Post by Kyle Travis on Jul 5, 2014 13:53:18 GMT -6
::Replica championship belts line the wall above and around the desk. Each is placed on shelving with a small plaque stating what title it is, the event, venue, date and match the title was won in. Some have more than one plaque. A new one has been added; UWA North American Championship, Spring Slaughter, Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon, 4/20/14, Kyle Travis VS Jeszika Gautier VS Garbage Man.::
::Kyle Travis sits in his office/trophy room looking at the titles upon the wall surrounding his desk. There is still some space left on the wall. Travis seems oblivious to anyone else in the room as he looks at the wall.::
::He sits in the chair, leaning forward a bit which causes the back of the chair to lean back slightly. His left hand is on his chin. His right hand taps a beat on the arm; dum-dum-dum-dum, dum-dum-dum-dum, like a drum beat, but somehow similar to a heartbeat in a way. He twists a bit in the chair.::
“I suppose it is safe to say that Searing Agony did not go as either of us had hoped it would, Aerynn Donnelly.”
::He stops tapping his fingers.::
“I certainly had no intentions of losing the UWA North American Championship nor did I plan on losing a triple threat match. It’s really disappointing considering that it is my match, my specialty. I suppose I can take some comfort that for all his talk about being this great defender and noble guardian or his own innate superiority, it was Fraser Freeman who was pinned and not myself. I was never pinned or made to submit for the championship. I can say I never actually lost the title, but technically, I was never defeated for the title.”
::Travis shrugs::
“Oh well.”
“However, I suppose it would also be safe to say that your night at Searing Agony and your match against the Children of Nephilim did not go as well as you would have hoped. You barely won, and even the, it was a pyrrhic victory.”
::For a moment, Kyle Travis allows himself a smirk. It quickly fades.::
“You can say you accomplished what you and Arsenal wanted. You can claim you showed everyone that they are not invincible. You can even claim you won a battle. You can claim whatever you want to claim, but the simple fact is that anything you claim about winning or showing a united front or anything is a lie.”
“However, you won because Joshua McBride allowed you to win. You won a battle, not the war. He sacrificed one battle to win the war. While everyone is playing checkers, he is playing chess and he is five moves ahead. He has probably planned everything out, accounted for all the variables and is just waiting for everyone else to catch up. Searing Agony was not some devastating loss for him and his followers. It was the sacrifice of a pawn to capture the knight, nothing more, nothing less. You’re playing his game, and he’s the only one who knows the rules.”
::“The Canadian Legend” sighs and shakes his head. He smiles a bit.::
“You know the sad thing though? I saw the betrayal of Bene Elohim coming. I was maybe the only person in that locker room who was not shocked when those two turned and attacked. It is amazing no one else saw it coming. Their nicknames are “Rain of God” and “Thunder of God”. Nephilim is a biblical term for the offspring of the “sons of God” and “daughters of men”. How did you not see this coming? I half expected to see that Castiel guy I wrestled my first week here wearing one of those robes. I will admit, though, I thought the betrayal would be earlier. How did you not see it coming?”
::Travis chuckles and moves his hand from his chin.
“And you cannot claim you knew they would turn on you. You cannot claim you knew they were not your allies. They turned up when you needed the help and you allowed yourself to believe they were your allies.”
“You won a battle, because you were allowed to win. However, he is trying to win the war. And you cannot win the war. To beat a monster, you need a monster, or you must become the monster. This is not a war you can win with a private investigator, which many of us are wondering why you even have one. This is not a battle you can win with noble ideas or anything like that. Whatever actions he takes, McBride can justify with his rhetoric and his minions will believe it.”
“You have two mercenaries, one who could easily be a break out star if she realized it, and a woman with mixed feelings to the husband she humiliated and emasculated on worldwide pay-per-view. You cannot fight a bunch of zealots with that. You cannot fight a monster with a force like that. You cannot fight someone like Joshua backstage or with words or with some PI or how you have been doing this. To beat a monster, sometimes, you have to become the monster. This is one of those times when you need to find a monster.”
“Picture this like the Crusades, Aerynn. What the Christians soldiers did during those wars, all the terrible sins committed in the name of God, was worthy of the pits of Hell. And yet, each man went to that war believing what they were doing was righteous in the eyes of the Lord, and that they would be rewarded with entry to the Kingdom of Heaven. And so, in the name of God, many did terrible, horrific, vile, unspeakable acts; they became monsters. The greatest acts of evil humanity has committed as always been in the name of what someone believes is righteous and just.”
