Post by Kyle Travis on Feb 27, 2015 17:09:34 GMT -6
::Kyle Travis sits in the leather computer chair of his office/trophy room. He is bent over in the chair, with his head down. His hands rest of the curve of his signature weapon; his black titanium crowbar.::
::He is turned away from the desk. His head is down. He is not looking at anything adorning the walls, only looking at his hands and the crowbar. There is almost like the trophies and titles are there. He looks at nothing expect the weapon in his hand, and only the weapon.::
“Since the day I became a wrestler, one thing has eluded me. It is the one thing, the only thing, I have ever wanted in my career. Yet time and time again, no matter what I do, who I beat, I am denied this one thing, the one thing I have wanted since I began wrestling all those years ago, and the one thing that seems to be freely handed to everyone who is not me.”
“All I want is respect. I want the respect I have earned for all the blood, sweat and tears I have given, all the sacrifices I made over the years, the time spent away from my family on the road, everything I have accomplished in my career. I have earned it. What is more, I deserve it.”
::“The Once and Future King” shifts position, sitting up slightly. He rests his head in his right hand, holding the crowbar with his left.::
“Yet time and time again, no matter what, it is denied me. No matter what I do, what I accomplish, who I beat, there is no respect granted to me.”
“I start talking about my career, or mention something I did in the pasty, like a title win or a match, and people accuse me of living in the past, or acting like I am only focused on my past. They constantly tell me nothing I did in my past matters, like everything in my career is meaningless.”
::Travis lifts his head, not looking at anything in the room, but still talking. He taps his right index and middle fingers softly against his chin. As he speaks, anger can be heard in his voice.::
“Do you know how insulting that is? Do you have any idea how insulting it is to tell hear someone, anyone, even a pathetic nobody like you Craven, tell you that everything you sacrificed over the years, all the blood, sweat and tears you gave over the years, and all the accomplishments you had because of it simply do not matter? No, you don’t, because you have done nothing in your pathetic life. Let me tell you, it is incredibly insulting. No one wants to be told that everything they have done, everything they worked for, doesn’t matter. That’s disrespectful.”
“And yet, there you are Craven, defending how Quentin Sharpe just walked into the UWA, under a mask, had one match, and received a title shot on the basis that he had wrestled in other places. So explain to me why I did not just get a title shot after walking in here based on my career. Explain how people like Kaylyn James Evans, Amy Zing, Sang Réal, people who have wrestled elsewhere and had careers before coming to UWA did not receive a title shot upon wrestling one match, and use a better argument then there were not many titles around when they joined. Explain to me why the career of Quentin “Razor” Sharpe is to be honored and praised and celebrated and we should acknowledge everything he has accomplished before coming to the UWA, when time and time again, I am told that my career and everything I accomplished does NOT matter prior to coming to the UWA. Explain that, because I would really like to know how exactly that shows me any respect.”
“It is almost as insulting as watching a nobody off the street walk in and immediately be given a title shot after just one match. There were no more worthy challengers for a title than a rookie with one win under her belt? None of us have earned the opportunity, but someone who wrestles one match somehow receives a title shot, based on what? How impressive they were in one win? Because there’s not one else that deserves it more? I consider things like that a slap in the face of those who have been here awhile and actually worked for the opportunity, rather than be handed the shot. That shows no respect for the people that work here and have been trying to climb the ladder, because they did not earn it.”
:;Raising the crowbar slightly, Travis gestures to the room with the weapon, but continues not to look at anything in it.::
“I show off my trophy room, and everyone calls me arrogant, but someone else has a trophy room or has a house filled with artwork of his genitalia, and no one says anything about it. They do not seem to think it is arrogant or self-aggrandizing when someone else shows off trophy, or a photo of some great accomplishment, or even a diploma, but when I do it, it defines arrogance.”
“Explain to me how that is respectful, Craven, because I would love to know. Explain to me why my hanging a replica title in a home office, or a magazine cover is self-aggrandizing arrogance, but someone in another profession, such a doctor who decorates his wall in diplomas, or someone who’s entire mansion is filled with artwork of his dick, or anyone that has a trophy case is not arrogant? I do not see my having trophies in a home office as arrogant because I am good at what I do, and maybe I feel that I should be allowed to show it off. And yet, I get no respect for anything I have done.”
::Travis closes his right hand into a fist, squeezing it.::
“I win a title, and the buzz dies pretty quickly, with it becoming less of a focus on the accomplishment and becomes more of a “what have you done lately?” mentality. How many times have you pointed out that I won the North American Championship and yet, after I lost it, I lost a UWA Championship match? It seems to be the only weapon in your arsenal. Other people seem to want to point it out too. Yet, no one seems to point out Amy Zing losing the Television Championship and immediately lost a North American Championship match, or how your master Silver Baron lost the Tag Team Championships, and recently lost a World Heavyweight Championship match. They do not, and yet, that ONE failure is treated as though it is the greatest failure, indeed, the only failure, in the entire history of wrestling.”
