Post by Nick Knight on Feb 5, 2024 5:59:53 GMT
The eastern horizon is just beginning to lighten with the coming down and Nick Knight stands on the balcony of his suite looking out over the Tasman Sea. He had surprised his wives with a vacation to Australia for their first anniversary and just hours from their flight home, he didn’t want to return to his life. He missed his son and loved everything he had built for his family, but he was beginning to question whether it was worth it.
“What are you thinking about?” Penny wrapped her arms around his waist. “And don’t give me that nothing bullshit.”
“I was trying to decide if I want to go home.” He turned and pulled her in for a tight hug. “The fans and companies down here seem to give a shit about professional wrestling, and we could survive off of the pay if I picked up a few tours of Japan.”
“Deep down inside do you actually want to just walk away from IWF?””
“No.” He kisses her on the forehead.”A guy can dream though, can’t he?”
“You know most guys would dream about your life, not about walking away from it.”
“I guess the grass is always greener.” Letting her go he grabbed her hand and started back into the room. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“I think I need to work up an appetite before I even think about getting breakfast.”
“I like the sound of that.”
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The world’s an amazing fucking place and there’s nothing like getting out of your comfort zone to help put your life in perspective. I am coming off of a year where I got married, moved into an awesome new house, held two different championships, and even won a couple of end-of-the-year awards. I spent the first week of my vacation celebrating all of those things, but the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to figure out what’s next for Nick Knight.
I am the IWF Invictus Champion, which means that I should be the face of Odyssey, but Roberto Verona was more than happy to be rid of me for a few weeks. I asked for a week off to take my wives on a vacation for our anniversary and he told me to go ahead and take three because I wasn’t needed until Metamorphasis. The owner of this company thinks so little of the championship that I proudly wear around my waist that he doesn’t even give a shit if it’s on TV.
When Roberto decided he once again wanted to take a more hands-on role in IWF I got excited because I thought that meant change. Instead, we’re getting the same bullshit shows filled up with the top people doing a lot of talking and greener-than-goose-shit kids wrestling enhancement talent. There’s a reason that people on the internet do nothing but shit on this place.
Things would be so much better if he would just remember that he has a couple of workhorse champions that should be dealing their belts on every fucking show. There is no reason that the Invictus and TV Champs should be sitting on the sideline for a month at a time watching contract signings and jobber matches. I want to put my belt on the line on every single episode of Odyssey to give people a chance to become champions that they wouldn’t normally have and I don’t give a fuck if it’s Nick Danger, Vivienne Rodgers, or some nobody off of the street.
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Nick and Cin are sitting hand in hand watching the last few surfers play in the water. They had both stripped out of their wetsuits and were enjoying the dying rays of the sun dry them before having to walk back to the house that they had been renting on Phillip Island just a short walk from Cape Woolami
“What has been your favorite part of the trip,” Cin asks.
“Just being away, I guess.”
“Penny told me that you were saying some stupid shit about wanting to move to Australia.”
“Yeah, I just want to live somewhere that I’m respected.” Nick stands up and wipes sand off of his ass. “I’m supposed to be the face of Odyssey and they just send me away and book bullshit three-way matches with guys that haven’t been in an IWF ring in months, or bringing in a local jobber to face someone that’s in the fucking Hall of Fame.
“Do you think they’re doing it to disrespect you,” Cin asks.
“The fuck if I know, but it sure as Hell feels like it.” Nick helps Cin to her feet. “I promised that I would put the championship on the line every single show, and I can’t do that if I’m not even booked.”
“You need to stop being so pissed off all of the time.” They picked up their boards and started walking toward the house. “You’re on a vacation with two beautiful women, you finally spent the money to buy a real board, and you even got a few matches in to stay in shape.”
“I guess if he’d had the balls to talk to me face to face I might not be so annoyed, but a fucking e-mail sent by his secretary.”
“That was a little disrespectful, but I’m sure he was busy.”
