Post by Josh Eagles on Dec 18, 2010 21:45:23 GMT -5
In high pressure situations where everything was on the line I had always found myself looking to nature for comfort, to draw some sort of life comparison. That was my MO sort to speak. In the past I've always compared my career to climbing mountains or overcoming the vast depth of the Ocean, calm on top but brutal underneath ... now I was starting to realize that I was making all the wrong comparisons. My life and my career wasn't like overcoming some force of nature, some force that you could barely even begin to comprehend it was about overcoming myself and everything around me. Now I was just starting to figure that out as I searched for myself, searched for a higher meaning and a bigger purpose.
A lot of people around me were now worried that my bigger purpose was trying to get back at a company who once turned me away, get back at a company who I had felt disrespected me and they'd find themselves wrong. The UWL wasn't on my mind right now, I couldn't afford it to be. Christian Kane was ready to face me and I was ready to face him and for the first time in a long time I realized that I cared, I had something real to fight for. I had always thought had always felt that I was fighting for something as I had fought my way up to capture the Valiant Championship, but the truth was I didn't. I hadn't given a care about the Championship or winning matches but what it represented, what it stood for.
The Valiant Championship was bigger then just being a champion, it was being the KoP. The Valiant Championship meant the world to me and I had fought for it because I loved the Kingdom and it meant the World to me. My life started and ended with the KoP. This was something that I was seeking,a higher purpose. A doctor had told me that I had sought to get the fear I once instilled back and I felt that it was a bad call ... I didn't look for that and now after time I could realize that. I was looking for respect and I was trying to hard to earn it. Now it was going to come to me and it was going to come to me in the most challenging match I've ever faced in the Kingdom and perhaps ever. This was going to be the most defining moment in my career because it was going to redefine my career. Christian Kane was looking to break through the glass ceiling and I was looking to finally prove that Josh Eagles breaking that same ceiling was not a fluke but it was deserved.
December.19th 2010
Day of Winter Warfare
9:37am Cooksville Diner
The scene opens in a small diner somewhere in Cooksville. Josh Eagles is sitting at one of the tables looking over a menu and across from him is the young waitress who Josh has been trying to win over in recent weeks and the same girl who has brought him to visit a therapist. Josh seems to have decided on something and lowers the menu and smiles at the girl Jenny.
"Jenny I just wanted to really thank you for giving me the chance and coming with me."
"Your welcome Josh, I mean you did offer a fully paid vacation so it was hard to turn down. But remember your promise."
Josh smiles and nods as a waitress comes up and brings them both coffee and they take a moment and place their orders with Josh looking over at the young girl every now and again.
"The deal was we'd talk a little about my past and see if we can find out what maybe causing me some distress but that won't be necessary because I know what it is, or at least I think I do."
Jenny looks at Josh as thought waiting for him to continue but he doesn't continue he just sits and sips his coffee.
"Are you going to share it with me?"
"Sorry I guess it's just kinda hard to say ya know? I mean it's some pretty deep stuff. When Dr. Heinz was talking to me I thought he might be right, I thought I might have been searching to get people to fear me again but I've come to realize that isn't true. I'm searching to be something again because I've been hollow for a long time ... in fact it's pretty much been instinct and driving force that has brought me to the dance. I wanted to be champion and that drove me, I was focused on it but I didn't know why."
"Why then? Stop being cryptic and tell me what you are thinking."
Josh scratches his head and runs a hand through his hair thinking on how to phrase things.
"I've told you that I've been married twice in my young life and both times to the same girl Jeska. But what I haven't told you as that I've had too children and I've lost them both."
Jenny spills the coffee she was trying to drink and she seems certainly shocked by it.
"Wrestling, maybe my attitude is what caused both deaths, well in a way. A couple of years back Jeska was in a car accident and in that accident my two year old son passed away. I wasn't there, I was supposed to be though but I chose to be at the UWL to attack Shawn Stevens and try and send him a message. It was winter and she doesn't like driving long distances and she was and I lost my son because of it."
"Josh that is hardly your fault..."
"Please Jenny just listen. I know it wasn't directly my fault but back then I was ruthless. I took advantage of people, I attacked them and I exposed them when they were week. I was a lot like Christian Kane is now but much less profane and with much more class. But after I lost my son and my wife left me I got cold. I went from ruthless to nearly unstoppable, I wasn't seeking to win I was seeking to hurt people.
