the TV screen and into a room where a man known as Josh Eagles our new POW World Heavyweight Champion sits on a couch with his feet flung on a coffee table in front of him the TV remote still in his hand pointing at the TV and the POW World Title laying draped over his legs. Josh’s eyes look blank as he stares at the now black TV screen, two day old stubble is still on his face and a fresh bandage covers the majority of his forehead. His rainbow hair is not pulled back but dangles wildly over his face.
All in all he doesn’t look like the World Champion one would expect, his mind seems to be else where in a different land. One could presume it was the recent loss of his unborn son in a tragic accident, or possibly the daunting task that approaches him at Reckless Abandon where he must put his Heavyweight Title on the line against not one but two other Heavyweight Champions in a winner takes all match up.
“Proving grounds?”
Josh reaches down to pick up his World Title and look at it after his whispered question to himself. He holds it back looking at his reflection in the polished gold, studying every feature of the belt with the same look he gave the television just moment ago. He then lays the belt back on the couch and slowly gets to his feet and walks across the room to another door, he enters it and it leads him to a bathroom. Josh reaches down and turns the cold water on in the sink, placing his hands under the running water he cups them and let’s his hands fill splashing the cold water onto his face and looking at himself in the mirror, analyzing, staring.
“Do I deserve this? Am I ready for this?”
Josh reaches down and turns the tap back off and reaches beside him for a towel drying his face and looking more closely at his reflection, talking to himself using the mirror.
“Is Reck Maverick right? Was Kyle Neverwinter and Kailus Holmes right? Do I deserve to be a champion, do I deserve to be in this match at Reckless Abandon? For years since the dawn of time man has pitted itself against one another in a contest of strength and will to prove who is the best and when the time had come they would challenge who all others thought were the best for the right to be called the best… but is it my time?
At one point you know Josh, you would have said it was your time, that you were already the best and that you had nothing to prove! Now look at you, is this weakness, this doubt? Or is it a true sign of compassion of strength? Reck Maverick and John Anthony have fought tooth and nail for months to be in this spot and I come back from an injury and win the World Title in a tag match, injuring the former champion in the process and I am thrown into a match that is supposed to be meant for them, a match that is to be their proving ground to show who is the best!
Can it be that it is truly also my proving ground? My chance to show Reck Maverick and John Anthony and the rest of the POW and the fans and the world that I am for real, that this person I have become is not a trick, but actually me finally seeing with the eyes I should have long ago? It is true I returned hurt and I managed to beat John Anthony, but by disqualification… he may not have ended up tapping, he may yet have still found away to escape that hold! Then Flap and I beat the New England Tag Team Champions, but Flap had to do most of the work because I was incapable!
But I did come back to show my worth and beat Kyle Neverwinter in a one on one contest, pulling out everything, throwing my body to the wind to show that I would do anything I had to, to obtain the win, that I would give even my body for this company! Then just last week I become the POW World Champion and so soon I am thrown in the ring with two of the greatest wrestlers to ever grace the ring, John Anthony the Eastern Heavyweight Champion, a man who has held that title with pride and dignity! Then there is Reck Maverick, my former friend and mentor a man who has fought his entire life for this one chance a man who beat me to earn a shot at the title he won in the first place. Can this really be my proving ground?”
Josh turns away from the mirror and heads back into the living room and walks behind the couch where he stares at the POW World Championship that lays there.
“Three champions, each one of us would boast to hold the most prestigious title this company has. John Anthony the best of the former New England, Reck Maverick the best of the Midwest, and Josh Eagles his title meaning to be the best of them all, the top of the game and now one match will prove who really is and I can’t figure out if I am ready to face this match yet, if I am ready to walk out and leave it all on the line… if I am ready to face Reck Maverick!”
Josh’s face widens with shock as he speaks the name of Reck Maverick allowed to himself.
“Maybe that is what scares me about this match? It is not the thought of facing two other champions, I welcome the challenge, I am happy for the chance to put on the best show I can for the people and have a chance to show the world that I am good after all… it is the thought of finally having to face Reck Maverick in the ring, face to face. Reck Maverick, the man I owe so much to and so badly want to make things right for is now a man I have to face so what kind of proving ground does this become? Is it not about proving who is the better champion? Or is it proving to Reck that I am reformed, that I have seen the error of my ways and I wish to fight on the side of good, against injustice, for the people?”
Josh reaches down lifting the belt off the couch and walking back across the room to a small side table where a picture stands. Josh is in the middle of the picture with that classic smirk on his face and too his left Flap is staring at Josh pulling on his ears and sticking his tongue out while to his right Reck Maverick stands with his back to them both slapping his forehead and laughing. Josh looks at the picture and smiles, it was many years ago that was taken and he lays the World Title in front of the picture.
“Back then things were so much more simple, we were all friends, we trusted each other and fought side by side… since then I have done so much, so much evil!”
Josh tilts his head back and closes his eyes going through the past in his mind, the breaking of the POW, the retirement of Reck Maverick, the brutal matches, the backstage mind games, the sneak attacks, coming to POW and trying to take Reck’s career and shot at the Midwest Heavyweight Title, everything he had ever done to Reck and a small tear slides down the side of his face.
