Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2019 15:13:18 GMT
As we enter the massive main training area of the Wrestle Factory in Chicago, we see a singular man running his way through drills against a grappling dummy in a full-sized wrestling ring. Moving from submission to submission with the practiced deadly elegance of someone who has spent their whole life mastering every hold and strike until they are near perfect we finally see the man drop the dummy and lean against the middle rope, his muscled torso drenched in sweat as he grabs a pre-made recovery shake out of a cerulean-blue cooler. Walking over gingerly to the light, flicking one on and smiling as the entire room is bathed in light, we see Nighthawk leaning against the ropes.
Clad simply in blue-and-white spandex Muay Thai-style shorts and blue-and-white Nike Hypersweep wrestling shoes, the āAmerican Samuraiā leans against the ropes for a moment, flipping his long hair out of his face.
Nighthawk: āAllow me the indulgence of telling you a story. It will be brief, but I imagine when Iām done, youāll want to hear more and more until Iāll have you transfixed.
Imagine the thing you love, the thing you define yourself as being, being taken away from you. Worse still, it is not because of a sin you committed. It is because the people you trusted to defend that thing alongside you, people you understood to be in the same boat as you, threw you out of the boat to protect a fantasy. What would you do? How would you handle what you thought of as a betrayal?
Some of you might stop, might take this as a sign itās time to move on. The thing you love has been taken from you, so maybe itās time to be something else. Something else no one can take from you. This is one path, and for some, it is the right one.
Some of you might redouble your efforts, might appeal the decision. The thing you love has been taken from you, and you know it to be unfair. Demand fairness. Demand justice. Demand the right thing be done. This is another path, and for others, this too is the right one.
What did I choose? Neither. And yet both.
As of right now, until my appeal is heard by the proper authorities, I am no longer a āMaster of 1000 Holdsā. My knowledge has not left me. My skills are still mine. Every hold I have ever learned, taught, or been placed in, I still know their finer points. That cannot change.
But the description, the idea that I am a master, that has left me. And I will freely admit, there were days when I was heartbroken by this. There were days when I did not want to come here <Nighthawk gestures to his right and left, where the building that has become his training hall slowly comes to life with his morning students walking in> and deal with my students asking me the same questions again and again.
But I found faith in the grind. I found holy purpose in teaching armbars, and leglocks, and pinning combinations. I found glory in the struggle, and with it my honor returned.
I am not a master. I am a man who can be taught, and a man who can teach.
And at the IWF Roulette, when my number is called, I will walk to the ring, and I will know that as much as I have known anything.
When the bell rings to end it, I will be the same man I was when the bell rang to start it.
I am Nighthawk. I am a Wrestling Machine. I will break you down. I will take your will, I will take your limbs, and I will take your heart.
Goodnight IWF. May sleep give you the courage to go on.ā
Clad simply in blue-and-white spandex Muay Thai-style shorts and blue-and-white Nike Hypersweep wrestling shoes, the āAmerican Samuraiā leans against the ropes for a moment, flipping his long hair out of his face.
Nighthawk: āAllow me the indulgence of telling you a story. It will be brief, but I imagine when Iām done, youāll want to hear more and more until Iāll have you transfixed.
Imagine the thing you love, the thing you define yourself as being, being taken away from you. Worse still, it is not because of a sin you committed. It is because the people you trusted to defend that thing alongside you, people you understood to be in the same boat as you, threw you out of the boat to protect a fantasy. What would you do? How would you handle what you thought of as a betrayal?
Some of you might stop, might take this as a sign itās time to move on. The thing you love has been taken from you, so maybe itās time to be something else. Something else no one can take from you. This is one path, and for some, it is the right one.
Some of you might redouble your efforts, might appeal the decision. The thing you love has been taken from you, and you know it to be unfair. Demand fairness. Demand justice. Demand the right thing be done. This is another path, and for others, this too is the right one.
What did I choose? Neither. And yet both.
As of right now, until my appeal is heard by the proper authorities, I am no longer a āMaster of 1000 Holdsā. My knowledge has not left me. My skills are still mine. Every hold I have ever learned, taught, or been placed in, I still know their finer points. That cannot change.
But the description, the idea that I am a master, that has left me. And I will freely admit, there were days when I was heartbroken by this. There were days when I did not want to come here <Nighthawk gestures to his right and left, where the building that has become his training hall slowly comes to life with his morning students walking in> and deal with my students asking me the same questions again and again.
But I found faith in the grind. I found holy purpose in teaching armbars, and leglocks, and pinning combinations. I found glory in the struggle, and with it my honor returned.
I am not a master. I am a man who can be taught, and a man who can teach.
And at the IWF Roulette, when my number is called, I will walk to the ring, and I will know that as much as I have known anything.
When the bell rings to end it, I will be the same man I was when the bell rang to start it.
I am Nighthawk. I am a Wrestling Machine. I will break you down. I will take your will, I will take your limbs, and I will take your heart.
Goodnight IWF. May sleep give you the courage to go on.ā
Well howdy there pardner.