Even during the times I was having fun and was a crowd favorite I was just using people to accomplish my own goals. That's how I stayed and then I got Jeska back, we got married once again and things were going well.But wrestling got in the way again because I put her in harms way and let Jack Benevolance punch her in the stomach while she was pregnant and the result of that was a miscarriage and I lost another child before I even had the chance to see them. Plus I was so blinded that I missed that Jeska was just using me, trying to get revenge on me and I lost her again ... it almost killed me. So I swore that the only thing I was going to focus on was my career, I signed my company over and I left everything behind and I focused just on wrestling."
Jenny shakes her head and tries to get her composure with all of the new information and Josh just stares into his coffee.
"Josh you were grieving, something like that is natural you needed to focus on something."
"No I needed to find something. I lost myself Jenny, I lost the meaning of everything that I did. I wasn't sure what the point was anymore. I lived a violent life and lost everything I cared about yet I still kept fighting and it was puzzling. But I fought not because I was distant or because I was full of anger but because I needed to find myself once again. The Kingdom has given that to me."
"What do you mean? The Valiant Title, being the number one guy?"
Josh smiles and looks up from his cup of coffee and his eyes are once again sparkling with life, sparkling in a way we've never seen them sparkle before.
"You could say that. I never realized it before when I was a World Champion all the other times that I have been but being a champion means so much more then just being the best there is at the time. I mean it's a flawed term because so many people become champions, so many people hold belts they lose them and they win them. Sometimes people hold them because they need to be the center of attention, they need to be focused on. Some win and fight for greed, everyone has their own reason but in the end it comes down to the same thing ... they believe it makes them the best."
"But you don't believe it does?"
"No, how can I? Look at the people in the KoP! Robbie Venom, Shawn Stevens, Rich Hamilton for example; I've beaten them and they've beaten me. Christian Kane tonight could beat me, nobody knows better then people like him and myself that one mistake can cost you everything. No holding the title doesn't make you the best and I don't want to be the best but I want to be the best I can be."
Josh and Jenny pause as the food is brought to the table and laid down in front of them.
"Isn't being the best you can be and being the best pretty much the same goal. I mean to you if you are the best you can be won't you think you are the best?"
"No, I can see how you could think that but it's not. Wrestling has kept me going through everything I've been through in life all of the loss the ups and the downs because I love it. I feel like I have meaning in my life and that's what this belt means. It means that the Kingdom looks at me to represent it, looks at me to be it's leader and looks to me to be an example of what we are all about."
"You can be that without the belt as well."
"I can you are right and no matter the result tonight I will be that. But I want to represent the Kingdom, I want to represent everything that wrestling stands for. I want to make people smile and I want to make people proud. Yes before you say it; it does sound like I want it to be all about me and why not? This is my career, this is my life and I want to make it mean something. I don't want my career to be the average career I want it to be better then that, beyond that and now I've found that passion, I've found that desire. Being the Champion is being the champion of the people, I'm the one who makes people smile, the one who makes just that small change in a persons day and that makes the work worth it."
Josh stops and uses his fork to move some of the eggs on his plate around but Jenny just stares at him.
"That's why you want to beat Kane so bad. It's not because you want revenge or it's not because you are angry but because he isn't the type who will step up like you have? He isn't the one who will represent the company in the proper way."
"Exactly. Kane is a capable wrestler and has been fighting for a long time and really wants to win this belt. He feels that because he is a KoP original that he deserves it but the fact is what he has done or where he has been or how long he has been doing it has nothing to do with it. CK has shown that he can't represent a company and that he is a coward. CK isn't cut out to be a champion and he doesn't deserve to be a champion."
Josh begins to now dig into his breakfast and the anger we saw before is now placed by a sadness, a sadness that CK instills inside of him. The scene fades out with the two of them continuing to discuss things and eating breakfast.
December.19th/2011
Day of Winter Warfare
2:47pm Cooksville Community Center Parking Lot
The scene opens up again but this time it is just outside of the Cookville Community Center where there is a crowd of people surrounding Josh Eagles. People hoping to capture a glimpse of their favorite star before the show later tonight.
