Post by Jake Keeton on Mar 26, 2016 8:04:20 GMT
Let’s take a little trip down memory lane shall we?
It was late 2007 and I had just returned to the ring after being away dealing with some legal issues and trying to gain custody of my son. I signed with a new promotion being run by an old acquaintance of mine who I’d worked with back in the late 90s and was preparing for my first match in a long time. When I got to gym one morning there was this kid in his late teens sleeping in the bushes outside. I woke him up and he explained that he was waiting on me because he wanted me to train him to become a wrestler. I wasn’t a trainer, at least not up until that point but after he refused to leave me alone I reluctantly agreed.
That kid was Ryan Shane.
He had natural athleticism the likes of which I had never seen. He was a sponge who learned things extremely fast and it took little to no effort for him to learn the things I taught him. He was simply amazing and left me in complete shock after every training session at how well he was picking stuff up. It wasn’t long before I spoke to the folks in the office at the company I was working for and got him a tryout match which he dominated easily. Then we decided to team up and we were a very successful team, so successful in fact that all of the major wrestling publications chose us as their 2008 Tag Team of the Year. It was after our very first match together though that I realized that no matter how gifted he was physically….
Mentally he was broken.
I don’t mean he’s handicapped or something, what I mean is that he has a total lack of self confidence and no amount of training can teach a man to believe in himself. After we won that first match all I heard from him was how bad he sucked because I scored the pinfall for our team and had to “carry him”, his words not mine by the way. No matter how much I told him how good he was or how much the fans, the fellow wrestlers, the management, or people in the media told him there was no convincing him that he could be a great professional wrestler.
It frustrated me to no end that he had so much potential but he didn’t see it in himself and no matter how confident he may seem at times today he still has no faith in himself. You can hear the doubt in his voice every time he speaks, in every single promo he’s done since he’s returned he talks about people thinking he’s a joke, or a lower tier guy yet no one has actually said that. Even when he tries to sound tough and like he believes in himself it’s after he’s already torn himself down so bad that his opponents don’t even have to.
Ryan Shane’s worst enemy ain’t me, it’s Ryan Shane.
Continued from Broken Son Part 1-
Jake and Missy walk down a hallway in the police station until they come to a door with a small glass window in it. Through the window Jake can see his 18 year old son JC sitting alone in a room with plain white walls and a bench like seat going along the wall in the back of the empty room. JC’s shirt is ripped, with some dried blood on the collar that had run down from a small cut next to his right eye. He also has a large scratch on his left cheek and a busted lip. He just stares at the floor cold and empty. Jake drops his head at the sight of his only son in such a shape.
Missy: I’m sorry Jake.
Jake: It’s ok, can I talk to him?
Before Missy can answer another officer approaches her and hands her a piece of paper and she nods at the officer before he walks away.
Missy: Yeah…
She unlocks the door and when JC sees Jake step into the room the color drains from his face and a look of fear comes over him as Jake just stands there with his arms crossed.
Missy: I’ll leave you two alone.
JC swallows hard and looks up at Jake who stands over him.
JC: Dad… It’s not what it looks like…
Jake: It looks to me like you hit your girlfriend and she started kicking your ass until you decided to hold her over the fucking balcony by her ankles!
JC: She hit me first!
Jake: Are you five? You don’t hit a woman unless it’s your job or your life is in danger and it looks like she roughed you up pretty good but I don’t think she was gonna kill you but I might!
JC tires not to cry but can’t hold back and a few tears roll down his cheeks and he winces in pain as the salty tears sting the claw like scratches on his face.
JC: Please Dad, I’m begging you just to listen to me and listen to my side of the story.
Jake: There’s nothing you’re gonna tell me that’ll justify what you did.
JC: I know that, I know I shouldn’t have let it go that far and I tried to leave a bunch of times but she kept getting in my way.
Jake: You’re 6’1” and 200lbs, she’s 5’6” and 120lbs couldn’t you have just picked her up and moved her out of the way?
JC: That’s how I got this…
He points to the cut by his eye.