“That is what you are fighting with McBride and his followers and you have nothing to counter with it, no army, no monsters of your own, and no cause worth fighting as it seems no one is rallying to your side or coming to aid your “noble quest” to save Broderick Montgomery, or even the indication that you can lead. Neither you nor any member of Arsenal can be the monster you need to win. And I will admit that I am a monster, and that I have done a lot of terrible things, and honestly, if you just asked, I would actually be willing to help you in this because I have seen too many people like McBride, trying to take over a company with little to no resistance.”
::A smile forms on the face of “the Once and Future King”.::
“But I know you will not ask. I know you will not swallow your pride and ask for a monster’s help or even mine.”
::Travis leans back in the chair, letting his head lay back. He moves the chair in a circle, then back to the titles adorning his wall.::
“Yes Bethany and Ashley are tough, but Jeszika already proved she cannot do what she needs to do to win this. I know this because I am still standing here after she said she was going to end me. And you Aerynn, yes, you are tough, you are a great competitor, but you are not a monster.”
“You won a battle, only because you were allowed to. He wants to win the war. You cannot fight a monster like this without becoming one, or finding one. None of you are capable of being a monster. I know, because I have made a career of being a monster and I can tell when someone has it. Yes, you may be able to reach that level, to find it, but you will not be able to maintain it, to keep it and still live with what you have done.”
“Right now, McBride seems to have his eyes on you and the UWA World Heavyweight Championship. Since the day the Children of Nephilim arrived, they went right after you and the UWA Championship. You responded with threatening to quit, then you moved on to try and fight with backstage politics and a PI, and when all that failed, when you could no longer stand by and ignore his actions against you, such as abducting your other employer, you then, and only then, decided to fight. Meanwhile, he was already fighting, already moving his forces. You’re Neville Chamberlain, he is Hitler, and you are too late to stop him. When he strikes, when he decides to strike at you and finish it, he will make it slow and painful, and end it only when he deems it is time to end it.”
::Travis looks up at the championships that decorate his wall.::
“However, I have no intentions of allowing Joshua McBride to take the UWA World Heavyweight Championship from you because I have every intention of becoming the new UWA World Heavyweight Champion at the next Monday Night Mayhem.”
“Now let’s get one thing straight. My attempting to beat you for the UWA Championship has nothing to do with my belief that I can be a better champion than you. It has nothing to do with whether or not I can lead the locker room better than you. It has nothing to do with my belief that I could gather a better army than you and actually take out the Children of Nephilim. It does not even have anything to do with the supposed awesome power that comes with being world champion. None of those reasons have anything to do with why I want that title you now wear around your waist Aerynn.”
::He stands up, gesturing to the championship replicas on his wall. He points specifically to the five world titles. One of them has two small plaques underneath, indicating that he is a two-time champion.::
“Six times I have been to the top of the mountain. Six times I have stood in the ring as the world champion. It has been far, far too long since I was a world champion. It has been too long since I was the standard bearer, the flagship. Six times I have been world champion. I want the seventh.”
“That is the sole reason I want to be champion. I did not walk out here on my first night and declare that I would become champion because I was trying to get attention or make a name for myself, because I have already done that. I didn’t do it because I am some rookie fresh out the gate thinking he is the greatest thing ever to happen to wrestling and just demands a title shot because he showed up and managed to dress himself. When I said I would become UWA Champion it was a promise.”
::Slowly, he rubs his chin and rolls his jaw as if he is trying to make sure it still works after the kick he got from Aerynn Donnelly the first time they ever battled in the Champion versus Champion match. He lowers his hand.::
“Now I will admit that you won our first match Areynn. Maybe I took you too lightly, maybe I underestimated your passion, your desire and I took you lightly, and I will admit that. You won. I can make excuse after excuse, but nothing I say is going to change the fact that you did beat me. However, you won a battle but you did not win the war.”
“That really is the downside of being the world champion in that it is a constant war to try and keep it. When you win a championship, you automatically have a target on your back. No target is bigger than the one on the back of the world champion. Everyone is coming after you because you have the one belt everyone wants to win.”