“I do something bad, and I am punished. Someone else here does something that is considered bad, their deeds are either ignored, or rewarded with championship opportunities. Explain to me, Craven, how exactly that is respectful, that I am treated as a whipping boy, while others here are allowed to do whatever they want to do with no repercussions for their actions here, because I do not see it!”
::Travis slams his fist against the armrest of his chair.::
“I did not come to the UWA, come back to wrestling, to be disrespected by a worthless, pathetic yapping dog of some wannabe Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pimp!”
“And I was promised respect when I came here. It is the one reason, the only reason I signed on the dotted line Craven. Do you really think I actually NEED to put up with this crap, with listening to you nitpick like a sitcom mother-in-law or make snippy little comments like a teenage girl?”
“No Craven, I do not need this crap. Why? Because that past you will inevitably say doesn’t matter or mean anything, like you even have a career worth comparing to mine, has made me a millionaire. In addition to that all I saved my money, and I invested it, making it work for me. So I could go home, walk away from this, and still be set for life. But I can’t walk away, because I know if I did, you’d be right out there, acting like a bitch, making your snippy little comments and cheap jabs and using that complete lack of wit you think is so clever and so funny to keep picking at me.”
::Slowly, Travis moves his fist off the armrest and shifts the crowbar a bit. He slides his right hand over the curved edge of the weapon, wrapping his fingers around it.::
“I did NOT have to come back to wrestling Craven!”
“I did not NEED to come back to wrestling Craven!”
“When I first began, I competed in the CEW. They did everything to bury someone who was not some 300 pound brawler whose every promo was an almost constant stream of swearing like a sailor, while someone below the CEW’s cruiserweight limit of 250 pounds, who could actually wrestle and not swear every sentence of every paragraph or every promo they ever cut, was treated like a background extra. Time and time, I watched some Neanderthal who couldn’t speak a paragraph without nearly every sentence being laced with profanity get handed everything. Do you know what it is like to be Cruiserweight Champion, have no challengers because the company did not care about the division, yet they immediately try to pull the title off me the first time a 300 pound Star Wars fanboy says I should defend it more often, and they give him a match where if I lose, I lose the title? That is not respect.”
“I spent five years in the LAW being the whipping boy. Every single time I managed to get somewhere, it was taken from me. It was always one step forward, thrown back down the ladder and back to start. No matter what, every opportunity I ever had in the company, I was denied. Time and time again, I was made promises by management, and each and every time, those promises were broken. The only reason I accomplished anything there is because I clawed and scratched and stole what I had to. Much like here, if someone did something bad, it was ignored, but I was punished for everything I did, or went wrong in the lives of the people running that place. They made it a point to bury me, just like the UWA is trying to do. They canceled a pay-per-view just to prevent me for having a title shot I earned, and then forced me to earn it again, and still screwed me out of it.”
“And then LAW became TWN, and I was promised a fresh start, and that promise was broken after the first pay-per-view when I stated that a lot of what happened was just bull, and of course, rather than allow me to voice my opinions, all three owners decided to just release me. Sure, I was promised a fresh start, a clean slate, but it’s so much easier to just treat me like a whipping boy and fire me yet again because Andy is a control freak who needs a scapegoat, Sunny is a control freak who can’t get over something that happened in her past, which if it happened again, I would feel no sympathy, and Rob Taylor is an ego driven asshole.”
“You notice that I don’t talk to people in the locker room? You notice I don’t go out of my way to make friends in this business, or that I get my own car, my own hotel room and I do not really hang out in the back? It is because of LAW and TWN, when a man I considered my friend turned on me.”
::Travis leans back in the chain, leaning his head back and looking up at the ceiling of the office/trophy room, the only part of the room, besides the floor, that has no wrestling memorabilia on it.::
“And to this day, people ask me why, why in the hell I stuck around. And I often wonder why, because while OWO, where I had great matches and I was given a chance to shine, FUW, where I became one of the longest reigning champions in history and ACW, where I was given a chance to shine and a chance to be the best, and I took it, were good times, they were not long enough to make up for all the crap I put up with from CEW, LAW, TWN. When ACW closed, I decided to take time off.”
::“The Canadian Legend” lowers his head. He leans forward in the chair, running his right hand through his hair as he twists the crowbar just slightly in his left.::
“Then something amazing happened. You see, Craven, I took a year off to heal up and spend time with my family. And during that time, I was asked by fans, by wrestlers I respected when I was coming back.”