“I have done you and the world so much wrong, yet the world accepts me as I am, accepts that I have changed. When I won this belt the crowd was cheering, not booing, they were not upset but thrilled that they had a champion who would do anything for them, yet you do not believe me. Part of me Reck wants to walk away from you and say fine then, believe what you will if you don’t want to listen to the fans, to the world, to Reiko, to Jayde, then don’t!! But the other part knows it is wrong, knows that I owe you more then anyone else but I do not know how to express myself, how to show you gratitude after years of showing you disrespect.
If I were to lay down my title and walk away from this match would it prove to you Reck that I am a different man, that I understand that I don’t deserve to be here? Or would that make you think I am more of a coward, that I fought for something and then left it, would you call me a coward? Or do I nee to come to Reckless Abandon and show just that, reckless abandon and fight with every ounce of strength I have to beat either you or John Anthony and attempt to unite those titles to EARN the respect of Reck Maverick back?
I understand that both John Anthony and Reck Maverick are amazing athletes and great competitors, hell they are the best the POW has ever seen, but it doesn’t change the fact that I too have a World Title which means I am too considered to be great, even if only one person in this world were to think it I believe it would still be worth fighting for. So if I am fighting for something then I should never give up, not to Reck Maverick nor to John Anthony I should go out into that arena and do what men have always done fore years and prove myself worthy to be called the World Champion!
Sulking away in this place will never prove anything, will not give me the thrill of the competition and will just prove that Maverick is right about me that I am a coward trying to manipulate everyone’s mind. This is something I must do myself a contest that I must win with my own mind and my own skill or give it my all trying to do and that is exactly what I plan on doing.”
Josh’s smile gets bigger and he sweeps the World Title up again placing it over his shoulder.
“Ninja and all around good guy, they are proven, they are proven champions, the are proven good guys, they are proven PEOPLE, now it is time for me to prove all three of those things as well. I will go to Reckless Abandon and do what I have done for the last 4 weeks and give it my all and leave it in the ring and obtain victory. JTN called this match the chance of a life time and he was right… but for me this is my one and only chance, this is not where it all has to end, but where it all must begin for me! Reckless Abandon will be MY proving grounds and I do finally intend to prove myself.”
A movement from one knight prompts them both into action causing them to rush toward each other their swords clanging together as they begin their dance of death, in a deadly circle they turn the sound of steel on steel their music, the crowds shouts their singers. They continue to dance about in a seemingly endless blur until just like that, one man falters and the other man spins on his heels to behead his opponent ending the deadly dance almost as quickly as it started. The crowd gets silent in shock then steadily their roar of approval begins to fill the air… then everything goes black.
It goes black and the camera pans back from the TV screen and into a room where a man known as Josh Eagles our new POW World Heavyweight Champion sits on a couch with his feet flung on a coffee table in front of him the TV remote still in his hand pointing at the TV and the POW World Title laying draped over his legs. Josh’s eyes look blank as he stares at the now black TV screen, two day old stubble is still on his face and a fresh bandage covers the majority of his forehead. His rainbow hair is not pulled back but dangles wildly over his face.
All in all he doesn’t look like the World Champion one would expect, his mind seems to be else where in a different land. One could presume it was the recent loss of his unborn son in a tragic accident, or possibly the daunting task that approaches him at Reckless Abandon where he must put his Heavyweight Title on the line against not one but two other Heavyweight Champions in a winner takes all match up.
“Proving grounds?”
Josh reaches down to pick up his World Title and look at it after his whispered question to himself. He holds it back looking at his reflection in the polished gold, studying every feature of the belt with the same look he gave the television just moment ago. He then lays the belt back on the couch and slowly gets to his feet and walks across the room to another door, he enters it and it leads him to a bathroom. Josh reaches down and turns the cold water on in the sink, placing his hands under the running water he cups them and let’s his hands fill splashing the cold water onto his face and looking at himself in the mirror, analyzing, staring.
“Do I deserve this? Am I ready for this?”
Josh reaches down and turns the tap back off and reaches beside him for a towel drying his face and looking more closely at his reflection, talking to himself using the mirror.
“Is Reck Maverick right? Was Kyle Neverwinter and Kailus Holmes right? Do I deserve to be a champion, do I deserve to be in this match at Reckless Abandon? For years since the dawn of time man has pitted itself against one another in a contest of strength and will to prove who is the best and when the time had come they would challenge who all others thought were the best for the right to be called the best… but is it my time?
At one point you know Josh, you would have said it was your time, that you were already the best and that you had nothing to prove! Now look at you, is this weakness, this doubt? Or is it a true sign of compassion of strength? Reck Maverick and John Anthony have fought tooth and nail for months to be in this spot and I come back from an injury and win the World Title in a tag match, injuring the former champion in the process and I am thrown into a match that is supposed to be meant for them, a match that is to be their proving ground to show who is the best!
