Post by The Ace on Nov 22, 2013 20:05:01 GMT
FAN FAYRE 2013
Today was a Thursday. Today was the first day of an event that Imperial Wrestling Federation hoped would become an annual tradition. A four day event for the IWF fans that would culminate in one of the biggest Pay Per Views of the year. Today was also the first day Tiffany Jones was on the other side of the autograph table.
Her question went unanswered due to the throng of older male fans flocking to see her sister, a star of the business, a real Diamond, not just an interviewer. It wasn't always like that, Kathy had adapted to the lifestyle of this business rather well and Tiffany watched her sister with a smile. She had an efficiency in signing the autographs, but took her time to write a personal message on each of them.
She was used to attending these type of events as a fan and as she sat next to her elder sister, Kathleen Conway, she thought back to the time in late 2007, the last time she and her sister had been to one of these, not as employees of the wrestling business, but as fans...
Fan Event 2007
It was a Saturday, December 15th, 2007 and New Championship Wrestling was in Chicago, Illinois, the city that was now home base for IWF. Funny how things work out isn't it? Tiffany Jones stood in the throng of people lining up for his autograph and looked at her sister who wore a black 'Still wanna Play?' T-shirt with the Four Aces on it.
Tiffany: Are you sure you really want to do this?
Kathy took a deep breath and shook her head.
Kathy: No, no I'm not. But if I don't, I think I'm going to regret it.
Tiffany: What about Steve? You know this isn't fair to him.
Kathy: Life isn't fair, Tiff, I learned that a long time ago, just like I learned Steve Evans doesn't care about being there for me, he only cares about being "Sexy Jason".
They shuffle along the line.
Tiffany: Okay, but still, this is Jake Conway we're talking about, he has never struck me as Father of the Year material. Do you honestly think he's ready for this?
The two sisters look ahead of the line, Kathy bobbing her head to see what the hold up was.
Kathy: Unbelievable.
Tiffany follows her sister's gaze, there was still six people ahead of them. The Ace was talking to a young attractive redhead fan and she was giggling like a school girl with whatever he was saying. Kathy looks down, dejected.
Kathy: Maybe you're right. This was a bad idea. Let's go find Steve, Tee...
Tiffany: Oh no honey, we're here now, you insisted on this, at least get the autograph you paid for...
Kathy sighs as her sister playfully pushes her, Kathy returns the push and starts to feel better about herself.
Tiffany: Tee, if this all goes south, you'll be there for me and Soli, right?
Tiffany smiles and addresses her sister's concern with genuine sincerity.
Tiffany: I always have been and I always will be, sis.
Kathy smiles.
Kathy: Thanks, I needed to hear that.
A golden diamond on embroidered on black leather, and inside that diamond outline, there are the four Aces. The camera slowly pans out and we see a blonde ponytail neatly tied back. As the camera continues to zoom out, The Ace spins on his heel to face the camera, and under the jacket, we can make out a partly hidden logo composed of a red diamond, inside which was a smaller golden Spade, inside that, smaller still, a red heart, across the chest.
The Ace offers the camera a grin as he slowly removes his blue tinted shades.
NOW...THE ACE....IS IN THE PLACE!
Can you feel it? The electricity. The buzz in the air. The anticipation. It's exhilarating. isn't it? The adrenalin, the rush, the sound of thousands of people in sold out arenas across the United States chanting my name and cheering me on as I bust open some heads and whoop some piddly asses! I've missed it! I've missed all of you, my fans. Those of you who love me. Those of you who hate me. It doesn't matter how you reacted every time you saw me step through the curtain. All that matters is that you reacted. It doesn't matter if it was three, thirty, three hundred, three thousand or three million of you who reacted to anything I've done in that ring over the past decade...YOUR reactions are what I live for. You guys are like a heartbeat in this business, often overlooked, taken for granted but oh so absolutely essential to keeping me alive. Keeping the blood flowing.