“I had the late, great Dave “Snake” Matthews, a guy I wish I had a chance to get into the ring with and wrestle, asking me when I was coming back to wrestling.”
“I had “the Irish Dragon” Eric Donavan, a great wrestler, and someone I once respected ask me when I was planning on making my return.”
“Ashley Harris, Evan Harrison, Aubrey J Parker, Mike Voland, and Hyena, members of one of the greatest teams I have seen in Frenzy, a team that Sin City Knights cannot compare to, even without you screwing up the match, and other wrestlers and fans were all asking me when or if I was coming back to wrestling.”
“So many people asked me. And finally, finally I said I would come back, and people were thrilled. However, that thrill quickly turned to “oh, you’re back?”. Explain to me how that is respect. Explain to me why I came back to wrestling after listening people ask me to return for a year only for them to immediately seem completely uninterested in my return. Where is the respect Craven?”
::He twists the crowbar in his hands.::
“I walked into New Era Wrestling, I signed on the dotted line and they were thrilled for about a second before they turned around and lost interest in me. They would then go on to promote the same people again and again, as if the championships were reserved for them. I watched a man lose and win the Television Championship on three occasions. I saw the same man challenge for the title again and again and again, and then act like he had been mistreated by management. I saw opportunity handed to people who just walked through the door and maybe had one match. There were no heroes in NEW, just people who had yet to sell out. I watched a company go out of its way to bury me or anyone else who was not one of the chosen ones that got all the title shots, or just walked through the door to be handed title shots for nothing more than showing up. I saw a company whose world title was not the most important object in the company, but instead, it took a backseat to a man’s dick. And I watched that man bring people to his home which was filled with artwork depicting his dick, yet no one called it arrogant, as my trophy room was again and again. I was promised a title opportunity before I left, and it went to a man who had just debuted barely a month ago.”
“And as soon as I mentioned any of these things or pointed them out, everyone told me to shut up and immediately rushed to the defense of the NEW. Ask out current world champion’s namesake how well defending that company was. I announced to the world that I was leaving, and the announcers actually seemed to ignore that fact. They treated it like it was not happening. And, to cap it off, a man I respected, a man who spent almost a year as the challenger for the world title, actually won the title, and then turned around and act like management had mistreated him, and everyone rallied to him, but I had said the same thing and was told to shut up.”
“Craven, I did not have a plan nor did I have anywhere to go when I made my announcement to leave NEW. I was just done with that place. I was pretty much done with wrestling.”
::That anger that can be heard in his voice is now a full blown, audible rage. That rage is even reflected in his cold, predatory glare.::
“And that is when Georgio Oliver contacted me and promised me the respect I had earned. He promised me the one thing I wanted, the respect I had earned and that I deserved. And I have not gotten it.”
“Instead, I have gotten nothing but disrespect. The only reason I was even in the North American Championship match is because Jeszika Gautier wanted to kick my ass. I won the title, and that fact seems overshadowed by the fact that I lost the title, as if I am the only champion here to ever lose a title. Just like the NEW, like Andy, like Sunny, Georgio seems determined to bury me. He would rather promote the same people, shove a worthless faction that has delivered nothing down our throats, or give opportunity to people who just walk through the door. You would have thought I would have learned from the LAW to never trust management, but nope, I made the same mistake I did then and with the same result of being a whipping boy.”
“This is what I came back for? This is why I came back to wrestling?”
::Travis gets to his feet, pushing the chair aside. It rolls a bit and falls to the floor with s small thud.::
“I did NOT come back for me! I did not need to come back. I accomplished more in my career than you will ever accomplish in your sad, miserable pathetic life as Silver Baron’s dog. I have earned my place as a legend. I did NOT come back because I thought professional wrestling could not survive without me. I am not that arrogant. Wrestling was around before I was born, and it will be around long after I am dead.”
“No, Craven, I came back to wrestling for all the people who wanted me back. I came back because people asked me, because for the first time, they treated me like a legend, they showed me respect, they acted like they wanted me back, like they missed me and wanted to see me again. And that is all it turns out it was; just an act.”
“I came back and I have regretted that decision for over a year now. Do you think winning some knock off hardcore title, or the North American Championship is going to change that? And this has nothing to do with whether or not I believe I should be the focus of the UWA. This is about the fact that I have been disrespected since the day I walked into wrestling and it will not stop, so why should I continue to pursue what I will never get no matter how I much I deserve it.”
“I am done Craven! After Tragic Engagment, I am out and if Georgio Oliver wants me back, he is damn sure as hell going to have to make it worth it, because this time, a handshake and a promise to be broken is not going to do it.”
