Post by Kyle Travis on Nov 7, 2014 16:45:42 GMT -6
::“The Canadian Legend” Kyle Travis sits in an empty ring. He is just sitting against one of the corner posts. He is not dressed to compete or to train, but dressed in pants and a short sleeved dress shirt. His crowbar is hanging off the top rope.::
::Travis sits there, his left leg up and left arm draped over it. His head is leaning back against the turnbuckle and his eyes are closed.::
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
::“The Once and Future King” opens his eyes.::
“I am going to rage Pauly. I am going to rage against the dying of the light because no one else will. I plan to rage because actions speak louder than words and I see that talk is no longer working.”
::Slowly, Travis lifts his left arms and slides his hand over his face. He sighs and keeps looking up at the ceiling like he is contemplating something.::
“How long do any of us have Pauly? How long do any of us have in this business? That is a question we all ask ourselves in the back of our minds every single time we sit in a doctor’s office or meet with the trainers. It only takes one slip, and a career, no matter how long or how short, can be ended. How many young talents have you watched get dropped on their head and lose feeling in their legs? How many concussions have you had and wondered if it would be the one that ended your career? How many times have you had surgery or met with a doctor and they told you that you may never wrestle again Pauly? You could ask those questions to anyone who has ever stepped into the ring. It takes only one moment to end a career you spend a lifetime building.”
“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“And you cannot tell me that you have never asked yourself any of those questions. You cannot tell me those thoughts have never entered your mind Pauly. It really doesn’t matter how old you are, or how long you have been in this business, those questions come up. Everyone who enters this business knows that they are on borrowed time. At some point, the body will give out and no matter how strong the desire to keep wrestling is.”
“And the simple fact of the matter is that none of us knows when our time is up. Maybe it is a long career and ends with retiring as a legend after having career that others can only dream of having and doing the occasional appearance where the crowd cheers or bows to you. Maybe, on the other hand, the career is cut short. Even if one has a long career, there is always the chance that they accomplish nothing and their career ends, forgotten, faded, and every chance at glory they ever had is now lost and wasted.”
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
::Travis finally stops looking up and looks down, across to the other side of the ring. He shakes his head.::
“And yet, Pauly, that is exactly what I look at when I see the way the UWA is today. I do not see a place where people can rise up to try and show the world what they can do. What I see is a company that is still young, still full of potential, but already so close to stagnating.”
“I see a company that has chosen those it wants to put on its upper echelon and holds the rest back. I see a company that cares nothing for its tag team division. I see a company that has champions, but really seems to have no desire to use them or do anything to legitimize its titles.”
“And the weirdest thing is that among those wrestlers that get to be on the show every single week, most of them are women. Now I am not sexist, but I look at a show line up and I feel like I am watching G.L.O.W., not UWA. I don’t know if Georgio and Samuel think if they constantly promote the women of the UWA, they may get to sleep with them or what. I mean, clearly Sam needs all the help he can get in that department, but I feel like history is going to be made when and if a man ever wins the UWA World Championship. Although, it will more than likely be one of those chosen elite, and more than likely no reason as to why they have the shot. And honestly, I didn’t think we had that many women here, but apparently we do.”
::Travis shrugs.::
“But the strange thing is that no one seems to really mind that they just get to sit at home for weeks or months at a time watching the same people wrestle again and again while they just collect a check, their names forgotten and any and all chances for glory that they may have had in the UWA has passed and maybe, just maybe they actually may have enough name recognition left when this company tanks or they finally get tired of sitting at home and end up leaving.”
::Slowly, Travis slides his hands over his head, around the back of his head, under his ears and over his chin. He then slides hands up over his face and then down. He slides his left leg down.::
“And that will kill this company. There seems to be no real attempt to make new stars. There seems to be no way up the ladder. There seems to be no way into that upper echelon. The UWA is less than a year old and it has already decided it needs an impenetrable glass ceiling in place, because those chosen ones, the ones that get every opportunity handed to them are good enough and they don’t need to try and make new stars.”
“Join the UWA, wrestle one match and we’ll see you in a couple of months. Have some nice time off.”
::Slowly, Travis reaches up and grabs the top rope. He uses the ropes to pull himself up and starts to pace around the ring.::
“That was not the promise any of us were made when UWA opened. That is not what we were told when we came here. I don’t know about you Pauly, but the promise they made me was the respect I deserved after a Hall of Fame career. I was promised a chance to earn opportunities I had watched so many others get in NEW, where only a certain group of people were given the titles and the shots at the belts as soon as they lost them, or where new people, fresh off the street were given opportunities most of us had to fight and claw and struggle just to earn. The only differences I see between the UWA and NEW is that I know who is running this place and his dick is not the most talked about or valued item in the company, held in more prestige than the World Heavyweight Championship, and that the guy acting like the moral authority of the company isn’t a hypocritical mercenary who apparently does not understand how money works. Other than that, I really do not see much difference.”
“And that is why I am upset.”
“That is why I am disappointed.”
“Most importantly, Pauly, that is why I need to do what I have to do to make things better.”