JC: Did you forget the whole Bliss Riley experiment when you trained Staci to wrestle after I’d begged you for years to train me.
Jake: You were only 17! But that’s not what this is about.
JC: It kinda is.
Jake looks confused.
Jake: How is this about me not wanting to train you to wrestle?
JC: Well it’s not about that but it is about you training her… she said that you and her…
He keeps pausing, the confusion on Jake’s face only growing.
Jake: Spit it out.
JC: She said you and her had sex.
Jake’s mouth drops open for a moment before the anger returns.
Jake: That’s bullshit, you know I wouldn’t do that and even if I did that still doesn’t excuse what you did.
JC: I know it doesn’t, nothing excuses what I did. I know I shouldn’t have believed her either but she can be pretty convincing and she kept talking about the stuff you and her did, she said it happened every time she had a training session with you. I called her a whore and she started slapping and punching and scratching me.I couldn’t get her to stop hitting me so I backhanded her pretty hard and she almost fell off the balcony but I grabbed her ankles and instead of pulling her back up I held her out farther and she admitted everything she said about you and her was a lie along with some other stuff she’s lied to me about lately.
Jake: Damn...
JC: There’s something wrong with that girl Dad, I’ve loved her since I was 14 but she’s lost her mind or something. I almost let her fall just to be free, you don’t know how many times I’ve tried to break up with her but I just keep taking her back. I think this is the last straw though.
The look of shock begins to fade from the elder Keeton’s face.
Jake: It damn well better be. I know I raised you better than to ever put your hands on a woman like that but it sounds like she put you through a lot. That doesn’t make it right but there’s a saying about only kicking a dog so many times before it bites so I understand. Now the whole balcony thing that’s just crazy Jon, you could have killed her and spent the rest of your life before bars.
JC: I know, trust me that’s all I’ve thought about since I’ve been in here.
Suddenly the door opens and Missy steps back into the room.
Missy: Sorry to interrupt but I just wanted to let you know that you’re free to go.
JC: Really?
Missy: Yeah.
She turns to Jake.
Missy: That paper that I got handed before I let you in here? It was letting me know that Jonathan was free to go because Ms. Conway is refusing to press charges. I just wanted to make sure you all weren’t going to go after each other before I let him out of here.
Jake kind of laughs lightly.
Jake: So you were protecting him from me?
Missy: Pretty much.
Jake: I think he’s safe, I fought too hard to keep him alive when he was little to kill him now. He still makes some bonehead decisions sometimes though.
Missy: Well I’m glad you were able to talk it out.
JC: Me too, I was pretty scared. Even though I’m bigger than him nothing makes me feel smaller than my Dad yelling at me.
Jake: I probably ain’t done yelling it you today I just gotta let everything you’ve told me sink in, let’s get you home and cleaned up now though.
They start to walk away and Missy follows them to the doors of the police station where she and Jake share a light hug.
Missy: It was good seeing you again Jake, hopefully next time it’ll be under different circumstances.
Jake: Let’s hope, we’ll see you around Missy.
Jake and JC exit the police station and start walking towards Jake’s truck when JC kinda grins.
JC: What was that about?
Jake: Just an old flame, and I dare you to speak a word about that to your step-mother.
JC starts humming playfully.
Jake: Boy, don’t test me, now get it the truck.
They get in Jake’s truck and drive away as the taillights disappear into the distance and the scene fades.
It’s been 9 years since I first met Ryan Shane. He’s pulled me out of a gutter, literally, when I was staying drunk because my life was falling apart. I’ve invited him into my home for meals with my family and a place to sleep, so I really don’t know why Ryan hates me to be honest. Maybe he’s jealous of my success? I dunno. What I do know is that even though he hates me, I care about him and I want to see him succeed.
I’m Ryan Shane’s biggest fan.
In the time I’ve known Ryan I’ve seen him come and go from countless promotions without ever living up to the potential I saw in him all those years ago, we even teamed up again in 2012 and won yet another set of tag team titles. He’s hands down the best tag team partner I’ve ever had because as different as we are in our personalities we work together like a well oiled machine. If IWF still had tag team titles I have no doubt that if he could get over whatever his issues are with me we could team up again and we’d win them easily.