::Travis slides his right hand over the curved edge of his crowbar, slowly twisting it with his hands.::
“But that brings me to Tragic Engagement and to you, Craven, you miserable, yapping, nitpicking little bitch, the wannabe hero who thinks he’s on some epic quest of revenge when in reality, he’s done nothing to prove himself the avenger he believes himself to be, the man who would rather stand holding a mic and just run verbally run me down as opposed to fight me when he is not being paid for it, and the man who acts like he is the first person to put me through a table and that it was some sort of heroic accomplishment akin to Hercules slaying the Hydra or Perseus killing Medusa.”
“See, here is the thing Craven, the great thing about this match is that I do not care. I do not care if I win at Tragic Engagement. I do not care if I beat you. Georgio promised that if I beat you, I am allowed to challenge for titles, but in the ultimate act of disrespect, he will not let me challenge for the UWA World Heavyweight Championship, the one title I want. I no longer trust him Craven, ergo, I no longer believe his promises, which means I do not believe for a second that he will let me challenge for any title even if I do beat you at Tragic Engagement. I have nothing to gain Craven, and I have nothing to lose.”
“I do not give a damn about your health, your physical well being, or whether or not you can even walk after this match. I have nothing to gain Craven. I have nothing to lose. Do you understand how dangerous that makes me? I literally do not care if I end your career, because as soon as Tragic Engagement is over, I am out of the arena and I am going home, and nothing outside of an iron clad, guaranteed written contract is going to get me to come back, because whatever promised Georgio makes to me, I can no longer believe them.”
::Holding the crowbar in his right hand, Travis opens his left hand, flexing and stretching his fingers out.::
“I am done being the whipping boy. I am done being punished just so Gerogio can show is his not a spineless, pathetic coward who is too afraid of some people that he will neither punish or reward them, or considers them more valuable than the rest of us, so he ignores everything they do and rewards them.”
“You may think you are the knight about to enter the dragon’s lair to avenge the girl, the girl your own master did not care I hurt, and slay the monster. You are not the hero Craven. No one in the Sin City Knights, except maybe Skylar, gives a damn about you. None of the fans care what happens to you. None of the fans are cheering you because they like you or they think you are witty and clever. They cheer you because they hate me more. You are hero to no one you, worthless dog!”
“You are not the hero that will slay the dragon. You are the sacrifice. You are the lamb being lead to the slaughter, because that’s what this will be Craven; just the slaughter of you.”
“I have no intention of walking into Tragic Engagement and beating you in a match and getting my hand raised. I have every intention of walking into Tragic Engagment and beating your worthless carcass until someone pulls me off your corpse or you just stop twitching, and even then, I may not stop. I am not coming for a victory. That will be yours Craven. You will get the victory, and you can brag about it all you want, as soon as they unwire your jaw after I shove this crowbar so far down your throat that they have to pull it out of your ass.”
“This is not your heroic victory, your great moment upon which you slay the monster and prove that you are a hero. This is your execution. I have no intention of letting you walk away from this one, or for the rest of your worthless life. With God as my witness, I will make Skylar cry when she sees what I have done to you. This, Craven, just may be worthy of the wall.”
::The fingers of his left had slowly wrap around the cold metal of crowbar. With the weapon, he gestures to the two collages on his wall. One depicts the absolute destruction of Kyona Eph’Pha’Tha’, beating down her brother, her husband, making her daughter cry, and setting her ablaze, what he refers to as his “masterpiece”, and the other shows his ending the career of Hiashi Shinshuma::
“I would love to say I am going to beat respect into you Craven, even if I have to break every single bone in your body, but we both know you do not respect me and you never will. That is fine. I will settle for beating every inch of life out of you. Make piece with God, because your ass, your life, it is MINE!”
::Travis looks down at the weapon he has used over the years to lay out so many victims over the years. There is little doubt in his voice, in those eyes, that he would not use the crowbar if given a chance.::
“I said I would not wrestle you at Tragic Engagement Crave, and I stand by that. This is going to be a slaughter. It will not be about winning or losing. It will be about whether or not I decide to let you live through the match, and unfortunately for you Craven, I have decided your life is forfeit the second Georgio made this match. Everything I do to you Craven, all your blood, all the pain you will endure, all the suffering I put you through, it is on his hands.”
“And then I go home, and no amount of begging, no amount of asking, and no amount of pleading is going to make me come back. Not this time. Because this time, if I come back, it will not be for them. It will NEVER be about them again! This time, it will be for me.”
::He looks up from the weapon. There is no hint of hesitation, or mercy, or the slightest chance he will not carry out his promise in his voice. He keeps looking forward with that cold, predatory glare of his.::
“I am coming to put you down bitch. Challenge and learn.”
