Allow me to re-introduce myself

[ADudeFromCLE]

Early morning in Denver, Colorado. Just outside the Pepsi Center on Wewatta ST and Speer BLVD. 

The camera opens up on a man standing on the corner of Speer and Wewatta overlooking the Pepsi Center, the digital marquee advertising the show tonight. "IWF Presents: High Stakes 2016" blah blah blah, it runs down the matches, time the gate opens and all that jazz, but that's not what we are here for. No, we are here for the man standing on the corner overlooking this site, he's wearing a black skull cap over his head so we can’t tell what type of hair he has, he's also wearing a long duster to protect him from the cold. So cold we can see his breath each time he exhales. He never turns before we hear his voice, that of one with a ever so slight southern accent to it.



"IWF High Stakes. The biggest event the IWF runs every year. So it was a surprise to me when my phone rang a few nights ago, an old friend calling me, not to ask how I was doing, not to shoot the breeze and talk about life events, like how is my daughter doing, how’s the wife? You brother in law still insane? No...it was not to talk about any of that. The first words this old friend as me was "So...thinking about coming out of retirement?""



The man chuckles more smoke coming from his mouth, still not turning to face the camera.



"Maybe I said. If the right opportunity presented itself. You see, I've been a part of some of the biggest events to ever happen in this business. I've buried my brother alive, I've protected a company from an invasion. I've become an invasion in another company. I've been a part of an Empire, and I've hostility taken over that empire transforming it into a Corporate Empire. I've been a part of some of the biggest and most influential factions this business has ever seen. But there is one thing...one thing that has escaped me in my time in the ring....and that's a one on one World Title match. I've been a part of triple threats, four way dances, and more over the top rope matches that I can count, but I have never...EVER...had a one on ONE...World Title match."



He scratches the back of his head before continuing on.



"So when he told me if I came back I'd have an opportunity to not only been in the main event of their biggest match of the year on their biggest card of the year but that I could also win, not just one...but two...chances at the Imperial Championship well...I jumped at the opportunity. I had him send over the paper work that day, and I had it signed sealed and delivered the next day making it official. I am now out of retirement and an active member of the IWF roster. I never wanted anything handed to me, I've earned -everything- I have. From the fancy cars..."



He points over to the parked black with white trim Audi R8 parked on the curb next to him
.


"To my beautiful wife and kid, the houses, the boats all of it, I've EARNED. And in a few short hours from now. In the main event of High Stakes I go out into a Roulette Match and I will EARN my shot at the Imperial Championship. I enter the match as an unknown. I enter the match as a wild card. The joker in the deck that no one knows is there. The devil some know, but most do not. It doesn’t matter if I enter first, or last, I plan on tossing as many people out of that ring as I can and go on to headline Night of the Immortals and become your NEXT IWF Imperial Champion."



He pauses for a second before taking off the skull cap letting his long blond hair fall and blow in the wind, he slowly turns.



"There are others who have the same aspirations as me, some I know personally and have a long history with, Spike Kane...Rob Diamond...Jayson Matthews, and others I've never seen before, Warren Kane, Jack Gaither, Cyrus Daniles, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you've been, tonight you have to step into the ring with one of the most dangerous men that has ever been in this business. Tonight you get into the ring with J.F.K."



He fully faces the camera giving it that oh so slight devilish grin.



"Sucks to be you."

---

Miami Florida, a week ago. 

I just got off the phone with Riley Gordon. She says they received the paperwork and everything is ago. I am officially a IWF superstar. I am back again in the business that has...well let's be honest. It's given me everything. Without this business, without wrestling I would have never made amends with my long lost brother (granted we had to have our conflict before we made up but that is neither here nor there) I wouldn’t have met my wife and had our kid. I would still be living on the street fighting to survive instead of living in this big penthouse suite overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in South Beach Florida. I would have none of this if it wasn’t for wrestling. 

I walked away from this business 6 years ago happy and content with everything I've accomplished. I felt like I had nothing left to prove and at the time I was right. I achieved all the goals I set for myself when I first stepped into The Dome all those years ago in Cleveland Ohio. My mentor at the time, Price, taught me everything I needed to achieve those goals, and more so. I never wanted to be a champion, I never wanted to main event. Those were all secondary to my main mission. Destroy my brother, take away everything he had and claim it for myself. I did that in my first few years in the business. 

From there, everything else was icing on the cake. The factions I was a part of, the factions I lead. The championships I racked up, and the records I broke. None of that was supposed to happen. But it did. And when it was all said and done, when my knee told me it was time to hang up the boots. I was good with it. I was fine walking away and becoming a full time husband to one of the most powerful business women in the world. I was happen to become a father to the most beautiful little girl. I was...happy. For the first time in my god awful life I was happy with EVERYTHING in my life. 

But then, one day it hit me. I was sitting there just rambling to my daughter like a dad does, telling her the world is hers to take. That she can achieve anything she puts her mind to. That she can be, and do anything. She can be the best of the best as long as she tries. As long as she puts in the work and the effort the sky’s the limit. 

That's when it hit me. I never lived up to my own potential. 

I never went after the one defining thing that makes us, us wrestlers the best. The best of the best. 

I've never asked for it, and I've never made it a goal of mine but it still eats me up inside. 

I've never. 

EVER. 

Had a one on one World Title match. 

How can I tell this little girl she can be anything she wants to be when I myself have never gone after the one thing I know...KNOW...I can be? 

World Champion James Franklin Karn. 

Has a nice ring to it when I say it out loud. 

THIS is why I am back IWF. This is why I am in the Roulette Match. 

Now I may fail at my mission to secure a title shot this Sunday, and that's OK because I am showing my daughter that at least I tried. I at least put in the hard work and effort to achieve my dreams. That it's ok to sometimes come up short as long as you give it your all. 

But let’s be honest. 

Deep down, that's not who I am. 

I won’t be happy with a loss. I won’t be happy until I get that one on one shot. 

And I won’t stop until I get it. 

This is not a one and done deal.  

JFK is here to stay. 

Sucks to be you.