Forty-Seven Ronin

[Deleted]

“In the landscape of extinction, precision is next to godliness.”



As Nighthawk sits alone in a small café in Tacoma nursing a cup of black coffee as he reads the rules for the big Extinction Event matchup he has found himself involved in while also scouting his male opponents one has to wonder if this 4th opportunity at a championship will be more successful than the previous 3 tries, each of which were typified by getting agonizingly close each and every time only to be rebuffed in increasingly heartbreaking fashion each time.

But while the idea of having four other partners who seemingly have the same goals as him might provide some others with a balm of comfort the Chicago native is seemingly carrying himself in such a way as though he seems to think he needs to try and win this match as much on his own merits as is possible, a frame of mind that might lead him to be more daring that might be good for him.


Despite the very real possibility that such a risk-taking mindset would lead him to take the sort of chances that would lead to a loss no one who has been around the “Wrestling Machine” or followed his career would disagree with the notion that being told he “can’t win the big one” over and over again can warp the usually calculating and risk-averse Nighthawk to the point where he is more than willing to take chances that he would not normally take.


But as the “Man of 1000 Holds” continues to drink his coffee, calmly and kindly shooing away a waitress by informing her that he’s waiting for someone, the door opens and in walks his wife Sin and his mentor Jorge Rivera. Smiling kindly at the two most important people in his life he makes room for them to sit down next to him at the roundtable he has found himself sitting at.


(Author’s note: This conversation took place in Spanish.)


Jorge: “I know what you’re going through, Tristan. I know how people are talking about you, and how much it hurts you that people think you’re too humble and too nice to win the big one because you won’t break the rules and do what others think necessary. And as much as you might not want to hear it, there’s really only one right answer to this. You have to surrender being that nice guy for this one night, and break all the rules you’ve held to. That’s the only way to win.”


Nighthawk: “No, Jorge. You’re my trainer, and my mentor, and without you there is a realistic chance I don’t have a career. But I can’t do that. I can’t be that man, and do everything I have been disgusted by other people doing, just to win a championship that I would have disgraced by my mere possession of it. Make no mistake, I want to win. Winning a title in this match is important to me, but not at the cost of being unable to look at myself the next morning. I don’t care if the rest of my life is spent dealing with people telling me I don’t have what it takes to win the big one, I’m going to be able to look at myself in the mirror when I’m done.”


Sin: “But if you’re not willing to do that, how do you think you’re going to win this?”


Nighthawk: “By wanting to be the ‘Best in the World’, instead of letting fans chant it for me night after night without it meaning anything. I’m not trying to be arrogant, or cocky when it’s not needed, but I know how good I am. Every fan in that audience knows it, and most of the boys in the back do too. And when I step in that ring, I’m going to become the “Wrestling Machine” again. I’m going to wrestle with honor, and with skill. And that, doing just that, is going to be enough. Win, or lose, it’s going to be enough.”


Jorge: “I understand. I know this is who you are, and this is how you have to do things. It’s just…. I want you to be successful, and I don’t want you to have to defend what you’ve done against people who don’t have the right to question you. That’s all I want, Tristan, is for you to get what you deserve. And if you think the best way for that to happen for you is to keep on doing what you’ve been doing, I’m not going to stop you. Good luck. We’ll all be watching.”

Nighthawk: “I know you will. But why are you leaving? We have much to talk about.”


And with that, the “Man of 1000 Holds” shoos us away as he wants no one to be privy to his private conversations.


That night…..


As Nighthawk is heading out of his hotel to head towards the local MMA gym that has agreed to let him train there before the Extinction Event, a clearly inebriated fan wearing a Roberto Verona t-shirt staggers in front of him.


Nighthawk, eyebrow raised: “What can I help you with on this fine night, sir?”


Drunk fan, his speech slurred almost to the point that he sounds like he’s speaking a completely different language: “You’re not going to win. You’re only there because they needed some loser to make it an even 5, and the rest of the Union of Jobbers were taken. You’ll lose. You always lose whenever you go for a championship. And hopefully, Roberto Verona breaks your neck and gets rid of you for good.”


Nighthawk, graceful and kind even in the face of this: “Enjoy your night, sir. I hope you have a good time at the show in a few days.”


Snarling and attempting to bark out an insult the fan wobbles towards the door of the hotel, only to fall face-forward passed-out drunk. Smiling quietly to himself, the “Wrestling Machine” goes to pick up the man and place him in one of the chairs inside the hotel with instructions for the front desk to call an ambulance.


A few hours later…..


As Nighthawk sits down on a bench overlooking Point Defiance Park, he slowly closes his eyes. Clad in a black USA Wrestling hooded sweatshirt, a black Dave Schultz Wrestling Camp t-shirt, black leather pant with blue and white piping up and down each leg, and black work boots, the “Wrestling Machine” slowly opens his eyes and smiles coolly.