::The scene fades out on Travis looking down at the crowbar.::
::He is turned away from the desk. His head is down. He is not looking at anything adorning the walls, only looking at his hands and the crowbar. There is almost like the trophies and titles are there. He looks at nothing expect the weapon in his hand, and only the weapon.::
“Since the day I became a wrestler, one thing has eluded me. It is the one thing, the only thing, I have ever wanted in my career. Yet time and time again, no matter what I do, who I beat, I am denied this one thing, the one thing I have wanted since I began wrestling all those years ago, and the one thing that seems to be freely handed to everyone who is not me.”
“All I want is respect. I want the respect I have earned for all the blood, sweat and tears I have given, all the sacrifices I made over the years, the time spent away from my family on the road, everything I have accomplished in my career. I have earned it. What is more, I deserve it.”
::“The Once and Future King” shifts position, sitting up slightly. He rests his head in his right hand, holding the crowbar with his left.::
“Yet time and time again, no matter what, it is denied me. No matter what I do, what I accomplish, who I beat, there is no respect granted to me.”
“I start talking about my career, or mention something I did in the pasty, like a title win or a match, and people accuse me of living in the past, or acting like I am only focused on my past. They constantly tell me nothing I did in my past matters, like everything in my career is meaningless.”
::Travis lifts his head, not looking at anything in the room, but still talking. He taps his right index and middle fingers softly against his chin. As he speaks, anger can be heard in his voice.::
“Do you know how insulting that is? Do you have any idea how insulting it is to tell hear someone, anyone, even a pathetic nobody like you Craven, tell you that everything you sacrificed over the years, all the blood, sweat and tears you gave over the years, and all the accomplishments you had because of it simply do not matter? No, you don’t, because you have done nothing in your pathetic life. Let me tell you, it is incredibly insulting. No one wants to be told that everything they have done, everything they worked for, doesn’t matter. That’s disrespectful.”
“And yet, there you are Craven, defending how Quentin Sharpe just walked into the UWA, under a mask, had one match, and received a title shot on the basis that he had wrestled in other places. So explain to me why I did not just get a title shot after walking in here based on my career. Explain how people like Kaylyn James Evans, Amy Zing, Sang Réal, people who have wrestled elsewhere and had careers before coming to UWA did not receive a title shot upon wrestling one match, and use a better argument then there were not many titles around when they joined. Explain to me why the career of Quentin “Razor” Sharpe is to be honored and praised and celebrated and we should acknowledge everything he has accomplished before coming to the UWA, when time and time again, I am told that my career and everything I accomplished does NOT matter prior to coming to the UWA. Explain that, because I would really like to know how exactly that shows me any respect.”
“It is almost as insulting as watching a nobody off the street walk in and immediately be given a title shot after just one match. There were no more worthy challengers for a title than a rookie with one win under her belt? None of us have earned the opportunity, but someone who wrestles one match somehow receives a title shot, based on what? How impressive they were in one win? Because there’s not one else that deserves it more? I consider things like that a slap in the face of those who have been here awhile and actually worked for the opportunity, rather than be handed the shot. That shows no respect for the people that work here and have been trying to climb the ladder, because they did not earn it.”
:;Raising the crowbar slightly, Travis gestures to the room with the weapon, but continues not to look at anything in it.::
“I show off my trophy room, and everyone calls me arrogant, but someone else has a trophy room or has a house filled with artwork of his genitalia, and no one says anything about it. They do not seem to think it is arrogant or self-aggrandizing when someone else shows off trophy, or a photo of some great accomplishment, or even a diploma, but when I do it, it defines arrogance.”
“Explain to me how that is respectful, Craven, because I would love to know. Explain to me why my hanging a replica title in a home office, or a magazine cover is self-aggrandizing arrogance, but someone in another profession, such a doctor who decorates his wall in diplomas, or someone who’s entire mansion is filled with artwork of his dick, or anyone that has a trophy case is not arrogant? I do not see my having trophies in a home office as arrogant because I am good at what I do, and maybe I feel that I should be allowed to show it off. And yet, I get no respect for anything I have done.”
::Travis closes his right hand into a fist, squeezing it.::
“I win a title, and the buzz dies pretty quickly, with it becoming less of a focus on the accomplishment and becomes more of a “what have you done lately?” mentality. How many times have you pointed out that I won the North American Championship and yet, after I lost it, I lost a UWA Championship match? It seems to be the only weapon in your arsenal. Other people seem to want to point it out too. Yet, no one seems to point out Amy Zing losing the Television Championship and immediately lost a North American Championship match, or how your master Silver Baron lost the Tag Team Championships, and recently lost a World Heavyweight Championship match. They do not, and yet, that ONE failure is treated as though it is the greatest failure, indeed, the only failure, in the entire history of wrestling.”