“That is not what I was promised. That is not what I was told the UWA would be. No. That is why things need to change Pauly. But no one is doing anything about it. No one is trying to make that change happen. No one seems to be protesting or acting. And thus, there is no wake up call.”
::As he paces, Travis begins to open and close his left hand, stretching his fingers out, wiggling them like snakes. Whether this is to keep the south paw’s hand loose, or just a think he does to help him think has never really been explained. Either way, it is just some quirk he has.::
“Who needs walk out before the people running the UWA wake up? Does every tag team save for K.I.S.S. need to leave before the wake up happens? Does some star, tired of waiting for a better chance have to leave and become bigger somewhere else making the UWA realize they wasted a huge talent in order to wake up? Do the people need to turn against the chosen ones, start to boo and jeer or just get bored and then stop watching because UWA has no new stars to show off before Georgio wakes up? What will it take, and even then, will it be too late?”
::Travis stops moving his fingers, holding his hand in a claw-like shape and flexing his fingers before he closes his hand into a fist.::
“This is the dying of the light and I am going to rage against it. Personally, I do not care if you feel what I am doing is for the greater good or just me being upset that I am not at the top of the company. I do not care if you think it is necessary evil or just evil. I do not care if you believe it is righteous or just the act of a selfish, jealous man or whatever Pauly. I do not care. I honestly do not care what you think because regardless of what you think, I am going to do this anyway.”
“What no one seems to understand, what no one seems to get, is that I actually want to see the UWA succeed. I actually think this company has all the potential in the world to be great. I want to see the UWA I was sold on, the one I signed with and that I was promised, not what it is now. I believe in a UWA that can be, that we were all promised, not what we have now.”
“And, I am going to make that future, the UWA I believe in happen, regardless of how many bodies I have to break, how many dreams I have to shatter and who I have to destroy. I will see it done.”
::He stops pacing and looks at the crowbar, the tool he has used to do a vast majority of the terrible things he has done over his career.::
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
::Wrapping his left fingers around the black metal of his crowbar, Travis takes the tool into his hand and lifts it off the top rope. He looks down at his preferred instrument of carnage, running his right hand over the metal with a malevolent look in his eyes.::
“This is revolution. I am the voice of the voiceless. I am the wrestler who speaks for those who do not want to speak up for themselves because I am the Lorax and they are the trees. I will not go quietly into that good night! I will rage, rage against the dying of the light!”
::He turns to face the camera, those cold predatory eyes glaring as the seem to be locked onto a target. Slowly, he lifts the crowbar above his head.::
“Challenge and learn.”
::The scene fades to black on the image of Travis holding the crowbar up with a cold, cruel predatory look in his eyes.::
::Travis sits there, his left leg up and left arm draped over it. His head is leaning back against the turnbuckle and his eyes are closed.::
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
::“The Once and Future King” opens his eyes.::
“I am going to rage Pauly. I am going to rage against the dying of the light because no one else will. I plan to rage because actions speak louder than words and I see that talk is no longer working.”
::Slowly, Travis lifts his left arms and slides his hand over his face. He sighs and keeps looking up at the ceiling like he is contemplating something.::
“How long do any of us have Pauly? How long do any of us have in this business? That is a question we all ask ourselves in the back of our minds every single time we sit in a doctor’s office or meet with the trainers. It only takes one slip, and a career, no matter how long or how short, can be ended. How many young talents have you watched get dropped on their head and lose feeling in their legs? How many concussions have you had and wondered if it would be the one that ended your career? How many times have you had surgery or met with a doctor and they told you that you may never wrestle again Pauly? You could ask those questions to anyone who has ever stepped into the ring. It takes only one moment to end a career you spend a lifetime building.”
“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“And you cannot tell me that you have never asked yourself any of those questions. You cannot tell me those thoughts have never entered your mind Pauly. It really doesn’t matter how old you are, or how long you have been in this business, those questions come up. Everyone who enters this business knows that they are on borrowed time. At some point, the body will give out and no matter how strong the desire to keep wrestling is.”
“And the simple fact of the matter is that none of us knows when our time is up. Maybe it is a long career and ends with retiring as a legend after having career that others can only dream of having and doing the occasional appearance where the crowd cheers or bows to you. Maybe, on the other hand, the career is cut short. Even if one has a long career, there is always the chance that they accomplish nothing and their career ends, forgotten, faded, and every chance at glory they ever had is now lost and wasted.”
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
::Travis finally stops looking up and looks down, across to the other side of the ring. He shakes his head.::
“And yet, Pauly, that is exactly what I look at when I see the way the UWA is today. I do not see a place where people can rise up to try and show the world what they can do. What I see is a company that is still young, still full of potential, but already so close to stagnating.”
“I see a company that has chosen those it wants to put on its upper echelon and holds the rest back. I see a company that cares nothing for its tag team division. I see a company that has champions, but really seems to have no desire to use them or do anything to legitimize its titles.”