I'll let you guys into a little secret, I don't really trust the corporate suits who run this company to be completely honest with me. They look ay me and all they see is the value of my name and mt reputation, which, don't get me wrong, is nice but so damned insincere. I know Bertie and Mr De Monty danced a little jig in the office when they signed me, they saw me as an asset, an NCW legend, a dual NCW Hall of Famer, a marquee talent. They saw me as an acquisition, they looked at me and saw dollar signs. They saw me as a special attraction, somebody they could trot out every few months to temporarily boost the ratings when they dip as they usually do this time of year.
Honestly, I don't see myself like that. At least not anymore. I'm not jaded. I'm not special. I'm just the eldest son of a British working class family who somehow fell into this business on the British Independent Circuit and never looked back. That was over ten years ago now, and in those ten years I've had my fair share of regrets, but coming out here and busting my ass for all of you for over three hundred nights a year has never been one of them. I've made some bad decisions, some not so good decisions and some great decisions in my life, and you all have seen me at my best and you've seen me at my worst, it didn't matter to you.
This business has given me some of the most loyal fans in the world and it is for them that I am back.
It's time to give all of you guys and girls something back for all the years of support you've provided for me and my family. That's why I'm back. To say thank you in the only way I've ever known how. By whooping some piddly ass and bringing all of you along for the ride. How long will it last? Will it be my last? I don't know, but you guys do. Every. Single. One. Of you know. Just like you have always known. You have never been shy about letting me know when I'm doing my job. You've always let me know when I'm doing it badly and when I'm doing it well and I know that when it finally comes time for me to hang up my favourite pair of boots, it will be YOU who let me know when its over. Nobody else.
Whether that is after this Sunday or another ten years from now, I don't know and it doesn't matter. So let's just ride the waves for as long as we can. Let's just have a little fun and kick a lot of ass as we enjoy the nostalgia of my return for what it is. I'm back fot as long as you guys need me to be. It is obvious that without me on this roster, this company idea of ratings is Spike Kane's sixteenth World Championship, a pale imitation of something that had at least three of its own incarnations in NCW and a God damned Crucifixion! I was with you guys, I really was, right up until that last part...that was just...urgh. Still I suppose it turned out better than that rumour all the dirtsheets were reporting about revisiting Rob Diamond and the goat.
Trust me, nobody needs to see that again. Hell, I didn't need to see it the first time.
So we're all glad those Zelda Knite contract negotiations never happened now, aren't we?
The Ace smirks.
I'm not here to crush Empires. I'm not here to stage Rebellions. I'm not here to play the saint or the sinner. I'm not here to be the hero or the villain. I'm just here to have a good time with all of you. I will kick ass and I will do it indiscriminately. I'm done with having an agenda, and it isn't because I don't care about what's happening in IWF, because I do. It really is a case of too many cooks in the kitchen at this point, to be honest. Besides, Spike's latest quest for power gets nothing but a yawn from me. This is a well worn road I've been down too many times before, I don't need to walk the path again. There are no new challenges to be savoured from slapping the piss out of two veterans like Lance Ryan and Spike Kane who are so desperate to hold on to their relevance in the business as we approach the doorstep of 2014.
I'm sorry guys. I'm here to remind the people what this business should be about and it sure as shit isn't about being a giant monument to Spike's ego. Seventeen years and sixteen World Championships later, isn't the whole henchmen routine getting a little old now dude? I'm sure if you're really going to take exception with anything I've just said, you'll let me know, you always have and if you really want to cross me, you know where I am - until then however, I'll just be over here moving on, testing myself against a whole new generation of professional wrestlers and not just rehashing the best of Davey Ortega's old ideas...
Kay?
The line began to move noticeably quicker after the red head finally left with her autograph. Now there wad only one more person ahead of Tiffany and Kathy now.The enthusiastic male ginger teenager from Scotland passed along a publicity eight by ten shot of him and Alena Knight from his XHF days, she had already signed it. He glanced at the image and the signature in black marker pen scrawled across her waist as she posed with The Ace. the shot capturing her kissing his cheek as he posed with the Hardcore title around his waist.