“I do something bad, and I am punished. Someone else here does something that is considered bad, their deeds are either ignored, or rewarded with championship opportunities. Explain to me, Craven, how exactly that is respectful, that I am treated as a whipping boy, while others here are allowed to do whatever they want to do with no repercussions for their actions here, because I do not see it!”
::Travis slams his fist against the armrest of his chair.::
“I did not come to the UWA, come back to wrestling, to be disrespected by a worthless, pathetic yapping dog of some wannabe Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pimp!”
“And I was promised respect when I came here. It is the one reason, the only reason I signed on the dotted line Craven. Do you really think I actually NEED to put up with this crap, with listening to you nitpick like a sitcom mother-in-law or make snippy little comments like a teenage girl?”
“No Craven, I do not need this crap. Why? Because that past you will inevitably say doesn’t matter or mean anything, like you even have a career worth comparing to mine, has made me a millionaire. In addition to that all I saved my money, and I invested it, making it work for me. So I could go home, walk away from this, and still be set for life. But I can’t walk away, because I know if I did, you’d be right out there, acting like a bitch, making your snippy little comments and cheap jabs and using that complete lack of wit you think is so clever and so funny to keep picking at me.”
::Slowly, Travis moves his fist off the armrest and shifts the crowbar a bit. He slides his right hand over the curved edge of the weapon, wrapping his fingers around it.::
“I did NOT have to come back to wrestling Craven!”
“I did not NEED to come back to wrestling Craven!”
“When I first began, I competed in the CEW. They did everything to bury someone who was not some 300 pound brawler whose every promo was an almost constant stream of swearing like a sailor, while someone below the CEW’s cruiserweight limit of 250 pounds, who could actually wrestle and not swear every sentence of every paragraph or every promo they ever cut, was treated like a background extra. Time and time, I watched some Neanderthal who couldn’t speak a paragraph without nearly every sentence being laced with profanity get handed everything. Do you know what it is like to be Cruiserweight Champion, have no challengers because the company did not care about the division, yet they immediately try to pull the title off me the first time a 300 pound Star Wars fanboy says I should defend it more often, and they give him a match where if I lose, I lose the title? That is not respect.”
“I spent five years in the LAW being the whipping boy. Every single time I managed to get somewhere, it was taken from me. It was always one step forward, thrown back down the ladder and back to start. No matter what, every opportunity I ever had in the company, I was denied. Time and time again, I was made promises by management, and each and every time, those promises were broken. The only reason I accomplished anything there is because I clawed and scratched and stole what I had to. Much like here, if someone did something bad, it was ignored, but I was punished for everything I did, or went wrong in the lives of the people running that place. They made it a point to bury me, just like the UWA is trying to do. They canceled a pay-per-view just to prevent me for having a title shot I earned, and then forced me to earn it again, and still screwed me out of it.”
“And then LAW became TWN, and I was promised a fresh start, and that promise was broken after the first pay-per-view when I stated that a lot of what happened was just bull, and of course, rather than allow me to voice my opinions, all three owners decided to just release me. Sure, I was promised a fresh start, a clean slate, but it’s so much easier to just treat me like a whipping boy and fire me yet again because Andy is a control freak who needs a scapegoat, Sunny is a control freak who can’t get over something that happened in her past, which if it happened again, I would feel no sympathy, and Rob Taylor is an ego driven asshole.”
“You notice that I don’t talk to people in the locker room? You notice I don’t go out of my way to make friends in this business, or that I get my own car, my own hotel room and I do not really hang out in the back? It is because of LAW and TWN, when a man I considered my friend turned on me.”
::Travis leans back in the chain, leaning his head back and looking up at the ceiling of the office/trophy room, the only part of the room, besides the floor, that has no wrestling memorabilia on it.::
“And to this day, people ask me why, why in the hell I stuck around. And I often wonder why, because while OWO, where I had great matches and I was given a chance to shine, FUW, where I became one of the longest reigning champions in history and ACW, where I was given a chance to shine and a chance to be the best, and I took it, were good times, they were not long enough to make up for all the crap I put up with from CEW, LAW, TWN. When ACW closed, I decided to take time off.”
::“The Canadian Legend” lowers his head. He leans forward in the chair, running his right hand through his hair as he twists the crowbar just slightly in his left.::
“Then something amazing happened. You see, Craven, I took a year off to heal up and spend time with my family. And during that time, I was asked by fans, by wrestlers I respected when I was coming back.”