If you’re seeing a trend here it’s that even though he’s my opponent I’ve been doing nothing but signing the praises of Ryan Shane because I hope he has a great run in IWF and he does live up to the potential I keep talking about. I want him to be a champion here. I want him to leave his name all throughout the IWF history books. I want nothing more than to see him be the face of this company.
Now here’s where the pleasantries stop…
Cause none of the things I want for Ryan are going to come at my expense. He has a cheap count out victory against me at Danger Zone but he doesn’t and will never have a pinfall or submission victory over me. It’s pathetic to be as proud as he is of a count out win but he sure likes to bring it up. Yet he says I’m riding my victory over Spike Kane last month for all I can get out of it. I’m not at all, I hardly mention it but pinning Spike Kane sure means a hell of a lot more than beating Derek Brooks or Demanio Blanco.
I beat Hall of Famer’s and former champions, he beats one trick ponies and flash in the pans.
Ryan is dead set on ending my career and insists that my time has passed me by, and I’ll admit that I won’t be wrestling any hour long matches against NightHawk again because I’m almost 40 years old. I’ve got pain in places Ryan probably doesn’t know exists and I probably never go into a match at 100% because when you’ve done this as long as I have it takes a toll.
Not enough of a toll though that I can’t beat Ryan Shane. He wants me weakened and hurt, so that he has an advantage because he thinks that I’ll be easier to beat if I’m anything less than 100%. Well this is something I’ve told him many times before and still rings true today…
Half a Jake Keeton is still better than a whole Ryan Shane.
And it ain’t got a damn thing to do with skill or the God given gifts that I mentioned Ryan has. It’s about heart, and the will to win, and the belief I have in myself that’ll allow me to beat Ryan Shane’s sad sack, debby downer, it’s always raining on my side of the street ass at High Stakes. I think I can still out wrestle Ryan because I’m confident in my skills and I think I’ve proven in my last few matches that I can still go in the ring.
The thing I don’t just think but I know though is that I can out heart that dude six days a week and twice on Sunday.
It was late 2007 and I had just returned to the ring after being away dealing with some legal issues and trying to gain custody of my son. I signed with a new promotion being run by an old acquaintance of mine who I’d worked with back in the late 90s and was preparing for my first match in a long time. When I got to gym one morning there was this kid in his late teens sleeping in the bushes outside. I woke him up and he explained that he was waiting on me because he wanted me to train him to become a wrestler. I wasn’t a trainer, at least not up until that point but after he refused to leave me alone I reluctantly agreed.
That kid was Ryan Shane.
He had natural athleticism the likes of which I had never seen. He was a sponge who learned things extremely fast and it took little to no effort for him to learn the things I taught him. He was simply amazing and left me in complete shock after every training session at how well he was picking stuff up. It wasn’t long before I spoke to the folks in the office at the company I was working for and got him a tryout match which he dominated easily. Then we decided to team up and we were a very successful team, so successful in fact that all of the major wrestling publications chose us as their 2008 Tag Team of the Year. It was after our very first match together though that I realized that no matter how gifted he was physically….
Mentally he was broken.
I don’t mean he’s handicapped or something, what I mean is that he has a total lack of self confidence and no amount of training can teach a man to believe in himself. After we won that first match all I heard from him was how bad he sucked because I scored the pinfall for our team and had to “carry him”, his words not mine by the way. No matter how much I told him how good he was or how much the fans, the fellow wrestlers, the management, or people in the media told him there was no convincing him that he could be a great professional wrestler.
It frustrated me to no end that he had so much potential but he didn’t see it in himself and no matter how confident he may seem at times today he still has no faith in himself. You can hear the doubt in his voice every time he speaks, in every single promo he’s done since he’s returned he talks about people thinking he’s a joke, or a lower tier guy yet no one has actually said that. Even when he tries to sound tough and like he believes in himself it’s after he’s already torn himself down so bad that his opponents don’t even have to.
Ryan Shane’s worst enemy ain’t me, it’s Ryan Shane.