::He gestures to the twenty-four replica titles on the wall, which many people have called arrogant and egotistical, but Travis defends as stating he’s earned the right to have a bit of an ego, given his career, a career, he maintains, few can ever attain.::
“Winning a championship, any championship, makes you immortal. As long as that belt lives on, as long as someone remembers it’s a thing, your name lives on. I have already achieved immortality in my career. I achieved immortality here in the UWA already when I became the first UWA North American Champion. I have every intention of becoming UWA Television Champion and a UWA Tag Team Champion, when those belts get activated and if I can find a partner. And who knows? Maybe I get a rematch and I become the first ever two-time North American Champion. Right now though, I want to become UWA World Champion.”
::He lowers his arms. His left hand opens, the fingers stretching out and flexing.::
“I want the immortality, the prestige, the glory and the respect that comes with being world champion. And despite the nearly constant disrespect I receive or the fact that I am almost constantly underestimated, I am more than capable of become world champion.”
::He turns away from the championship belt replicas on the wall. He closes his left hand into a fist.::
“Now I have no delusions that this match will be anything other than a war. I know you will not go down easily Aerynn. And, while you can underestimate me, you should consider the fact that your judgments or the assumptions you have made may not be entirely accurate. After all, I think it is safe to say that Bene Elohim’s joining the Children of Nephilim too you by surprise. And if it didn’t, you may want to explain to Arsenal why you didn’t feel any need to tell them “oh by the way, the very religious tag team we’re allied with is going to betray us and join the cult we’re fighting, but we should be okay”. They might be a little annoyed with that.”
::Those cold, predatory eyes glare ahead as if staring at the championship he seeks to win.::
“Underestimate me. Assume that this will be an easy win. Believe my titles as “the Canadian Legend” and “the Once and Future King” were just phrases to sell hats and t-shirts to idiots who boo me, yet still buy my merchandise. That just makes it all the sweeter when I lock on the Pridebreaker, tear your shoulder out, hear you scream your surrender and become the new UWA World Heavyweight Champion. And then I will raise that title belt into the air, and everyone will know they should all bow to “the Once and Future King”, because he has reclaimed his throne.”
“This has nothing to do with the Children. This has nothing to do with Broderick. The only thing in this match that matters, that means anything is the world championship. This is all about you, me and that title, and who wants it more.”
“At Monday Night Mayhem, I am not coming for a battle. I am coming for a war. I am coming to win the UWA World Heavyweight Championship.”
::Travis slowly raises he hands. He holds up six fingers to represent the six times he has been a world champion.::
“Challenge and learn.”
::The scene fades out as Travis raises a seventh fingers, the seventh world championship he plans to win.::
::Kyle Travis sits in his office/trophy room looking at the titles upon the wall surrounding his desk. There is still some space left on the wall. Travis seems oblivious to anyone else in the room as he looks at the wall.::
::He sits in the chair, leaning forward a bit which causes the back of the chair to lean back slightly. His left hand is on his chin. His right hand taps a beat on the arm; dum-dum-dum-dum, dum-dum-dum-dum, like a drum beat, but somehow similar to a heartbeat in a way. He twists a bit in the chair.::
“I suppose it is safe to say that Searing Agony did not go as either of us had hoped it would, Aerynn Donnelly.”
::He stops tapping his fingers.::
“I certainly had no intentions of losing the UWA North American Championship nor did I plan on losing a triple threat match. It’s really disappointing considering that it is my match, my specialty. I suppose I can take some comfort that for all his talk about being this great defender and noble guardian or his own innate superiority, it was Fraser Freeman who was pinned and not myself. I was never pinned or made to submit for the championship. I can say I never actually lost the title, but technically, I was never defeated for the title.”
::Travis shrugs::
“Oh well.”
“However, I suppose it would also be safe to say that your night at Searing Agony and your match against the Children of Nephilim did not go as well as you would have hoped. You barely won, and even the, it was a pyrrhic victory.”
::For a moment, Kyle Travis allows himself a smirk. It quickly fades.::
“You can say you accomplished what you and Arsenal wanted. You can claim you showed everyone that they are not invincible. You can even claim you won a battle. You can claim whatever you want to claim, but the simple fact is that anything you claim about winning or showing a united front or anything is a lie.”
“However, you won because Joshua McBride allowed you to win. You won a battle, not the war. He sacrificed one battle to win the war. While everyone is playing checkers, he is playing chess and he is five moves ahead. He has probably planned everything out, accounted for all the variables and is just waiting for everyone else to catch up. Searing Agony was not some devastating loss for him and his followers. It was the sacrifice of a pawn to capture the knight, nothing more, nothing less. You’re playing his game, and he’s the only one who knows the rules.”