“I had the late, great Dave “Snake” Matthews, a guy I wish I had a chance to get into the ring with and wrestle, asking me when I was coming back to wrestling.”
“I had “the Irish Dragon” Eric Donavan, a great wrestler, and someone I once respected ask me when I was planning on making my return.”
“Ashley Harris, Evan Harrison, Aubrey J Parker, Mike Voland, and Hyena, members of one of the greatest teams I have seen in Frenzy, a team that Sin City Knights cannot compare to, even without you screwing up the match, and other wrestlers and fans were all asking me when or if I was coming back to wrestling.”
“So many people asked me. And finally, finally I said I would come back, and people were thrilled. However, that thrill quickly turned to “oh, you’re back?”. Explain to me how that is respect. Explain to me why I came back to wrestling after listening people ask me to return for a year only for them to immediately seem completely uninterested in my return. Where is the respect Craven?”
::He twists the crowbar in his hands.::
“I walked into New Era Wrestling, I signed on the dotted line and they were thrilled for about a second before they turned around and lost interest in me. They would then go on to promote the same people again and again, as if the championships were reserved for them. I watched a man lose and win the Television Championship on three occasions. I saw the same man challenge for the title again and again and again, and then act like he had been mistreated by management. I saw opportunity handed to people who just walked through the door and maybe had one match. There were no heroes in NEW, just people who had yet to sell out. I watched a company go out of its way to bury me or anyone else who was not one of the chosen ones that got all the title shots, or just walked through the door to be handed title shots for nothing more than showing up. I saw a company whose world title was not the most important object in the company, but instead, it took a backseat to a man’s dick. And I watched that man bring people to his home which was filled with artwork depicting his dick, yet no one called it arrogant, as my trophy room was again and again. I was promised a title opportunity before I left, and it went to a man who had just debuted barely a month ago.”
“And as soon as I mentioned any of these things or pointed them out, everyone told me to shut up and immediately rushed to the defense of the NEW. Ask out current world champion’s namesake how well defending that company was. I announced to the world that I was leaving, and the announcers actually seemed to ignore that fact. They treated it like it was not happening. And, to cap it off, a man I respected, a man who spent almost a year as the challenger for the world title, actually won the title, and then turned around and act like management had mistreated him, and everyone rallied to him, but I had said the same thing and was told to shut up.”
“Craven, I did not have a plan nor did I have anywhere to go when I made my announcement to leave NEW. I was just done with that place. I was pretty much done with wrestling.”
::That anger that can be heard in his voice is now a full blown, audible rage. That rage is even reflected in his cold, predatory glare.::
“And that is when Georgio Oliver contacted me and promised me the respect I had earned. He promised me the one thing I wanted, the respect I had earned and that I deserved. And I have not gotten it.”
“Instead, I have gotten nothing but disrespect. The only reason I was even in the North American Championship match is because Jeszika Gautier wanted to kick my ass. I won the title, and that fact seems overshadowed by the fact that I lost the title, as if I am the only champion here to ever lose a title. Just like the NEW, like Andy, like Sunny, Georgio seems determined to bury me. He would rather promote the same people, shove a worthless faction that has delivered nothing down our throats, or give opportunity to people who just walk through the door. You would have thought I would have learned from the LAW to never trust management, but nope, I made the same mistake I did then and with the same result of being a whipping boy.”
“This is what I came back for? This is why I came back to wrestling?”
::Travis gets to his feet, pushing the chair aside. It rolls a bit and falls to the floor with s small thud.::
“I did NOT come back for me! I did not need to come back. I accomplished more in my career than you will ever accomplish in your sad, miserable pathetic life as Silver Baron’s dog. I have earned my place as a legend. I did NOT come back because I thought professional wrestling could not survive without me. I am not that arrogant. Wrestling was around before I was born, and it will be around long after I am dead.”
“No, Craven, I came back to wrestling for all the people who wanted me back. I came back because people asked me, because for the first time, they treated me like a legend, they showed me respect, they acted like they wanted me back, like they missed me and wanted to see me again. And that is all it turns out it was; just an act.”
“I came back and I have regretted that decision for over a year now. Do you think winning some knock off hardcore title, or the North American Championship is going to change that? And this has nothing to do with whether or not I believe I should be the focus of the UWA. This is about the fact that I have been disrespected since the day I walked into wrestling and it will not stop, so why should I continue to pursue what I will never get no matter how I much I deserve it.”
“I am done Craven! After Tragic Engagment, I am out and if Georgio Oliver wants me back, he is damn sure as hell going to have to make it worth it, because this time, a handshake and a promise to be broken is not going to do it.”
