Post by Andrew Jacobsen on Aug 14, 2017 4:53:21 GMT
Kole Kaos. I haven't thought about you in a long, long time. Years, honestly. But I still remember the first time we stepped in the ring together. I still remember getting planted into the mat by you. I still remember being sore, left clutching my jaw, but I remember walking out on the winning team. And the funny thing is, after all these years, when we square up again...
The end result'll be the same.
For all you've grown in that time, Kole, I've grown more. I've had to. I went from an overconfident rookie to a man who's wrestled on six continents, against the absolute best in the world. I've main-evented shows of tens of thousands in the most famous arenas in the world. I'm more than I was, so much more. And you? Listening to you run on about burning the world down, seeing you dragged back into the spotlight by Xavier Cross...you haven't changed at all.
You're still walking around with a hyperinflated sense of yourself. You're still basking in this idea that you should strike fear into the hearts of anyone who steps into the ring with you. See...here's the thing about that, Kole. I've been in the ring with far more fearsome people than you. You're dangerous. You're threatening. But you don't scare me. Because I know you can't break me.
You'll hurt me. I'm walking out of that arena bruised and battered...but not bloody. Not broken. You don't get that privilege. I still have miles to go before I sleep, and I will not walk them with a crimson mask and a heart full of regret. Roberto wants his revenge? He's not going to be able to use you as his tools to get it. He can try, but he won't succeed.
And that's the thing that makes me laugh the most about all of this. You burst onto the scene at Bloody Assizes with a clear declaration of intent. You were here to tear down the old, corrupt regime and rebuild IWF from the smoldering foundation. You had a vision, and you were ready to bring it all crashing down around our ears to make that vision a reality. It started with the icons of the old guard: Roberto Verona. Spike Kane. Cable Arcane. Mike Laszlo. But look at you now...tools of the man you swore to destroy.
He's warped you into another ratings machine, he's using your obsessions to further his ambitions...Roberto Verona is playing you like a fiddle, the same way he plays everyone that crosses his path. And I don't know whether it's out of arrogance or willful ignorance, or maybe just plain stupidity, but you're completely fine with it. I never took you for a pawn, Kole...but I can see the board, and I see where you're standing on it.
I don't have anyone pulling my strings. I'm not taking orders from anyone. If I stand on a side, it's shoulder-to-shoulder, as equals. Jayson Matthews, my friend, the single most underrated wrestler in the world. Men like Bob Pooler, men like Devlin Raine, men like...like Nighthawk. Heroes. Men that inspire not because of some superhuman endowment, simply because they face the horrors of the world and don't turn. They throw their shoulders into the fight. They stand tall. They stand together. Behind you is a king. Behind us...behind us is the world. And when we speak, we speak with their voice.
We owe you nothing but our boots in your teeth. So you want my blood, Kole? You can try to get it, but you're not good enough to get it. My blood's my own, and I'm keeping it. But you? I'll take just enough for the bell. I'll take just enough to win. Because I'm not a monster. I don't want your pain, I don't want your blood. I just want to win this match. That's the difference between us. You want to tear this world down. You want to tear MY world down, OUR world down. Not today, you son of a bitch. Not. Today. Today...you find out what happens when you try to break a man that's unbreakable.
You tell us to pray. We tell you three simple words...
Not. To. You.
Andrew stares at the screen of his phone, earphones in, as the interview with the Ace plays on the screen. The video reaches the end of the clip, and Andrew numbly taps the replay button, settling back in his chair and sighing. The video only plays for a few moments before Andrew finds the phone ripped from his grasp, earbuds yanked from his ears as the phone sails across the room and into the pillows on the hotel bed. Andrew looks up, mouth opening in protest as Danielle stands over him, eyes blazing. "Okay, what was that?"
Danielle thrusts a finger in the direction of the flung phone, voice quickly falling into her signature tone of anger born of worry. "You've watched that interview two, three dozen times since it was posted. Four times since we got here. No more. You're going to dig yourself out of the hole you're putting yourself in, and it's not going to be all on my shoulders this time." Danielle hauls Andrew up by the shoulder, yanking a startled Jacobsen to his feet.
Andrew brushes her hand off, shaking his head as he takes a step to the side. "What do you mean, not on your shoulders anymore? It's my emotional freak-out I'm going through. That isn't your burden to bear."
Danielle nods, sighing. "No, no it's not. Which is why you need to learn how to handle these things. You need to learn how to believe in yourself more. I can't carry that cross forever."