"Okay calm down everyone! As I said I would love to talk for a bit but tonight is a big night for me and for all of you because I promise you are going to be in for a great show and I have a great treat for you all tonight. But right now I've got to get ready for my match and I've got to focus."
A man from behind them all speaks up.
"Why bother you know that Christian Kane is going to beat you tonight, that he is going to whallop you into next week."
A couple of sighs come out from the crowd and even a boo and a cheer or two but Josh seems determined to find the man.
"Who said that, come on step forward?"
A man in his mid twenties, a sleezy looking goatee and greasy looking black hair steps forward.
"I said it, why you want to make something of it?"
Josh smiles at the arrogance and aggressiveness of the fan.
"No I just want to prove a point and implant a thought in some people. Why do you cheer Christian Kane? The guy has shown he has no respect for woman, he has little respect for this company or any of you. Aggressive people like you are the kind of people who cheer and respect him. I hear the rumors that everyone is proud he was able to overcome a drug problem just like Kurt Noble was but the fact is he shouldn't have been there in the first place."
"So what I should cheer for you instead? Everyone loves a good dose of something now and again, plus CK is the one I see getting laid all day."
"You can cheer for whomever you like, I would never presume to get people to cheer for me. I fight for you if you boo me or cheer me that won't make a difference because if you react I've done my job. But I always show everyone respect ... CK is a man who a couple weeks ago had to use a mother and her child as a shield to win a match, who last week attacked me after a match and tried to steal a championship. That is a selfish act because it robs a match from all of you."
The man runs a hand over his goatee and gives an arrogant smile.
"Well he entertains me and a lot of other people."
"Well there is no doubt that CK's personality is larger then life and his talent can match it. But at the end of the day when all is said and done CK is in it for himself. He has done everything to make him feel better about him. I want you to think of that because if CK beats me tonight then it'll be the last time you see anyone in this company care about you."
Josh smiles and gives a small two finger salute to the fans and walks into the Community Center.
Dec.19th/2011
Day of Winter Warfare
5:12pm - Cooksville Community Center Locker Room
The scene opens up once again and this time we are in the back part of the Cooksville Community Center in the area where they have the KoP locker rooms set up. Josh is in the locker room which for the moment happens to be empty. You can see bags and stuff that belongs to other members of the roster laying around but only Josh is in the room. He is sitting on a bench, his gear is on and he is wrapping tape slowly around his wrists. The door opens and Josh looks up and sees Alex Avice.
"Hey Alex, how are you?"
Alex nods at Josh and sits down across from him.
"I'm good, was just wondering if I could ask some questions and get some information to put up a little article or interview on the website?"
"Can't see why not."
Alex nods clearly as solemn as Josh is knowing that tonight was one of the biggest nights of his career and he pulls out his notebook.
"Tonight you are going one on one with Christian Kane on the final Supercard of 2010. How are you feeling right now Josh?"
Josh looks up smiling at Alex, that knowing smile he can somehow always give.
"How am I supposed to feel? I suppose you'd like to hear confident and prepared but feeling nervous or something along those lines but the fact is that I don't. I feel happy and ambitous. This match is one of the biggest of my career and a chance to finally live up to everything I said I can be. I have everything to lose in this match and I am simply ready to put all of it on the line."
Alex scribbles some stuff down in his notepad and looks back up.
"Well you'd figure that nervous would be a factor Josh. In your storied career you have never managed to hold one of your top championships for more then two months and have never successfully defended the belt more then once."
"I see you've done your research and you are half right. I do seem to choke and lose the belt when I'm on top but that is because my mind was in a very different set. That was a long time ago and I have already broken my stigma of two title defenses."
Alex now looks confused and begins to look like he is searching trying to think of when Josh made two straight defenses.
"I beat Chris Hart at the last Supercard to retain the belt and well I was technically in a match last week against CK and I still have the belt."
Josh gives a sly smile and Alex laughs a little bit.
"Speaking of last week Josh, you were attacked by the forces of the UWL which very well could have saved that belt for you. Last week you appeared at Final Countdown and were taken out in cuffs and the KoP roster made an example of Tic Tic. Are you now worried the UWL will respond and how it will affect your match?"
"Tonight is not about the UWL and it's not about the issues between the Kingdom and UWL. Tonight in that match it's about Josh Eagles and Christian Kane fighting for the right to represent this company. I am not worried the UWL will interfere, I made my position clear that I will never jump or attack my enemy and I expect as a champion that Tic Tic will be the same. Besides I can't afford my mind to be in any other place."