::Travis slides his right hand over the curved edge of his crowbar, slowly twisting it with his hands.::
“But that brings me to Tragic Engagement and to you, Craven, you miserable, yapping, nitpicking little bitch, the wannabe hero who thinks he’s on some epic quest of revenge when in reality, he’s done nothing to prove himself the avenger he believes himself to be, the man who would rather stand holding a mic and just run verbally run me down as opposed to fight me when he is not being paid for it, and the man who acts like he is the first person to put me through a table and that it was some sort of heroic accomplishment akin to Hercules slaying the Hydra or Perseus killing Medusa.”
“See, here is the thing Craven, the great thing about this match is that I do not care. I do not care if I win at Tragic Engagement. I do not care if I beat you. Georgio promised that if I beat you, I am allowed to challenge for titles, but in the ultimate act of disrespect, he will not let me challenge for the UWA World Heavyweight Championship, the one title I want. I no longer trust him Craven, ergo, I no longer believe his promises, which means I do not believe for a second that he will let me challenge for any title even if I do beat you at Tragic Engagement. I have nothing to gain Craven, and I have nothing to lose.”
“I do not give a damn about your health, your physical well being, or whether or not you can even walk after this match. I have nothing to gain Craven. I have nothing to lose. Do you understand how dangerous that makes me? I literally do not care if I end your career, because as soon as Tragic Engagement is over, I am out of the arena and I am going home, and nothing outside of an iron clad, guaranteed written contract is going to get me to come back, because whatever promised Georgio makes to me, I can no longer believe them.”
::Holding the crowbar in his right hand, Travis opens his left hand, flexing and stretching his fingers out.::
“I am done being the whipping boy. I am done being punished just so Gerogio can show is his not a spineless, pathetic coward who is too afraid of some people that he will neither punish or reward them, or considers them more valuable than the rest of us, so he ignores everything they do and rewards them.”
“You may think you are the knight about to enter the dragon’s lair to avenge the girl, the girl your own master did not care I hurt, and slay the monster. You are not the hero Craven. No one in the Sin City Knights, except maybe Skylar, gives a damn about you. None of the fans care what happens to you. None of the fans are cheering you because they like you or they think you are witty and clever. They cheer you because they hate me more. You are hero to no one you, worthless dog!”
“You are not the hero that will slay the dragon. You are the sacrifice. You are the lamb being lead to the slaughter, because that’s what this will be Craven; just the slaughter of you.”
“I have no intention of walking into Tragic Engagement and beating you in a match and getting my hand raised. I have every intention of walking into Tragic Engagment and beating your worthless carcass until someone pulls me off your corpse or you just stop twitching, and even then, I may not stop. I am not coming for a victory. That will be yours Craven. You will get the victory, and you can brag about it all you want, as soon as they unwire your jaw after I shove this crowbar so far down your throat that they have to pull it out of your ass.”
“This is not your heroic victory, your great moment upon which you slay the monster and prove that you are a hero. This is your execution. I have no intention of letting you walk away from this one, or for the rest of your worthless life. With God as my witness, I will make Skylar cry when she sees what I have done to you. This, Craven, just may be worthy of the wall.”
::The fingers of his left had slowly wrap around the cold metal of crowbar. With the weapon, he gestures to the two collages on his wall. One depicts the absolute destruction of Kyona Eph’Pha’Tha’, beating down her brother, her husband, making her daughter cry, and setting her ablaze, what he refers to as his “masterpiece”, and the other shows his ending the career of Hiashi Shinshuma::
“I would love to say I am going to beat respect into you Craven, even if I have to break every single bone in your body, but we both know you do not respect me and you never will. That is fine. I will settle for beating every inch of life out of you. Make piece with God, because your ass, your life, it is MINE!”
::Travis looks down at the weapon he has used over the years to lay out so many victims over the years. There is little doubt in his voice, in those eyes, that he would not use the crowbar if given a chance.::
“I said I would not wrestle you at Tragic Engagement Crave, and I stand by that. This is going to be a slaughter. It will not be about winning or losing. It will be about whether or not I decide to let you live through the match, and unfortunately for you Craven, I have decided your life is forfeit the second Georgio made this match. Everything I do to you Craven, all your blood, all the pain you will endure, all the suffering I put you through, it is on his hands.”
“And then I go home, and no amount of begging, no amount of asking, and no amount of pleading is going to make me come back. Not this time. Because this time, if I come back, it will not be for them. It will NEVER be about them again! This time, it will be for me.”
::He looks up from the weapon. There is no hint of hesitation, or mercy, or the slightest chance he will not carry out his promise in his voice. He keeps looking forward with that cold, predatory glare of his.::
“I am coming to put you down bitch. Challenge and learn.”
::The scene fades out on Travis looking down at the crowbar.::