Can it be that it is truly also my proving ground? My chance to show Reck Maverick and John Anthony and the rest of the POW and the fans and the world that I am for real, that this person I have become is not a trick, but actually me finally seeing with the eyes I should have long ago? It is true I returned hurt and I managed to beat John Anthony, but by disqualification… he may not have ended up tapping, he may yet have still found away to escape that hold! Then Flap and I beat the New England Tag Team Champions, but Flap had to do most of the work because I was incapable!
But I did come back to show my worth and beat Kyle Neverwinter in a one on one contest, pulling out everything, throwing my body to the wind to show that I would do anything I had to, to obtain the win, that I would give even my body for this company! Then just last week I become the POW World Champion and so soon I am thrown in the ring with two of the greatest wrestlers to ever grace the ring, John Anthony the Eastern Heavyweight Champion, a man who has held that title with pride and dignity! Then there is Reck Maverick, my former friend and mentor a man who has fought his entire life for this one chance a man who beat me to earn a shot at the title he won in the first place. Can this really be my proving ground?”
Josh turns away from the mirror and heads back into the living room and walks behind the couch where he stares at the POW World Championship that lays there.
“Three champions, each one of us would boast to hold the most prestigious title this company has. John Anthony the best of the former New England, Reck Maverick the best of the Midwest, and Josh Eagles his title meaning to be the best of them all, the top of the game and now one match will prove who really is and I can’t figure out if I am ready to face this match yet, if I am ready to walk out and leave it all on the line… if I am ready to face Reck Maverick!”
Josh’s face widens with shock as he speaks the name of Reck Maverick allowed to himself.
“Maybe that is what scares me about this match? It is not the thought of facing two other champions, I welcome the challenge, I am happy for the chance to put on the best show I can for the people and have a chance to show the world that I am good after all… it is the thought of finally having to face Reck Maverick in the ring, face to face. Reck Maverick, the man I owe so much to and so badly want to make things right for is now a man I have to face so what kind of proving ground does this become? Is it not about proving who is the better champion? Or is it proving to Reck that I am reformed, that I have seen the error of my ways and I wish to fight on the side of good, against injustice, for the people?”
Josh reaches down lifting the belt off the couch and walking back across the room to a small side table where a picture stands. Josh is in the middle of the picture with that classic smirk on his face and too his left Flap is staring at Josh pulling on his ears and sticking his tongue out while to his right Reck Maverick stands with his back to them both slapping his forehead and laughing. Josh looks at the picture and smiles, it was many years ago that was taken and he lays the World Title in front of the picture.
“Back then things were so much more simple, we were all friends, we trusted each other and fought side by side… since then I have done so much, so much evil!”
Josh tilts his head back and closes his eyes going through the past in his mind, the breaking of the POW, the retirement of Reck Maverick, the brutal matches, the backstage mind games, the sneak attacks, coming to POW and trying to take Reck’s career and shot at the Midwest Heavyweight Title, everything he had ever done to Reck and a small tear slides down the side of his face.
“I have done you and the world so much wrong, yet the world accepts me as I am, accepts that I have changed. When I won this belt the crowd was cheering, not booing, they were not upset but thrilled that they had a champion who would do anything for them, yet you do not believe me. Part of me Reck wants to walk away from you and say fine then, believe what you will if you don’t want to listen to the fans, to the world, to Reiko, to Jayde, then don’t!! But the other part knows it is wrong, knows that I owe you more then anyone else but I do not know how to express myself, how to show you gratitude after years of showing you disrespect.
If I were to lay down my title and walk away from this match would it prove to you Reck that I am a different man, that I understand that I don’t deserve to be here? Or would that make you think I am more of a coward, that I fought for something and then left it, would you call me a coward? Or do I nee to come to Reckless Abandon and show just that, reckless abandon and fight with every ounce of strength I have to beat either you or John Anthony and attempt to unite those titles to EARN the respect of Reck Maverick back?
I understand that both John Anthony and Reck Maverick are amazing athletes and great competitors, hell they are the best the POW has ever seen, but it doesn’t change the fact that I too have a World Title which means I am too considered to be great, even if only one person in this world were to think it I believe it would still be worth fighting for. So if I am fighting for something then I should never give up, not to Reck Maverick nor to John Anthony I should go out into that arena and do what men have always done fore years and prove myself worthy to be called the World Champion!
Sulking away in this place will never prove anything, will not give me the thrill of the competition and will just prove that Maverick is right about me that I am a coward trying to manipulate everyone’s mind. This is something I must do myself a contest that I must win with my own mind and my own skill or give it my all trying to do and that is exactly what I plan on doing.”
Josh’s smile gets bigger and he sweeps the World Title up again placing it over his shoulder.
“Ninja and all around good guy, they are proven, they are proven champions, the are proven good guys, they are proven PEOPLE, now it is time for me to prove all three of those things as well. I will go to Reckless Abandon and do what I have done for the last 4 weeks and give it my all and leave it in the ring and obtain victory. JTN called this match the chance of a life time and he was right… but for me this is my one and only chance, this is not where it all has to end, but where it all must begin for me! Reckless Abandon will be MY proving grounds and I do finally intend to prove myself.”