All the best, love
A. Snowy Knight.
xXx <3
Fan: Could yoo make it oot tah Duncan, please?
The Ace blinked twice and shook his head as he regarded the freckled face of his fan. The accent took him away from dwelling on the memory of the woman who would have given him twin daughters if fate had not decided otherwise. He had some affectionate memories, and some painful regrets linked to that part of the world. He smiled.
The Ace: That accent, Glasgow, right?
Duncan: Aye. Know that part of the world well, do yah?
The Ace nods, and grins.
The Ace: Aye, I have some family and friends up there, I'm a quarter Scottish myself, actually.
Duncan: Really? I didnae know that, yah really do learn somethin' new everyday...
The Ace: Uh, I'm sorry kid, who did you say you wanted this made out to?
Duncan: Just make it out tah Duncan if yoo would, and if yah widne mind, I have a couple of questions I've always wanted tah ask ye?
The Ace quickly signs the photo, scrawling across his own chest in silver marker and resisting the urge to scrawl all over the beautiful blonde face of his lost love and one of his most painful memories.
To Duncan,
From one Ace to another...
The Ace.
The Ace handed the photo back as he briefly locked eyes with his fan.
The Ace: Sure kid, what is it?
Duncan: First of all, yoor like me personal hero man, the way you get all the fit birds, its legendary, so I gotta ask, how do yah do eet man?
The Ace: That's easy...
The Ace smirks as his voice drops to a whisper as if he was about to impart a trade secret.
The Ace: Confidence is key. Confidence is sexy. Confidence can get you any bird you want. Fake it if you have to, its all good as long as they don't know you're faking it. Just don't ask me how you keep 'em after that...
The Ace and Duncan share a quick laugh.
Duncan: That actually leads on to my next question. How do yah let someone so fit just walk away?
The Ace: It wasn't my choice kid, but another thing you need to understand about women is that once they've made their mind up about something, there's very litte, if anything you can ever do to change their decision, and Snowy, well she decided that it was over between us.
Duncan: Sounds like yoo have some regrets aboot the whole situation?
The Ace: Regrets are like secrets kid, we all have them.
Duncan: Yeah, we all do...
Duncan looks over his shoulder at the other fans in the line, he locks eyes with Tiffany and offers a smile before turning back to The Ace.
Duncan: Well, I don't wannae hold yah up too much, thanks fur this, man.
The Ace: Anytime, mate.
Duncan moves along and The Ace looks up at Tiffany, then at Kathy and smiles.
The Ace: Kathy! You know you don't have to wait in line, or have you just lost Sexy Jason again?
The Ace smiles, and Kathy grins.
Kathy: Actually, Jake, we really need to talk, but not here. It is kind of important.
The Ace: I see, well...
The Ace reaches across the table and pulls a playing card of the top of the red deck next to him, and picks up a gold coloured marker and scribbles something on the underside, without paying any attention to the face of it. He hands it over, with a wink.
Kathy glances down at it and registers the information before walking away.
MARRIOT HOTEL
RM 101
9PM
Kathy grins and looks over at her sister, before flipping over the card and comes face to face with her future. The Queen of Diamonds.
Speaking of the new generation of professional wrestler, Eddie Black, that's what you are right? Or at the very least that's what you aspire to be, and I really wish I could see it, I really wish I could, but all I've heard from you in the last few weeks is a few things running rampant, chief among these was of course your mouth, but also your ego and sense of insecurity. I was like you at one point in my life I was like you Eddie, sometimes I listen to you talk and I hear myself from way back when.
I spent about four years on the British Indy circuit and didn't get my big break into all of this professionally until I was twenty nine and even then in my first big match over ten years ago, I stepped into a variant of the steel cell called the Devil's Playground, against five other legends of the time. I didn't beat them, in fact I ended up getting my ass kicked and my face grated open like God damned Red Leicester cheese.