“And the weirdest thing is that among those wrestlers that get to be on the show every single week, most of them are women. Now I am not sexist, but I look at a show line up and I feel like I am watching G.L.O.W., not UWA. I don’t know if Georgio and Samuel think if they constantly promote the women of the UWA, they may get to sleep with them or what. I mean, clearly Sam needs all the help he can get in that department, but I feel like history is going to be made when and if a man ever wins the UWA World Championship. Although, it will more than likely be one of those chosen elite, and more than likely no reason as to why they have the shot. And honestly, I didn’t think we had that many women here, but apparently we do.”
::Travis shrugs.::
“But the strange thing is that no one seems to really mind that they just get to sit at home for weeks or months at a time watching the same people wrestle again and again while they just collect a check, their names forgotten and any and all chances for glory that they may have had in the UWA has passed and maybe, just maybe they actually may have enough name recognition left when this company tanks or they finally get tired of sitting at home and end up leaving.”
::Slowly, Travis slides his hands over his head, around the back of his head, under his ears and over his chin. He then slides hands up over his face and then down. He slides his left leg down.::
“And that will kill this company. There seems to be no real attempt to make new stars. There seems to be no way up the ladder. There seems to be no way into that upper echelon. The UWA is less than a year old and it has already decided it needs an impenetrable glass ceiling in place, because those chosen ones, the ones that get every opportunity handed to them are good enough and they don’t need to try and make new stars.”
“Join the UWA, wrestle one match and we’ll see you in a couple of months. Have some nice time off.”
::Slowly, Travis reaches up and grabs the top rope. He uses the ropes to pull himself up and starts to pace around the ring.::
“That was not the promise any of us were made when UWA opened. That is not what we were told when we came here. I don’t know about you Pauly, but the promise they made me was the respect I deserved after a Hall of Fame career. I was promised a chance to earn opportunities I had watched so many others get in NEW, where only a certain group of people were given the titles and the shots at the belts as soon as they lost them, or where new people, fresh off the street were given opportunities most of us had to fight and claw and struggle just to earn. The only differences I see between the UWA and NEW is that I know who is running this place and his dick is not the most talked about or valued item in the company, held in more prestige than the World Heavyweight Championship, and that the guy acting like the moral authority of the company isn’t a hypocritical mercenary who apparently does not understand how money works. Other than that, I really do not see much difference.”
“And that is why I am upset.”
“That is why I am disappointed.”
“Most importantly, Pauly, that is why I need to do what I have to do to make things better.”
“That is not what I was promised. That is not what I was told the UWA would be. No. That is why things need to change Pauly. But no one is doing anything about it. No one is trying to make that change happen. No one seems to be protesting or acting. And thus, there is no wake up call.”
::As he paces, Travis begins to open and close his left hand, stretching his fingers out, wiggling them like snakes. Whether this is to keep the south paw’s hand loose, or just a think he does to help him think has never really been explained. Either way, it is just some quirk he has.::
“Who needs walk out before the people running the UWA wake up? Does every tag team save for K.I.S.S. need to leave before the wake up happens? Does some star, tired of waiting for a better chance have to leave and become bigger somewhere else making the UWA realize they wasted a huge talent in order to wake up? Do the people need to turn against the chosen ones, start to boo and jeer or just get bored and then stop watching because UWA has no new stars to show off before Georgio wakes up? What will it take, and even then, will it be too late?”
::Travis stops moving his fingers, holding his hand in a claw-like shape and flexing his fingers before he closes his hand into a fist.::
“This is the dying of the light and I am going to rage against it. Personally, I do not care if you feel what I am doing is for the greater good or just me being upset that I am not at the top of the company. I do not care if you think it is necessary evil or just evil. I do not care if you believe it is righteous or just the act of a selfish, jealous man or whatever Pauly. I do not care. I honestly do not care what you think because regardless of what you think, I am going to do this anyway.”
“What no one seems to understand, what no one seems to get, is that I actually want to see the UWA succeed. I actually think this company has all the potential in the world to be great. I want to see the UWA I was sold on, the one I signed with and that I was promised, not what it is now. I believe in a UWA that can be, that we were all promised, not what we have now.”
“And, I am going to make that future, the UWA I believe in happen, regardless of how many bodies I have to break, how many dreams I have to shatter and who I have to destroy. I will see it done.”
::He stops pacing and looks at the crowbar, the tool he has used to do a vast majority of the terrible things he has done over his career.::
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
“And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
::Wrapping his left fingers around the black metal of his crowbar, Travis takes the tool into his hand and lifts it off the top rope. He looks down at his preferred instrument of carnage, running his right hand over the metal with a malevolent look in his eyes.::
“This is revolution. I am the voice of the voiceless. I am the wrestler who speaks for those who do not want to speak up for themselves because I am the Lorax and they are the trees. I will not go quietly into that good night! I will rage, rage against the dying of the light!”
::He turns to face the camera, those cold predatory eyes glaring as the seem to be locked onto a target. Slowly, he lifts the crowbar above his head.::
“Challenge and learn.”
::The scene fades to black on the image of Travis holding the crowbar up with a cold, cruel predatory look in his eyes.::