Continued from Broken Son Part 1-
Jake and Missy walk down a hallway in the police station until they come to a door with a small glass window in it. Through the window Jake can see his 18 year old son JC sitting alone in a room with plain white walls and a bench like seat going along the wall in the back of the empty room. JC’s shirt is ripped, with some dried blood on the collar that had run down from a small cut next to his right eye. He also has a large scratch on his left cheek and a busted lip. He just stares at the floor cold and empty. Jake drops his head at the sight of his only son in such a shape.
Missy: I’m sorry Jake.
Jake: It’s ok, can I talk to him?
Before Missy can answer another officer approaches her and hands her a piece of paper and she nods at the officer before he walks away.
Missy: Yeah…
She unlocks the door and when JC sees Jake step into the room the color drains from his face and a look of fear comes over him as Jake just stands there with his arms crossed.
Missy: I’ll leave you two alone.
JC swallows hard and looks up at Jake who stands over him.
JC: Dad… It’s not what it looks like…
Jake: It looks to me like you hit your girlfriend and she started kicking your ass until you decided to hold her over the fucking balcony by her ankles!
JC: She hit me first!
Jake: Are you five? You don’t hit a woman unless it’s your job or your life is in danger and it looks like she roughed you up pretty good but I don’t think she was gonna kill you but I might!
JC tires not to cry but can’t hold back and a few tears roll down his cheeks and he winces in pain as the salty tears sting the claw like scratches on his face.
JC: Please Dad, I’m begging you just to listen to me and listen to my side of the story.
Jake: There’s nothing you’re gonna tell me that’ll justify what you did.
JC: I know that, I know I shouldn’t have let it go that far and I tried to leave a bunch of times but she kept getting in my way.
Jake: You’re 6’1” and 200lbs, she’s 5’6” and 120lbs couldn’t you have just picked her up and moved her out of the way?
JC: That’s how I got this…
He points to the cut by his eye.
JC: Did you forget the whole Bliss Riley experiment when you trained Staci to wrestle after I’d begged you for years to train me.
Jake: You were only 17! But that’s not what this is about.
JC: It kinda is.
Jake looks confused.
Jake: How is this about me not wanting to train you to wrestle?
JC: Well it’s not about that but it is about you training her… she said that you and her…
He keeps pausing, the confusion on Jake’s face only growing.
Jake: Spit it out.
JC: She said you and her had sex.
Jake’s mouth drops open for a moment before the anger returns.
Jake: That’s bullshit, you know I wouldn’t do that and even if I did that still doesn’t excuse what you did.
JC: I know it doesn’t, nothing excuses what I did. I know I shouldn’t have believed her either but she can be pretty convincing and she kept talking about the stuff you and her did, she said it happened every time she had a training session with you. I called her a whore and she started slapping and punching and scratching me.I couldn’t get her to stop hitting me so I backhanded her pretty hard and she almost fell off the balcony but I grabbed her ankles and instead of pulling her back up I held her out farther and she admitted everything she said about you and her was a lie along with some other stuff she’s lied to me about lately.
Jake: Damn...
JC: There’s something wrong with that girl Dad, I’ve loved her since I was 14 but she’s lost her mind or something. I almost let her fall just to be free, you don’t know how many times I’ve tried to break up with her but I just keep taking her back. I think this is the last straw though.
The look of shock begins to fade from the elder Keeton’s face.
Jake: It damn well better be. I know I raised you better than to ever put your hands on a woman like that but it sounds like she put you through a lot. That doesn’t make it right but there’s a saying about only kicking a dog so many times before it bites so I understand. Now the whole balcony thing that’s just crazy Jon, you could have killed her and spent the rest of your life before bars.
JC: I know, trust me that’s all I’ve thought about since I’ve been in here.
Suddenly the door opens and Missy steps back into the room.
Missy: Sorry to interrupt but I just wanted to let you know that you’re free to go.
JC: Really?
Missy: Yeah.
She turns to Jake.
Missy: That paper that I got handed before I let you in here? It was letting me know that Jonathan was free to go because Ms. Conway is refusing to press charges. I just wanted to make sure you all weren’t going to go after each other before I let him out of here.