"Well while it's great that you have a strong opinion of people Josh but CK and Tic Tic last week both proves that they were more then capable of attacking a downed opponent."
Josh laughs and points up to his head.
"As you can see by the wrap on my head and you could likely understand if you saw the wrap around my knee that I am very aware they don't have an issue with it. The fact is that they are those kind of people. I mean look at Christian Kane and everything he has claimed to fight through, steroid abuse, never being able to break through the glass ceiling, always making that one mistake that costs him. He was willing to throw all of that away to take a cheap and easy win. I know what kind of man CK is."
"But as that same man would say good things come to people who take chances and capitalize on situations."
"That's true and I can't deny it. I mean look at my past, I've had my fair share of doing the exact same thing and in the end it could work in his favor. I mean I am beaten, I am battered, and I am not at 100% physically. But emotionally and mentally I am fighting on all new levels, I am 200%. But this can also backfire just like it did with Hart! I mean CK attacked him week in and out and in the end he couldn't finish the job and he lost and that made him look weak. The man couldn't capitalize then and now he hopes to try the same method again. I gave CK his shot and I gave him the chance to prove himself and during that time he lost to me, he used a woman and child to win a match, he needed my help to get through another and then he attacked me from behind and tried to steal the title.
I am sure he sees it all in a different light, I am sure he sees it as him plowing through everyone I set on his path but it's just not true. CK couldn't win any of these matches without help in someway. I did beat everyone put in front of me and I always will. I am up front and I don't back down from a challenge and I won't back down tonight. I will make this backfire on CK again and I will continue to be the person who makes sure everything backfires until he realizes that the way he is going isn't the way to become a champion. CK hasn't earned this belt until he comes through me."
Alex nods clearly deep in thought.
"Well CK has declared himself the Interim Champion and does believe he deserves it."
"Every competitor believes he deserves it. I don't care what CK calls himself because it doesn't mean anything at all. Just because CK has been around for six years and a KoP original doesn't mean he deserves anything. You get what you can earn and in this company your actions and your in ring performance is what gets that done and if you look at everything who is more deserving. When CK can't win, he runs that's what happened when he lost to Chris Hart. He put his tail between his legs and gave up! Cowardness and attacking people doesn't deserve you anything but the losses that get handed to you no matter how good you think you are."
"Well I've talked to CK Josh and we've all seen it. All he cares about is that Valiant Championship, he is just like you in that way and he is hungry."
Josh looks at Alex and his eyes flare in shock.
"You couldn't be farther from the truth Alex. I care about a heck of a lot more then this Championship. I care about the fans, I care about the intergrity of this company and what it stands for. Why do you think I fight so hard week in and week out, why do you think I do what I do? Do you think it's so I can claim I am the best or so that I can rock a shiny piece of bling around on my waist or shoulder? No it because I have respect for what this company and this business has given to me and I try my hardest to give it back! I don't just care about this belt I am not that greedy and I am not that self centered. This belt represents something that CK can never be and that is a champion in more then just the word, but in spirit as well."
Alex drops his notepad and puts his hands up in defense.
"Sorry I didn't mean to offend."
"Don't worry Alex you didn't. I am just trying to drive home the point that the belt and being a champion is much more then what Christian Kane believes it is. It took me a long time to realize just that, six other championships at the top of the company that I failed to hold because I didn't see the belt in the right way. CK is all about himself and that nature is going to cost him the match once again. This bout won't be settled upon what we've both overcome, what we both want, or what the UWL has to say about it. This bout is going to be settled by the two of us in the middle of the ring and the important thing to remember is that CK tends to let his mouth do a lot of talking and eventually I hit the point where my fists and my skills combined with my passion is what does my talking. Tonight in just a few hours ... that will happen again."
"Well thank you Josh, that's more then enough for me to get something up. Good luck tonight."
"Thanks Alex."
Alex gets up and leaves the locker room and leaves Josh to go back to wrap his wrists in preperation for his match, the focus set in deep.