You think such a baptism by blood would have humbled me, but it didn't, in fact it made me even worse. I didn't see it as a loss, I saw it as definitive proof that I could stand toe to toe with some of the greatest names this industry has ever seen. Now I could sit here and throw some names at you, some of which you would recognise like Spike Kane and "Diamond" Dave Holland, and some of which you probably wouldn't like Triple D and X-Con, but that's not really my game here.
I'm beyond all that now. I don't need to bolster my name or my reputation, I don't need to recite a huge checklist of who's who in this industry that I've faced off in my career, and I certainly don't need to make myself appear to be any bigger star than who I am right now, because I'm finally secure enough in myself to appreciate that whilst I may never be the greatest wrestler to ever lace up a pair of boots, I'm still pretty damn good.
But you already know that, don't you Eddie? Just like the thousands that will be in attendance at the Pay Per View this Sunday, and the millions more watching around the world, you know my name, you know my reputation, and we both know that scares the hell out of you, don't we Eddie? The fact is, you know as well as I do that this is the big leagues now boy, you've made it.
Congratulations.
You've made it this far, you've been here long enough now to make an impact and leave an impression, but not long enough to realise that making it here, well, that's really only half the battle kid, it always is. The other half, well, that's something you just don't have, at least not yet - longetivity. Perhaps in time you will, but for right now, somebody really should give you kudos for choking out a legend like Lance Ryan in his return match after a three year hiatus, and for that Eddie, I give you all the kudos in the world kid, you did good. You're riding high right now, you think you're unstoppable, you have all the momentum going into our match on Sunday right now, and I'm man enough to admit that worries me.
You worry me Eddie, but not because I haven't wrestled in a couple of months, you worry me because you stood toe to toe with the man you heard everyone call the undisputed legend of NCW, the man of that company, and not only did you stand toe to toe with him, you beat him and you did it in a damn decisive fashion. Nobody can ever take the euphoria of that moment away from you and I'd be a fool to even try. My worry though Eddie is that I know that when I was cutting my teeth in this business and getting my ass handed to me every night by veterans and established names, it did nothing to quench my ego and sense of entitlement. I felt I was owed the world, but nobody ever gave it to me. I can only imagine how much more insufferable I would have been if I had actually won even half the battles that I let my big mouth talk me into back in those days.
The fact is Eddie, I don't want to beat you at Survival of the Fittest, I want to humble you. I want to teach you a little respect for all the guys who came before you, all the guys who paved the way for you, the new blood, the new generation, the future of this industry, and I don't need to beat you to do that, but just because I don't need to beat you doesn't mean I am incapable of doing so anyway. See Eddie, that's the wonderful thing about being at this point in my career, I don't really need to beat anybody, they all need to beat me.
You need to beat me Eddie to continue making your case as the next big thing in this business, you need to win over your critics and prove that you are the real deal around here. The rocket is being strapped to your back, but then so is all the pressure. It's all on you kid. This Sunday you need me to be your fuel to the next level in your career, but I might just end up being the straw that broke your back, and that possibility, however remote it is in the recesses of your mind still exists, it still gnaws away at you, doesn't it Eddie?
I know it does because I've felt it myself, I've seen it in your eyes. After all, what kind of man feels the need to warn the most happily married man on the roster, a man who adores his wife and worships the ground she walks on to back off his pretty young blonde girlfriend? A scared man. A terrified man. A man so overwhelmed by his own fears and insecurities that even the act of proposing marriage to her seems so daunting. I know you're not afraid of losing to me Eddie, but losing her? It's unimaginable, isn't it? I'm just another match, not a perfect match. Not like her.
Not like Rachel.