::“The Canadian Legend” sighs and shakes his head. He smiles a bit.::
“You know the sad thing though? I saw the betrayal of Bene Elohim coming. I was maybe the only person in that locker room who was not shocked when those two turned and attacked. It is amazing no one else saw it coming. Their nicknames are “Rain of God” and “Thunder of God”. Nephilim is a biblical term for the offspring of the “sons of God” and “daughters of men”. How did you not see this coming? I half expected to see that Castiel guy I wrestled my first week here wearing one of those robes. I will admit, though, I thought the betrayal would be earlier. How did you not see it coming?”
::Travis chuckles and moves his hand from his chin.
“And you cannot claim you knew they would turn on you. You cannot claim you knew they were not your allies. They turned up when you needed the help and you allowed yourself to believe they were your allies.”
“You won a battle, because you were allowed to win. However, he is trying to win the war. And you cannot win the war. To beat a monster, you need a monster, or you must become the monster. This is not a war you can win with a private investigator, which many of us are wondering why you even have one. This is not a battle you can win with noble ideas or anything like that. Whatever actions he takes, McBride can justify with his rhetoric and his minions will believe it.”
“You have two mercenaries, one who could easily be a break out star if she realized it, and a woman with mixed feelings to the husband she humiliated and emasculated on worldwide pay-per-view. You cannot fight a bunch of zealots with that. You cannot fight a monster with a force like that. You cannot fight someone like Joshua backstage or with words or with some PI or how you have been doing this. To beat a monster, sometimes, you have to become the monster. This is one of those times when you need to find a monster.”
“Picture this like the Crusades, Aerynn. What the Christians soldiers did during those wars, all the terrible sins committed in the name of God, was worthy of the pits of Hell. And yet, each man went to that war believing what they were doing was righteous in the eyes of the Lord, and that they would be rewarded with entry to the Kingdom of Heaven. And so, in the name of God, many did terrible, horrific, vile, unspeakable acts; they became monsters. The greatest acts of evil humanity has committed as always been in the name of what someone believes is righteous and just.”
“That is what you are fighting with McBride and his followers and you have nothing to counter with it, no army, no monsters of your own, and no cause worth fighting as it seems no one is rallying to your side or coming to aid your “noble quest” to save Broderick Montgomery, or even the indication that you can lead. Neither you nor any member of Arsenal can be the monster you need to win. And I will admit that I am a monster, and that I have done a lot of terrible things, and honestly, if you just asked, I would actually be willing to help you in this because I have seen too many people like McBride, trying to take over a company with little to no resistance.”
::A smile forms on the face of “the Once and Future King”.::
“But I know you will not ask. I know you will not swallow your pride and ask for a monster’s help or even mine.”
::Travis leans back in the chair, letting his head lay back. He moves the chair in a circle, then back to the titles adorning his wall.::
“Yes Bethany and Ashley are tough, but Jeszika already proved she cannot do what she needs to do to win this. I know this because I am still standing here after she said she was going to end me. And you Aerynn, yes, you are tough, you are a great competitor, but you are not a monster.”
“You won a battle, only because you were allowed to. He wants to win the war. You cannot fight a monster like this without becoming one, or finding one. None of you are capable of being a monster. I know, because I have made a career of being a monster and I can tell when someone has it. Yes, you may be able to reach that level, to find it, but you will not be able to maintain it, to keep it and still live with what you have done.”
“Right now, McBride seems to have his eyes on you and the UWA World Heavyweight Championship. Since the day the Children of Nephilim arrived, they went right after you and the UWA Championship. You responded with threatening to quit, then you moved on to try and fight with backstage politics and a PI, and when all that failed, when you could no longer stand by and ignore his actions against you, such as abducting your other employer, you then, and only then, decided to fight. Meanwhile, he was already fighting, already moving his forces. You’re Neville Chamberlain, he is Hitler, and you are too late to stop him. When he strikes, when he decides to strike at you and finish it, he will make it slow and painful, and end it only when he deems it is time to end it.”
::Travis looks up at the championships that decorate his wall.::
“However, I have no intentions of allowing Joshua McBride to take the UWA World Heavyweight Championship from you because I have every intention of becoming the new UWA World Heavyweight Champion at the next Monday Night Mayhem.”