The time for talk was finally done and the eve of Winter Warfare and my match with CK was on the doorstep. I'd talked for a long time about being a champion everyone could respect. I had talked a long time about being someone the Kingdom could look up to and trust and now I had to prove exactly that. Tonight nothing mattered but the fans of the KoP and making sure that I was the best man. Beaten, battered, bruised, and VICTORIOUS is what I would be. Maybe therapy wasn't so bad after all, but this therapy would be a very physical session and would be the one I needed to set me on my path.
A lot of people around me were now worried that my bigger purpose was trying to get back at a company who once turned me away, get back at a company who I had felt disrespected me and they'd find themselves wrong. The UWL wasn't on my mind right now, I couldn't afford it to be. Christian Kane was ready to face me and I was ready to face him and for the first time in a long time I realized that I cared, I had something real to fight for. I had always thought had always felt that I was fighting for something as I had fought my way up to capture the Valiant Championship, but the truth was I didn't. I hadn't given a care about the Championship or winning matches but what it represented, what it stood for.
The Valiant Championship was bigger then just being a champion, it was being the KoP. The Valiant Championship meant the world to me and I had fought for it because I loved the Kingdom and it meant the World to me. My life started and ended with the KoP. This was something that I was seeking,a higher purpose. A doctor had told me that I had sought to get the fear I once instilled back and I felt that it was a bad call ... I didn't look for that and now after time I could realize that. I was looking for respect and I was trying to hard to earn it. Now it was going to come to me and it was going to come to me in the most challenging match I've ever faced in the Kingdom and perhaps ever. This was going to be the most defining moment in my career because it was going to redefine my career. Christian Kane was looking to break through the glass ceiling and I was looking to finally prove that Josh Eagles breaking that same ceiling was not a fluke but it was deserved.
December.19th 2010
Day of Winter Warfare
9:37am Cooksville Diner
The scene opens in a small diner somewhere in Cooksville. Josh Eagles is sitting at one of the tables looking over a menu and across from him is the young waitress who Josh has been trying to win over in recent weeks and the same girl who has brought him to visit a therapist. Josh seems to have decided on something and lowers the menu and smiles at the girl Jenny.
"Jenny I just wanted to really thank you for giving me the chance and coming with me."
"Your welcome Josh, I mean you did offer a fully paid vacation so it was hard to turn down. But remember your promise."
Josh smiles and nods as a waitress comes up and brings them both coffee and they take a moment and place their orders with Josh looking over at the young girl every now and again.
"The deal was we'd talk a little about my past and see if we can find out what maybe causing me some distress but that won't be necessary because I know what it is, or at least I think I do."
Jenny looks at Josh as thought waiting for him to continue but he doesn't continue he just sits and sips his coffee.
"Are you going to share it with me?"
"Sorry I guess it's just kinda hard to say ya know? I mean it's some pretty deep stuff. When Dr. Heinz was talking to me I thought he might be right, I thought I might have been searching to get people to fear me again but I've come to realize that isn't true. I'm searching to be something again because I've been hollow for a long time ... in fact it's pretty much been instinct and driving force that has brought me to the dance. I wanted to be champion and that drove me, I was focused on it but I didn't know why."
"Why then? Stop being cryptic and tell me what you are thinking."
Josh scratches his head and runs a hand through his hair thinking on how to phrase things.
"I've told you that I've been married twice in my young life and both times to the same girl Jeska. But what I haven't told you as that I've had too children and I've lost them both."
Jenny spills the coffee she was trying to drink and she seems certainly shocked by it.
"Wrestling, maybe my attitude is what caused both deaths, well in a way. A couple of years back Jeska was in a car accident and in that accident my two year old son passed away. I wasn't there, I was supposed to be though but I chose to be at the UWL to attack Shawn Stevens and try and send him a message. It was winter and she doesn't like driving long distances and she was and I lost my son because of it."
"Josh that is hardly your fault..."
"Please Jenny just listen. I know it wasn't directly my fault but back then I was ruthless. I took advantage of people, I attacked them and I exposed them when they were week. I was a lot like Christian Kane is now but much less profane and with much more class. But after I lost my son and my wife left me I got cold. I went from ruthless to nearly unstoppable, I wasn't seeking to win I was seeking to hurt people.