"I know." Andrew sighs. "It's not fair to you. And...I'm sorry that I've been letting myself fall like this. You're under enough stress with all you do. You don't need me having the coping skills of a freshman after their first breakup." Andrew chuckles to himself, shaking his head.
Danielle pats Andrew on the shoulder gently, taking a deep breath. "First things first. You put Ace behind you. You put that doubt behind you. You had a right to be suspicious, Andrew. You had every right. He's just twisting the knife because he's bitter that he couldn't beat you."
"He's right, though." Andrew scratches the back of his neck. "It wasn't about him, it was about her. How did I let myself get so bitter that I jump at shadows like that?"
"Because..." Danielle sighs. "Because this industry is fucking awful. It's full of fucking awful people, who do fucking awful things for fucking awful reasons. And you've had it bad, because you're...not. You're not like them. You're a good man, with a big heart and an honest mind. And people use that against you, because they're vicious and incomplete."
Andrew sighs, sinking back into his chair. "Is it really that easy, though? They're humans still, full beings with hopes, dreams, fears, hatreds...they're not these cartoon cutouts that I can just waltz through like a comic book hero. I need to keep that empathy, or I start slipping."
Danielle shakes her head, looking back over at Andrew. "Andy, that's the golden mean fallacy talking. Splitting the difference between good and evil, that's not the smart plan. You don't end up with better evil, you end up with ineffectual good. You can't let them get you to compromise. You stand strong, you stand tall. Say "no, you move". Because that's who you are. You're the goddamn hero."
Andrew looks over at her, taking a deep breath and nodding. "Maybe it'll be easier now. Ace was still a man I wanted to like. Kole, Jason...they're as cartoonish as it gets. They're vile human beings. I'll fight them until I can't fight. I took my stand, and I'm not going to falter."
Danielle looks over, cocking an eyebrow and firing three words back. "Even with Xavier?"
Andrew can't bring himself to meet her gaze, merely nodding quietly. After a few moments, he mumbles back. "Yeah. Even Xavier."
Danielle nods, clearly unconvinced, and walks over, retrieving Andrew's phone. She unplugs his headphones, walking back and handing the phone to him. "Here. Watch that video again, and I'm hurling your phone out of the window. Good luck finding a replacement, you don't speak Russian."
Andrew snorts, shaking his head as he pockets his phone again and Danielle walks towards the door. "What? And you do?"
Danielle pauses as she opens the door, grinning sweetly back at him. "Почему бы и нет?" She walks out of the door, grinning ear to ear, as Andrew watches the door swing shut, a dumbstruck look on his face as we fade to black.
The end result'll be the same.
For all you've grown in that time, Kole, I've grown more. I've had to. I went from an overconfident rookie to a man who's wrestled on six continents, against the absolute best in the world. I've main-evented shows of tens of thousands in the most famous arenas in the world. I'm more than I was, so much more. And you? Listening to you run on about burning the world down, seeing you dragged back into the spotlight by Xavier Cross...you haven't changed at all.
You're still walking around with a hyperinflated sense of yourself. You're still basking in this idea that you should strike fear into the hearts of anyone who steps into the ring with you. See...here's the thing about that, Kole. I've been in the ring with far more fearsome people than you. You're dangerous. You're threatening. But you don't scare me. Because I know you can't break me.
You'll hurt me. I'm walking out of that arena bruised and battered...but not bloody. Not broken. You don't get that privilege. I still have miles to go before I sleep, and I will not walk them with a crimson mask and a heart full of regret. Roberto wants his revenge? He's not going to be able to use you as his tools to get it. He can try, but he won't succeed.
And that's the thing that makes me laugh the most about all of this. You burst onto the scene at Bloody Assizes with a clear declaration of intent. You were here to tear down the old, corrupt regime and rebuild IWF from the smoldering foundation. You had a vision, and you were ready to bring it all crashing down around our ears to make that vision a reality. It started with the icons of the old guard: Roberto Verona. Spike Kane. Cable Arcane. Mike Laszlo. But look at you now...tools of the man you swore to destroy.
He's warped you into another ratings machine, he's using your obsessions to further his ambitions...Roberto Verona is playing you like a fiddle, the same way he plays everyone that crosses his path. And I don't know whether it's out of arrogance or willful ignorance, or maybe just plain stupidity, but you're completely fine with it. I never took you for a pawn, Kole...but I can see the board, and I see where you're standing on it.
I don't have anyone pulling my strings. I'm not taking orders from anyone. If I stand on a side, it's shoulder-to-shoulder, as equals. Jayson Matthews, my friend, the single most underrated wrestler in the world. Men like Bob Pooler, men like Devlin Raine, men like...like Nighthawk. Heroes. Men that inspire not because of some superhuman endowment, simply because they face the horrors of the world and don't turn. They throw their shoulders into the fight. They stand tall. They stand together. Behind you is a king. Behind us...behind us is the world. And when we speak, we speak with their voice.