Nighthawk: “Humility is a dangerous thing. If you invest in it too little, it can make you arrogant and cocky to the point where you no longer respect what your opponents can do. Too much of it, on the other hand, means that you no longer believe that doing great things, or more to the point saying that you can do great things, is for you.

So this week, when I step into the ring, I will remind the world of the thing I have known for quite a long time now: When I step in the ring, I can do great things.


I know what it means to be a champion. Before I came to the IWF, I held championships at every company whose doors I darkened. I know what winning one requires, and what keeping it requires. And in this company, I have had 3 chances at that apple and come closer and closer each time.

This week, when I step inside that ring for the Extinction Event, I’m not looking just to survive. I’m not looking to be the last guy standing. I’m looking to show the world that, when I’m at the top of my game, I am amongst the very best in the world.

And proving all of that starts with a man who thinks he knows what makes me the man I am now, and the man I want to be.



Roberto, you’re right. I’m not willing to play dirty pool to become champion, and if that means I never become a champion of your type, I freely admit I’m fine with that.



I’m fine with never being the sort of champion who wades into battle from the boardroom because his lust for power and control is unquenchable. I am fine with never being the sort of champion, who when faced with partnering with other champions, decides to stab one of them in the back thus infuriating the other the week before you have to step into battle with them.


I’m fine with not being a champion if in order to be one, I always am plotting to sneak my way back to the top.



But, and this is the important part you seem to miss in your desire to condemn everything I don’t do, who says I have to? Where is the history that says the best way, and if I choose to believe and listen to everything you say the only way, to become a champion is to become the sort of man you have?

I choose a different path. Sure, my path is harder but it is not a path untraveled.



The men who taught my mentors paved that path, and built it for me. They were men of principles, moral and honorable men who nonetheless fought when it was necessary. My path sent me through Japan, México, and Europe to learn everything I could until I was absolutely sure I was ready. And then when I was ready, I kept learning and kept getting better until I can stand, CONFIDENTLY, where I am now.


So if you think, Roberto Verona, that you can shake me from that path by pointing out what I won’t do, you don’t know me well at all.



Allow me to give you a bit of a lesson instead. The man you think won’t surrender his principles is also the man who will fight you until there is no air left in his lungs, and will figure out some way, some game plan, to beat you.

The man who you think is nothing but an eternal disappointment has spent hour after hour sharpening the most basic of holds until I can tap you out with it.

I did not earn the right to be called the “Man of 1000 Holds” because I am gentle. I did not defeat Damarius Thomas in a dog-collar match because I am overly polite.

The man who you think is too filled with honor to do what is necessary is the same man who developed a submission hold that a counter doesn’t exist to.


So please, Roberto, step into that ring and think you’re standing across the ring from nothing more than a Pollyanna. I would love you to believe that everything you say about me is true.

Because when I prove to you that it isn’t, that you don’t have to break the rules to be relentless, I want one more thing from you:

Respect.




And then that brings me to one of the two men who I actually respect on the side of the champions, Warren Kane. Warren, with the exception of the 1st time you and I met, there has always been one constant. Other people.




2nd time we met, there was Death….. and a ladder. This most recent occasion, Jack Gaither….. and a ladder. And each and every time, you’ve climbed that ladder before me, and gotten to the prize first. So knowing that, you might be asking the question: Why am I confident? Easy.

Because of the 1st time.




The 1st time you and I met, you were rampaging towards the Invictus Title. You were under Judas Aliah’s thrall, and you were a future champion. I knew it, and so did everyone else. And what happened? I tapped you out in the center of the ring.

Things have changed a lot for both of us since then. I’m not the same man I was that night, and neither are you.


I’m no fool about any of this. But I’ve come as close as I can, in two matches that don’t fit what I do best. This match does.

So when you and I step in the ring, win, lose, or draw, I make you a promise: I will shake your hand like a man when it starts, and when it ends. You’ve earned that from me, and you’ve earned the right to be called a great champion.


I want a match with you, however long it goes for, that is clean, classy, and clever. That is all I can ask for.

All I hope is that when it ends, I’m holding a title over my shoulder….. and you’re not.


I don’t hold any false airs about this match. I know it’s going to be hard work to come out with the result I want, but I can do
it.


And so then that brings me to the man who holds the title everyone seems to believe is perfect for me, Rob Diamond.

Rob, I respect what you want. But I need you to understand something, clearly. I will wrestle whoever is in front of me.

If that’s you, if that’s Warren, if that’s God himself coming down from the mountaintop, I will wrestle you all the same way. I will wrestle you to the best of my absolute ability, and push you to the limits of yours.

That is the only way I know how to do this. And as long as I can stand on my own two feet, I will keep doing this.

So forgive me, Rob, if I don’t accept the offer of Roberto Verona on a silver platter.


Whatever I’ve achieved here, and I know it hasn’t been up to the standards of others, it’s been because I’ve earned it. And that will not change when I step in the ring.


Win, lose, or draw that’s what I will do.



Goodnight, IWF. May sleep give you the courage to go on.”