Even during the times I was having fun and was a crowd favorite I was just using people to accomplish my own goals. That's how I stayed and then I got Jeska back, we got married once again and things were going well.But wrestling got in the way again because I put her in harms way and let Jack Benevolance punch her in the stomach while she was pregnant and the result of that was a miscarriage and I lost another child before I even had the chance to see them. Plus I was so blinded that I missed that Jeska was just using me, trying to get revenge on me and I lost her again ... it almost killed me. So I swore that the only thing I was going to focus on was my career, I signed my company over and I left everything behind and I focused just on wrestling."
Jenny shakes her head and tries to get her composure with all of the new information and Josh just stares into his coffee.
"Josh you were grieving, something like that is natural you needed to focus on something."
"No I needed to find something. I lost myself Jenny, I lost the meaning of everything that I did. I wasn't sure what the point was anymore. I lived a violent life and lost everything I cared about yet I still kept fighting and it was puzzling. But I fought not because I was distant or because I was full of anger but because I needed to find myself once again. The Kingdom has given that to me."
"What do you mean? The Valiant Title, being the number one guy?"
Josh smiles and looks up from his cup of coffee and his eyes are once again sparkling with life, sparkling in a way we've never seen them sparkle before.
"You could say that. I never realized it before when I was a World Champion all the other times that I have been but being a champion means so much more then just being the best there is at the time. I mean it's a flawed term because so many people become champions, so many people hold belts they lose them and they win them. Sometimes people hold them because they need to be the center of attention, they need to be focused on. Some win and fight for greed, everyone has their own reason but in the end it comes down to the same thing ... they believe it makes them the best."
"But you don't believe it does?"
"No, how can I? Look at the people in the KoP! Robbie Venom, Shawn Stevens, Rich Hamilton for example; I've beaten them and they've beaten me. Christian Kane tonight could beat me, nobody knows better then people like him and myself that one mistake can cost you everything. No holding the title doesn't make you the best and I don't want to be the best but I want to be the best I can be."
Josh and Jenny pause as the food is brought to the table and laid down in front of them.
"Isn't being the best you can be and being the best pretty much the same goal. I mean to you if you are the best you can be won't you think you are the best?"
"No, I can see how you could think that but it's not. Wrestling has kept me going through everything I've been through in life all of the loss the ups and the downs because I love it. I feel like I have meaning in my life and that's what this belt means. It means that the Kingdom looks at me to represent it, looks at me to be it's leader and looks to me to be an example of what we are all about."
"You can be that without the belt as well."
"I can you are right and no matter the result tonight I will be that. But I want to represent the Kingdom, I want to represent everything that wrestling stands for. I want to make people smile and I want to make people proud. Yes before you say it; it does sound like I want it to be all about me and why not? This is my career, this is my life and I want to make it mean something. I don't want my career to be the average career I want it to be better then that, beyond that and now I've found that passion, I've found that desire. Being the Champion is being the champion of the people, I'm the one who makes people smile, the one who makes just that small change in a persons day and that makes the work worth it."
Josh stops and uses his fork to move some of the eggs on his plate around but Jenny just stares at him.
"That's why you want to beat Kane so bad. It's not because you want revenge or it's not because you are angry but because he isn't the type who will step up like you have? He isn't the one who will represent the company in the proper way."
"Exactly. Kane is a capable wrestler and has been fighting for a long time and really wants to win this belt. He feels that because he is a KoP original that he deserves it but the fact is what he has done or where he has been or how long he has been doing it has nothing to do with it. CK has shown that he can't represent a company and that he is a coward. CK isn't cut out to be a champion and he doesn't deserve to be a champion."
Josh begins to now dig into his breakfast and the anger we saw before is now placed by a sadness, a sadness that CK instills inside of him. The scene fades out with the two of them continuing to discuss things and eating breakfast.
December.19th/2011
Day of Winter Warfare
2:47pm Cooksville Community Center Parking Lot
The scene opens up again but this time it is just outside of the Cookville Community Center where there is a crowd of people surrounding Josh Eagles. People hoping to capture a glimpse of their favorite star before the show later tonight.
"Okay calm down everyone! As I said I would love to talk for a bit but tonight is a big night for me and for all of you because I promise you are going to be in for a great show and I have a great treat for you all tonight. But right now I've got to get ready for my match and I've got to focus."
A man from behind them all speaks up.
"Why bother you know that Christian Kane is going to beat you tonight, that he is going to whallop you into next week."