There is some wonderful poetry to the fact that the man who makes his name in the business by routinely choking out other men is himself all choked up by the thought of a woman. That's the power they have over us Eddie, you can be the baddest man on the planet and you can even join the crowd of critics who mock me for doting over Kathy but we all know that the right woman changes all that, whether you want her to or not. Don't believe me? Go and try to slap around River Madison and see what kind of blubbering ball of tears and rage you turn Spike Kane - the Imperial Champion and the leader of the Empire into. Go on, try it, I dare you, but you won't, will you? No, because you're not an idiot, you know he crucified Xavier Cross for so much less.
See, I knew there was more to you Eddie, so much more than your charming Southern drawl. You are smart enough to pick your battles, it is why you threatened my wife more than once but knew better than to actually follow through on it. You laid your hands on my sister-in-law, but you held back from really hurting her, because you knew better. You knew that that was a bridge too far and a bridge you weren't prepared to cross, not because you were afraid of me but because you were afraid losing Rachel, weren't you?
They're always watching us you know, and in this business we can justify so many things as an act because they know we're not really like that when the cameras stop rolling, but beating a woman, well that's just a line that's just too blurry for most people to handle. There comes a point then when it serves not to send a message to your opponent but rather to paint you as a Grade A douchebag. There is a reason why I still can't watch the footage of the night Spike laid his hands on my wife and forced me to watch without balling up my fist and being tortured by my own sense of regret. I will die before I ever let something like that ever happen to Kathy again - but I have a feeling you know that already Eddie.
You aren't prepared to kill me, you just want my attention, and now you've got it sunshine. You can be all pissed at me for making you wait a month before I finally responded to your little challenge, but I did that to show you that if you really want my time and attention, you will get it on MY terms, not yours. You haven't yet earned the right to dictate to me the terms of my surrender kid, so don't even try. That's the problem with the youth of today, we are in a generation of instant gratification where patience is a lost art. You want everything, you wait for nothing, and in such rampant desperation, while you scramble to find the words and your place in the business, you will say anything to get a handle on the situation. You like to feel you are in control, don't you Eddie? That you dictate the pace, and it must be a great comfort to you to believe my harshest critics when they tell you I was the perennial bridesmaid in NCW, nothing special.
It must be a great comfort to you to be able to reduce, a former World Heavyweight Champion and the greatest ever and last three time National Champion in the history of the company, a two time Hall of Fame inductee to the role of a glorified rookie, the only problem with that is that you have no right. If you learn nothing else about me from this, our first encounter, Eddie, you should know that I personally don't put much stock in the hollow words of some unestablished green as grass rookie, and neither do the thousands of my Aces who will march into battle with me on Sunday...and together we will show you that it doesn't always pay to bet on Black...
It was 8:57 pm on December 15th, 2007, and Kathy stood outside Room 101 in the Chicago Marriot Hotel. She had even dressed up for the ocassion, she paced nervously outside his door, uncertain of how to proceed. In all her years of police training and confronting some of the most dangerous men in the criminal community, nothing had quite prepared her to face a serial womanizer with the truth of having fathered a child. She clutched in her hand a photograph of herself cradling a young Solitaire. She looked down at it, kissed it and whispered to her daughter.
Kathy: Wish me luck...
She raised a knuckle to tap on the door, hesitated for a moment, then thought better of the whole thing. Kathy reached into her black purse and pulled out a red marker pen. She turned over the photograph and scrawled a message on it, nothing particularly poignant, just the first thing that came to her.
Proof that miracles can happen,
She hesitated and chewed the top of the pen for a moment before completing the message.
my love...
She then bent down and slid it under the door for him to find as she hastily planned her exit, having chickened out of a face to face confrontation on this occasion. Kathy hurried as fast as she could from his door, but she didn't get very far in her high heels, partly because the door swung open moments after the photograph had been slid under his door and partly because her right heel gave way, snapping under the pressure.
Kathy: Damn!
"Kathy?"
Kathy whispered under her breath to herself.
Kathy: Almost made it...
Kathy sighed and turned around to face him. She managed half a smile as he marched towards her, waving the photograph.
The Ace: What's the meaning of this?