“He’s just another asshole promoter that has been sucking this business dry for a fucking century.” Nick is on the verge of throwing his brand-new surfboard when Cin lays her hand on his forearm. “Sorry, I just thought that this sport was moving past this.”
“You’ve been hellbent on making the business better for over a year now, have you gotten anywhere?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed.
“Will it ever be better,” she asks.
“I don’t know.”
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It’s been damn near a month since the last time I had a match in IWF, and I could have given at least two people an opportunity to be Invictus Champion. I could have issued an open challenge and anyone from Caleb Cannin to Itami could have walked down to the ring to shoot their shot. Hell, Angel Blake could even climb into the ol’ Dragula and come down for a chance to become a double champion.
That’s what could have been, but the reality was me enjoying the beautiful Australian summer weather, while they’ve had a pair of mediocre Odyssey cards without me. Sunday night that all changes when I face a woman that I respect the shit out of in Charlotte Shimizu. This a woman that is tough as fucking nails and she is capable of upsetting anyone in IWF on any given night. Charlotte is the exact type of person that I want to face for the Invictus Championship every other week.
Most people like to overlook Charlotte because she’s lost more matches than she’s won since coming to IWF, but that’s a huge fucking mistake. I have spent years of my life working in Japan and I know what a meat grinder wrestling over there can be. I’ve been on those winter tours where you travel from one little farm town to the next in buses that barely have heat. I’ve had to survive by eating nothing more than udon or ramen because it’s all you can afford. I’ve even had bookers try to fuck me over simply because I was gaijin and they could get away with it.
I am about to step into the ring with the 2023 Breakout Star of The Year and I’m nervous because I know what makes Charlotte tick. No other person in this company has been under the kind of pressure that she has been for the past seven years. I don’t know what she was like when she first boarded that plane for Tokyo, but she came back hard as a fucking diamond, and if I make just one mistake.
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The Knights walked along the beach lit only by a sliver of the moon high in the sky, and the only sound was the waves crashing on the beach. It was a perfect night and a van would be picking them up first thing in the morning to take them to the airport in Melbourne for their fourteen-hour flight home.
“I got you both something.” Nick stops and pulls two jewelry boxes out of his pocket. “Don’t give me those looks, it’s nothing super expensive, but I wanted you to have something to remind you of the trip.”
The ladies open their boxes at the same time revealing matching pairs of diamond koala bear earrings. They both pounce on Nick and nearly knock him down and he just laughs and pulls them in for a tight embrace. Looking up at the stars and holding his wives close he couldn’t help but smile.
There is nothing like traveling to put things into perspective and he wasn’t going to worry about being disrespected by Roberto Verona or anyone else. There are only four things in the world that matter are the women under his arms, his son back in California, and the Invictus Championship.
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Since this match was announced I’ve spent a lot of time coming up with a game plan. I’ve watched every single match that Charlotte has ever had in IWF and I even found a few that she had in Japan. I can see why she is so fond of saying No Damn Breaks because she is a ball of fucking fire inside of that ring, but her greatest strength is also her greatest weakness.
When you’re in a match against someone who outweighs you by more than a hundred pounds you have to take chances to win the match. The only chance that she has against me is to swing as hard as she can and hope that she can connect with one. When everyone sees you as being outmatched you have absolutely nothing to lose, so you just mash down the gas and hope for the best.
I have to be patient because I know that I’m going to want to match Charlotte’s energy. I’ve wrestled hundreds of wrestlers like her in Mexico and Japan and the first thing you are going to want to do is go move for move with them which is a huge fucking mistake. You go too fast you open yourself up for the kinda fuck up that ends up with her hitting a big move and me staring up at the lights as the former Invictus Champion.
My game plan is simple, be patient and use my size advantage to wear her ass out. I’m going to hit suplex after suplex to drive the air out of her body. I can’t give her the chance to hit one of her high flying moves, but if she does it has to just be a glancing blow. I have to be just enough gas to get the job done.
Well howdy there pardner.