A couple of sighs come out from the crowd and even a boo and a cheer or two but Josh seems determined to find the man.
"Who said that, come on step forward?"
A man in his mid twenties, a sleezy looking goatee and greasy looking black hair steps forward.
"I said it, why you want to make something of it?"
Josh smiles at the arrogance and aggressiveness of the fan.
"No I just want to prove a point and implant a thought in some people. Why do you cheer Christian Kane? The guy has shown he has no respect for woman, he has little respect for this company or any of you. Aggressive people like you are the kind of people who cheer and respect him. I hear the rumors that everyone is proud he was able to overcome a drug problem just like Kurt Noble was but the fact is he shouldn't have been there in the first place."
"So what I should cheer for you instead? Everyone loves a good dose of something now and again, plus CK is the one I see getting laid all day."
"You can cheer for whomever you like, I would never presume to get people to cheer for me. I fight for you if you boo me or cheer me that won't make a difference because if you react I've done my job. But I always show everyone respect ... CK is a man who a couple weeks ago had to use a mother and her child as a shield to win a match, who last week attacked me after a match and tried to steal a championship. That is a selfish act because it robs a match from all of you."
The man runs a hand over his goatee and gives an arrogant smile.
"Well he entertains me and a lot of other people."
"Well there is no doubt that CK's personality is larger then life and his talent can match it. But at the end of the day when all is said and done CK is in it for himself. He has done everything to make him feel better about him. I want you to think of that because if CK beats me tonight then it'll be the last time you see anyone in this company care about you."
Josh smiles and gives a small two finger salute to the fans and walks into the Community Center.
Dec.19th/2011
Day of Winter Warfare
5:12pm - Cooksville Community Center Locker Room
The scene opens up once again and this time we are in the back part of the Cooksville Community Center in the area where they have the KoP locker rooms set up. Josh is in the locker room which for the moment happens to be empty. You can see bags and stuff that belongs to other members of the roster laying around but only Josh is in the room. He is sitting on a bench, his gear is on and he is wrapping tape slowly around his wrists. The door opens and Josh looks up and sees Alex Avice.
"Hey Alex, how are you?"
Alex nods at Josh and sits down across from him.
"I'm good, was just wondering if I could ask some questions and get some information to put up a little article or interview on the website?"
"Can't see why not."
Alex nods clearly as solemn as Josh is knowing that tonight was one of the biggest nights of his career and he pulls out his notebook.
"Tonight you are going one on one with Christian Kane on the final Supercard of 2010. How are you feeling right now Josh?"
Josh looks up smiling at Alex, that knowing smile he can somehow always give.
"How am I supposed to feel? I suppose you'd like to hear confident and prepared but feeling nervous or something along those lines but the fact is that I don't. I feel happy and ambitous. This match is one of the biggest of my career and a chance to finally live up to everything I said I can be. I have everything to lose in this match and I am simply ready to put all of it on the line."
Alex scribbles some stuff down in his notepad and looks back up.
"Well you'd figure that nervous would be a factor Josh. In your storied career you have never managed to hold one of your top championships for more then two months and have never successfully defended the belt more then once."
"I see you've done your research and you are half right. I do seem to choke and lose the belt when I'm on top but that is because my mind was in a very different set. That was a long time ago and I have already broken my stigma of two title defenses."
Alex now looks confused and begins to look like he is searching trying to think of when Josh made two straight defenses.
"I beat Chris Hart at the last Supercard to retain the belt and well I was technically in a match last week against CK and I still have the belt."
Josh gives a sly smile and Alex laughs a little bit.
"Speaking of last week Josh, you were attacked by the forces of the UWL which very well could have saved that belt for you. Last week you appeared at Final Countdown and were taken out in cuffs and the KoP roster made an example of Tic Tic. Are you now worried the UWL will respond and how it will affect your match?"
"Tonight is not about the UWL and it's not about the issues between the Kingdom and UWL. Tonight in that match it's about Josh Eagles and Christian Kane fighting for the right to represent this company. I am not worried the UWL will interfere, I made my position clear that I will never jump or attack my enemy and I expect as a champion that Tic Tic will be the same. Besides I can't afford my mind to be in any other place."
"Well while it's great that you have a strong opinion of people Josh but CK and Tic Tic last week both proves that they were more then capable of attacking a downed opponent."
Josh laughs and points up to his head.