“Now let’s get one thing straight. My attempting to beat you for the UWA Championship has nothing to do with my belief that I can be a better champion than you. It has nothing to do with whether or not I can lead the locker room better than you. It has nothing to do with my belief that I could gather a better army than you and actually take out the Children of Nephilim. It does not even have anything to do with the supposed awesome power that comes with being world champion. None of those reasons have anything to do with why I want that title you now wear around your waist Aerynn.”
::He stands up, gesturing to the championship replicas on his wall. He points specifically to the five world titles. One of them has two small plaques underneath, indicating that he is a two-time champion.::
“Six times I have been to the top of the mountain. Six times I have stood in the ring as the world champion. It has been far, far too long since I was a world champion. It has been too long since I was the standard bearer, the flagship. Six times I have been world champion. I want the seventh.”
“That is the sole reason I want to be champion. I did not walk out here on my first night and declare that I would become champion because I was trying to get attention or make a name for myself, because I have already done that. I didn’t do it because I am some rookie fresh out the gate thinking he is the greatest thing ever to happen to wrestling and just demands a title shot because he showed up and managed to dress himself. When I said I would become UWA Champion it was a promise.”
::Slowly, he rubs his chin and rolls his jaw as if he is trying to make sure it still works after the kick he got from Aerynn Donnelly the first time they ever battled in the Champion versus Champion match. He lowers his hand.::
“Now I will admit that you won our first match Areynn. Maybe I took you too lightly, maybe I underestimated your passion, your desire and I took you lightly, and I will admit that. You won. I can make excuse after excuse, but nothing I say is going to change the fact that you did beat me. However, you won a battle but you did not win the war.”
“That really is the downside of being the world champion in that it is a constant war to try and keep it. When you win a championship, you automatically have a target on your back. No target is bigger than the one on the back of the world champion. Everyone is coming after you because you have the one belt everyone wants to win.”
::He gestures to the twenty-four replica titles on the wall, which many people have called arrogant and egotistical, but Travis defends as stating he’s earned the right to have a bit of an ego, given his career, a career, he maintains, few can ever attain.::
“Winning a championship, any championship, makes you immortal. As long as that belt lives on, as long as someone remembers it’s a thing, your name lives on. I have already achieved immortality in my career. I achieved immortality here in the UWA already when I became the first UWA North American Champion. I have every intention of becoming UWA Television Champion and a UWA Tag Team Champion, when those belts get activated and if I can find a partner. And who knows? Maybe I get a rematch and I become the first ever two-time North American Champion. Right now though, I want to become UWA World Champion.”
::He lowers his arms. His left hand opens, the fingers stretching out and flexing.::
“I want the immortality, the prestige, the glory and the respect that comes with being world champion. And despite the nearly constant disrespect I receive or the fact that I am almost constantly underestimated, I am more than capable of become world champion.”
::He turns away from the championship belt replicas on the wall. He closes his left hand into a fist.::
“Now I have no delusions that this match will be anything other than a war. I know you will not go down easily Aerynn. And, while you can underestimate me, you should consider the fact that your judgments or the assumptions you have made may not be entirely accurate. After all, I think it is safe to say that Bene Elohim’s joining the Children of Nephilim too you by surprise. And if it didn’t, you may want to explain to Arsenal why you didn’t feel any need to tell them “oh by the way, the very religious tag team we’re allied with is going to betray us and join the cult we’re fighting, but we should be okay”. They might be a little annoyed with that.”
::Those cold, predatory eyes glare ahead as if staring at the championship he seeks to win.::
“Underestimate me. Assume that this will be an easy win. Believe my titles as “the Canadian Legend” and “the Once and Future King” were just phrases to sell hats and t-shirts to idiots who boo me, yet still buy my merchandise. That just makes it all the sweeter when I lock on the Pridebreaker, tear your shoulder out, hear you scream your surrender and become the new UWA World Heavyweight Champion. And then I will raise that title belt into the air, and everyone will know they should all bow to “the Once and Future King”, because he has reclaimed his throne.”
“This has nothing to do with the Children. This has nothing to do with Broderick. The only thing in this match that matters, that means anything is the world championship. This is all about you, me and that title, and who wants it more.”
“At Monday Night Mayhem, I am not coming for a battle. I am coming for a war. I am coming to win the UWA World Heavyweight Championship.”
::Travis slowly raises he hands. He holds up six fingers to represent the six times he has been a world champion.::
“Challenge and learn.”
::The scene fades out as Travis raises a seventh fingers, the seventh world championship he plans to win.::