Jake kind of laughs lightly.
Jake: So you were protecting him from me?
Missy: Pretty much.
Jake: I think he’s safe, I fought too hard to keep him alive when he was little to kill him now. He still makes some bonehead decisions sometimes though.
Missy: Well I’m glad you were able to talk it out.
JC: Me too, I was pretty scared. Even though I’m bigger than him nothing makes me feel smaller than my Dad yelling at me.
Jake: I probably ain’t done yelling it you today I just gotta let everything you’ve told me sink in, let’s get you home and cleaned up now though.
They start to walk away and Missy follows them to the doors of the police station where she and Jake share a light hug.
Missy: It was good seeing you again Jake, hopefully next time it’ll be under different circumstances.
Jake: Let’s hope, we’ll see you around Missy.
Jake and JC exit the police station and start walking towards Jake’s truck when JC kinda grins.
JC: What was that about?
Jake: Just an old flame, and I dare you to speak a word about that to your step-mother.
JC starts humming playfully.
Jake: Boy, don’t test me, now get it the truck.
They get in Jake’s truck and drive away as the taillights disappear into the distance and the scene fades.
It’s been 9 years since I first met Ryan Shane. He’s pulled me out of a gutter, literally, when I was staying drunk because my life was falling apart. I’ve invited him into my home for meals with my family and a place to sleep, so I really don’t know why Ryan hates me to be honest. Maybe he’s jealous of my success? I dunno. What I do know is that even though he hates me, I care about him and I want to see him succeed.
I’m Ryan Shane’s biggest fan.
In the time I’ve known Ryan I’ve seen him come and go from countless promotions without ever living up to the potential I saw in him all those years ago, we even teamed up again in 2012 and won yet another set of tag team titles. He’s hands down the best tag team partner I’ve ever had because as different as we are in our personalities we work together like a well oiled machine. If IWF still had tag team titles I have no doubt that if he could get over whatever his issues are with me we could team up again and we’d win them easily.
If you’re seeing a trend here it’s that even though he’s my opponent I’ve been doing nothing but signing the praises of Ryan Shane because I hope he has a great run in IWF and he does live up to the potential I keep talking about. I want him to be a champion here. I want him to leave his name all throughout the IWF history books. I want nothing more than to see him be the face of this company.
Now here’s where the pleasantries stop…
Cause none of the things I want for Ryan are going to come at my expense. He has a cheap count out victory against me at Danger Zone but he doesn’t and will never have a pinfall or submission victory over me. It’s pathetic to be as proud as he is of a count out win but he sure likes to bring it up. Yet he says I’m riding my victory over Spike Kane last month for all I can get out of it. I’m not at all, I hardly mention it but pinning Spike Kane sure means a hell of a lot more than beating Derek Brooks or Demanio Blanco.
I beat Hall of Famer’s and former champions, he beats one trick ponies and flash in the pans.
Ryan is dead set on ending my career and insists that my time has passed me by, and I’ll admit that I won’t be wrestling any hour long matches against NightHawk again because I’m almost 40 years old. I’ve got pain in places Ryan probably doesn’t know exists and I probably never go into a match at 100% because when you’ve done this as long as I have it takes a toll.
Not enough of a toll though that I can’t beat Ryan Shane. He wants me weakened and hurt, so that he has an advantage because he thinks that I’ll be easier to beat if I’m anything less than 100%. Well this is something I’ve told him many times before and still rings true today…
Half a Jake Keeton is still better than a whole Ryan Shane.
And it ain’t got a damn thing to do with skill or the God given gifts that I mentioned Ryan has. It’s about heart, and the will to win, and the belief I have in myself that’ll allow me to beat Ryan Shane’s sad sack, debby downer, it’s always raining on my side of the street ass at High Stakes. I think I can still out wrestle Ryan because I’m confident in my skills and I think I’ve proven in my last few matches that I can still go in the ring.
The thing I don’t just think but I know though is that I can out heart that dude six days a week and twice on Sunday.
Well howdy there pardner.