We owe you nothing but our boots in your teeth. So you want my blood, Kole? You can try to get it, but you're not good enough to get it. My blood's my own, and I'm keeping it. But you? I'll take just enough for the bell. I'll take just enough to win. Because I'm not a monster. I don't want your pain, I don't want your blood. I just want to win this match. That's the difference between us. You want to tear this world down. You want to tear MY world down, OUR world down. Not today, you son of a bitch. Not. Today. Today...you find out what happens when you try to break a man that's unbreakable.
You tell us to pray. We tell you three simple words...
Not. To. You.
Andrew stares at the screen of his phone, earphones in, as the interview with the Ace plays on the screen. The video reaches the end of the clip, and Andrew numbly taps the replay button, settling back in his chair and sighing. The video only plays for a few moments before Andrew finds the phone ripped from his grasp, earbuds yanked from his ears as the phone sails across the room and into the pillows on the hotel bed. Andrew looks up, mouth opening in protest as Danielle stands over him, eyes blazing. "Okay, what was that?"
Danielle thrusts a finger in the direction of the flung phone, voice quickly falling into her signature tone of anger born of worry. "You've watched that interview two, three dozen times since it was posted. Four times since we got here. No more. You're going to dig yourself out of the hole you're putting yourself in, and it's not going to be all on my shoulders this time." Danielle hauls Andrew up by the shoulder, yanking a startled Jacobsen to his feet.
Andrew brushes her hand off, shaking his head as he takes a step to the side. "What do you mean, not on your shoulders anymore? It's my emotional freak-out I'm going through. That isn't your burden to bear."
Danielle nods, sighing. "No, no it's not. Which is why you need to learn how to handle these things. You need to learn how to believe in yourself more. I can't carry that cross forever."
"I know." Andrew sighs. "It's not fair to you. And...I'm sorry that I've been letting myself fall like this. You're under enough stress with all you do. You don't need me having the coping skills of a freshman after their first breakup." Andrew chuckles to himself, shaking his head.
Danielle pats Andrew on the shoulder gently, taking a deep breath. "First things first. You put Ace behind you. You put that doubt behind you. You had a right to be suspicious, Andrew. You had every right. He's just twisting the knife because he's bitter that he couldn't beat you."
"He's right, though." Andrew scratches the back of his neck. "It wasn't about him, it was about her. How did I let myself get so bitter that I jump at shadows like that?"
"Because..." Danielle sighs. "Because this industry is fucking awful. It's full of fucking awful people, who do fucking awful things for fucking awful reasons. And you've had it bad, because you're...not. You're not like them. You're a good man, with a big heart and an honest mind. And people use that against you, because they're vicious and incomplete."
Andrew sighs, sinking back into his chair. "Is it really that easy, though? They're humans still, full beings with hopes, dreams, fears, hatreds...they're not these cartoon cutouts that I can just waltz through like a comic book hero. I need to keep that empathy, or I start slipping."
Danielle shakes her head, looking back over at Andrew. "Andy, that's the golden mean fallacy talking. Splitting the difference between good and evil, that's not the smart plan. You don't end up with better evil, you end up with ineffectual good. You can't let them get you to compromise. You stand strong, you stand tall. Say "no, you move". Because that's who you are. You're the goddamn hero."
Andrew looks over at her, taking a deep breath and nodding. "Maybe it'll be easier now. Ace was still a man I wanted to like. Kole, Jason...they're as cartoonish as it gets. They're vile human beings. I'll fight them until I can't fight. I took my stand, and I'm not going to falter."
Danielle looks over, cocking an eyebrow and firing three words back. "Even with Xavier?"
Andrew can't bring himself to meet her gaze, merely nodding quietly. After a few moments, he mumbles back. "Yeah. Even Xavier."
Danielle nods, clearly unconvinced, and walks over, retrieving Andrew's phone. She unplugs his headphones, walking back and handing the phone to him. "Here. Watch that video again, and I'm hurling your phone out of the window. Good luck finding a replacement, you don't speak Russian."
Andrew snorts, shaking his head as he pockets his phone again and Danielle walks towards the door. "What? And you do?"
Danielle pauses as she opens the door, grinning sweetly back at him. "Почему бы и нет?" She walks out of the door, grinning ear to ear, as Andrew watches the door swing shut, a dumbstruck look on his face as we fade to black.
Well howdy there pardner.