Kathy: I...I didn't know how to tell you this Jake, but remember late January last year?
The Ace: Yeah, what of it?
Kathy: Well, you have a daughter, there she is.
The Ace: WHAT? IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?
Kathy felt the venom behind his raised voice and smelt the scent of whisky on his breath. Kathy waved the stench away.
Kathy: Jake, have you been drinking?
The Ace: Do you know how many women have tried to ruin me with their lies and slander about this sort of thing over the years? How do I know this isn't some photoshopped scam for child support because you banged some worthless deadbeat who won't now pay up?
Now it was Kathy's turn to yell.
Kathy: PHOTOSHOP?! REALLY JAKE! IS THAT ALL YOU THINK OF ME? I'M NOT HERE FOR YOUR GOD DAMN MONEY!
The Ace: Then why are you here, Kathy?
Kathy looks down and her voice drops to a whisper.
Kathy: I don't know. I'm here because I love you and I thought we could -
Kathy is cut off by a voice coming from the doorway of his hotel room.
"Jakie! Is everything alright? I heard yelling..."
Kathy turns around and stood in the doorway was the redhead she had seen from the autograph session in red and white Christmassy lingerie and Santa hat. Kathy's jaw drops as she cannot believe it.
Jake: It's fine sweetie, get back in the room, I'll be there in a second.
The woman nods and re enters the hotel room, with all the compliant obedience of a working girl. His voice drops.
Kathy: Oh my God, Jake! What were you expecting? A threesome? You knew I wanted to talk to you tonight...
Jake:Yeah, but I also remember what happened the last time we talked last January...I thought it was some kind of girl code...
Kathy slaps him hard across the face, and the sting lingers longer than he was used to.
Kathy: Girl code? GIRL CODE! You are un-fucking-believable! You know what? This was a mistake, forget it...you were right about one thing though...I did once make the mistake of screwing some deadbeat and you can bet your piddly ass I won't ever make that mistake again!
Kathy collects her broken shoe from the floor, and kicks off the other, before collecting it aswell and walking away from him, and only when she was some distance away from him did she finally break down into floods of tears, and she ignored him even after he heard him call after her.
The Ace: KATHY!
His voice drops to a whisper after she was too far away to hear him anyway.
The Ace: You forgot...your photo....
The Ace shook his head as he walked back to his room. He finds the redhead sprawled out on the bed, waiting for him. He walks over to the desk in his room and shoves the photograph quickly in a drawer, it had no place in his life tonight. The Ace then reaches for the shot glass and takes another shot of whiskey from the bottle that was already three-quarters empty. It burned the back of his throat and he grimaced. He then turned his head and locked eyes with the vision of lust that lay before him. He felt like shit, and the only way he knew how to cope was to ride it out.
The Ace: Do you still have the blonde wig with you?
The red head smiled.
Redhead: Of course I do honey, anything for my favourite client. Do you want me to be blonde tonight?
The Ace nods, the redhead hops up and enters the ensuite bathroom as The Ace sits himself down on the edge of the bed. His head lowered, he starts to unbutton his blue suit autonomously as he had a thousand times before in a thousand other hotel rooms.
The redhead now emerges as a blonde and shakes her hips as she smiles at him.
Blonde: Merry Christmas, Jakie!
The Ace: Merry Christmas, A Girl Has No Name...
She then jumped on him and tackled him down to the mattress, showering him with all the affection he had paid for.
Tiffany is awoken from her reverie as a photo of her is placed before her. Somebody wanted her autograph. Tiffany grabs a pink pen, and without looking up speaks to her fan.
Tiffany: Who do I make it out to?
"Rich..."
Tiffany recognised the voice immediately and she smiled wide as she locked eyes with Jake's middle brother, Richard. She jumps to her feet and immediately hugs him, kissing him on the cheek.
Tiffany: What the hell are you doing here?
Richard: Relax, I'm just here as a fan...
Well howdy there pardner.