"As you can see by the wrap on my head and you could likely understand if you saw the wrap around my knee that I am very aware they don't have an issue with it. The fact is that they are those kind of people. I mean look at Christian Kane and everything he has claimed to fight through, steroid abuse, never being able to break through the glass ceiling, always making that one mistake that costs him. He was willing to throw all of that away to take a cheap and easy win. I know what kind of man CK is."
"But as that same man would say good things come to people who take chances and capitalize on situations."
"That's true and I can't deny it. I mean look at my past, I've had my fair share of doing the exact same thing and in the end it could work in his favor. I mean I am beaten, I am battered, and I am not at 100% physically. But emotionally and mentally I am fighting on all new levels, I am 200%. But this can also backfire just like it did with Hart! I mean CK attacked him week in and out and in the end he couldn't finish the job and he lost and that made him look weak. The man couldn't capitalize then and now he hopes to try the same method again. I gave CK his shot and I gave him the chance to prove himself and during that time he lost to me, he used a woman and child to win a match, he needed my help to get through another and then he attacked me from behind and tried to steal the title.
I am sure he sees it all in a different light, I am sure he sees it as him plowing through everyone I set on his path but it's just not true. CK couldn't win any of these matches without help in someway. I did beat everyone put in front of me and I always will. I am up front and I don't back down from a challenge and I won't back down tonight. I will make this backfire on CK again and I will continue to be the person who makes sure everything backfires until he realizes that the way he is going isn't the way to become a champion. CK hasn't earned this belt until he comes through me."
Alex nods clearly deep in thought.
"Well CK has declared himself the Interim Champion and does believe he deserves it."
"Every competitor believes he deserves it. I don't care what CK calls himself because it doesn't mean anything at all. Just because CK has been around for six years and a KoP original doesn't mean he deserves anything. You get what you can earn and in this company your actions and your in ring performance is what gets that done and if you look at everything who is more deserving. When CK can't win, he runs that's what happened when he lost to Chris Hart. He put his tail between his legs and gave up! Cowardness and attacking people doesn't deserve you anything but the losses that get handed to you no matter how good you think you are."
"Well I've talked to CK Josh and we've all seen it. All he cares about is that Valiant Championship, he is just like you in that way and he is hungry."
Josh looks at Alex and his eyes flare in shock.
"You couldn't be farther from the truth Alex. I care about a heck of a lot more then this Championship. I care about the fans, I care about the intergrity of this company and what it stands for. Why do you think I fight so hard week in and week out, why do you think I do what I do? Do you think it's so I can claim I am the best or so that I can rock a shiny piece of bling around on my waist or shoulder? No it because I have respect for what this company and this business has given to me and I try my hardest to give it back! I don't just care about this belt I am not that greedy and I am not that self centered. This belt represents something that CK can never be and that is a champion in more then just the word, but in spirit as well."
Alex drops his notepad and puts his hands up in defense.
"Sorry I didn't mean to offend."
"Don't worry Alex you didn't. I am just trying to drive home the point that the belt and being a champion is much more then what Christian Kane believes it is. It took me a long time to realize just that, six other championships at the top of the company that I failed to hold because I didn't see the belt in the right way. CK is all about himself and that nature is going to cost him the match once again. This bout won't be settled upon what we've both overcome, what we both want, or what the UWL has to say about it. This bout is going to be settled by the two of us in the middle of the ring and the important thing to remember is that CK tends to let his mouth do a lot of talking and eventually I hit the point where my fists and my skills combined with my passion is what does my talking. Tonight in just a few hours ... that will happen again."
"Well thank you Josh, that's more then enough for me to get something up. Good luck tonight."
"Thanks Alex."
Alex gets up and leaves the locker room and leaves Josh to go back to wrap his wrists in preperation for his match, the focus set in deep.
The time for talk was finally done and the eve of Winter Warfare and my match with CK was on the doorstep. I'd talked for a long time about being a champion everyone could respect. I had talked a long time about being someone the Kingdom could look up to and trust and now I had to prove exactly that. Tonight nothing mattered but the fans of the KoP and making sure that I was the best man. Beaten, battered, bruised, and VICTORIOUS is what I would be. Maybe therapy wasn't so bad after all, but this therapy would be a very physical session and would be the one I needed to set me on my path.
