Post by Josh Eagles on Apr 15, 2011 18:41:34 GMT -5
The year was 2004, the month was March when I stepped into the ring for the very first time. Pure Soul Wrestling, a small Ontario based company with no more then ten people in it. It had a small but dedicated fan base who enjoyed coming out to the weekly shows and watching us put it all on the line. It was a lot of fun, I was trained there and Josh Eagles was born there. It felt so long ago, over seven years ago I stepped into my first ring and I started my training. I wasn't like most people, I wasn't some 16 year old boy or any prodigy of any sort. I was 19 years old, I was in University and I was working on my own company. As a matter of fact I wasn't even that big ... I remembered distinctly the laughter I got the first day I showed up.
The rest of my training group thought I was joking and I even admitted to myself that I may have been. Maybe it was just a crazy pipe dream but that pipe dream turned into something more. The PSW sparked a passion inside me and I came to life. I finished school and launched my company and almost immediately after the PSW closed I was in the United Kingdom winning titles in More Power Wrestling. It was hard to think of everything way back then when I was a greenhorn just breaking into the business and where I was now.
I sat in my home in Ontario trying to relax before I set out to take the Kingdom by storm and in the last show ever try to defend the Valiant Championship against a more then tough opponent. But my eyes lingered on the PSW Soul Championship and the MPW United Kingdom Championship. Those two belts were my first two singles championships and both fell in my first year in the business and I was the one holding them when both companies closed. I had wondered if it was my fault, but finances were never really a person's fault I suppose.
"Sometimes I wonder if things could go back to being as simple as they were back then."
I had been around a long time and I had seen wrestling evolve from a time when people talked a little smack and duked it out in the ring to epic feuds, high lighted matches, gimmicks, and the so called storylines. I had lived through wrestling being a sport to a sport entertainment, as a fact I was a part of that change. My eyes fell on the UWL Heritage and UWL World Championships ... well my replicas to keep when I won them. Those belts are the belts that defined me and my entire career.
The Universal Wrestling League ... 2005 I was announced the first ever Heritage Champion and that is when my torrid began and where my career started to roller coaster, it was the start of the journey that brought me to where I am today. I was standing on the brink of writing the final page in the chapter of Josh Eagles. I stared around the entire room and belts from the UWL, UWC, POW, MPW, PSW, Lion's Road and many other promotions stared back at me. This entire room one could say was what I was all about, could tell the story of my career but I didn't feel that way.
This was the rewards of my career, this is what was presented to me. But my career was about so much more. It was about striving to be the best, it was about trying to become more then what I ever was before. I had one more thing I wanted to add and it was the actual Kingdom of Pride Valiant Championship to my collection. It wasn't to add gold to the room, it was to bring an end to my career, it was to say that I finally made my career mean something.
"Seven years I fought for what I thought was championships and fame and it never occurred to me that I wanted to be something more then all of that. The Kingdom of Pride has given me so much, it has redefined what everyone thought I stood for ..."
"Talking to yourself again?"
I turn around and my eyes lock with Jenny and I smile. I still didn't know what I found in this girl or what was going to come of it I just knew that she cared about me and liked to be around me. I think she wanted me to make this last act, to finish this last match and hang up my boots. She was scared, worried that I was going to get myself to hurt.
"Well you know I am getting senile in my old age."
"27 is hardly old there Mr. Eagles, I think your body just feels old cause of all the beatings."
I run my hand through my hair and smile. It was true, for months my body had been racked with aches and pains and the doctor had told me that if I didn't stop soon that I was going to do damage to my body I couldn't heal from. I wasn't ready for that and I had done a lot in my time.
"That's why this will be my last match."
I watched as Jenny's face went from shock to delight. She could barely contain her excitement as she clearly thought that I would sign somewhere else, perhaps back with the UWL or start over again in the EUW.
"You aren't messing with me?"
"My time here in the Kingdom is something I can be proud of. Since day one I have fought with everything that I had, I have been the go to guy around here. I have never given up, I have never stopped fighting and I've been rewarded for it. I feel now is the right note to go out on."
Like a flash of lightning she was on me and her lips locked to mine for the first time. I closed my eyes and embraced the kiss that I had been dreaming about for weeks now.
"Thank you Josh."
All I could do was smile and give a near child like smile and nod.
"Well it just makes sense. Eddie Nash is the perfect guy to finish my career on. The match is the right kind of match, no grudge, no gimmicks. It is just two guys who have fought long and hard to make their lives mean something and want to leave it all on the ring."
"I'm happy you feel that way! I just hope that ..."
"Shhh, I won't. I don't want to talk this week about me getting hurt. I know Nash is a decently big guy. He's 6'2" and 245lbs and that's nearly 50lbs on me and a good 2", but he is out to win not hurt me. He's going to do whatever it takes to put me down I am sure ... but I don't think he is coming to head hunt me, so let's just drop that talk."
I put my hand on Jenny's face and she looks worried but I put my arm around her and we walk from the room.
"Besides that, Nash has never managed to beat me in one on one action. He tore through that tourney sometime back, he tore through this roster but like normal I seem to be his kryptonite."
"I know that you know better then that."
"Well of course I do. I just like to say it you know, build my own confidence. Trust me I remember a couple months back when I stepped into that ring with Nash and the way he brought it to me. I don't think he ever did get over the fact I was the first person in this company to beat him. He's a tough customer, he hits hard, doesn't make too many mistakes, and doesn't let up on you."
In truth out of all my time in the Kingdom he was one of my best match ups. Nash and I blew the roof off of the arena when we went at it and never got a chance to do so again. It felt so right giving him the final shot at the Valiant Championship.
"Well you know now he is going to be harder then he was before. He's gotten better and he has something to fight for."
"Oh trust me I have no doubt that Eddie Nash wants to make something out of his time here in the Kingdom of Pride. He wants to be the Valiant Champion and he isn't going to give that dream up without one helluva a fight. But I'm going to fight harder! I've been part of this company and been fighting for longer for the right to be called the champion. I've given everything I had left to the ring of the Kingdom and I have enough in me to give it up one more time."
It just meant I was going to have to stick by my guns. I wasn't going to sit back and let Nash bring it to me ... I was going to be firing on all cylinders this time around. I was going to make sure he knew he was in the ring with me.
"I've had a long career Jenny. It's hard to think that my legacy is coming to an end."
Jenny stops me and she turns to me and looks at me.
"If you give it your all in that ring Josh, give everything that you've been giving to this company every other night then your legacy will never end. Everything is what you make it. Show the world the reason you are the champion and why you have fought so hard. Nash maybe bigger, but you know you are faster and more technically sound."
"That's debatable these days. Nash isn't your typical brawler ya know? Nash knows how to tie it up himself, he knows how to pick apart a body and wear you down. We are quite a like the two of us, full of heart, history, knowledge, and drive. The reason I am going to win is because this is the end for me. I don't want to go out on a sour note ... Nash is going to continue on and he is going to get better. Mark my words that after our match he'll be headed to UWL or EUW or some place like that and he WILL become a World Champion."
"But that isn't going to compare to how many times you've already done it!"
I didn't ever know what it was about Jenny but she knew exactly what to say to make things feel lighter and more attainable. I knew this was just stage one, the mental preparation.
"We need to find those tapes of Nash. The more I think about it the more driven I am! I know that normally I am not one for that style of preparation, but I think for this match both my opponent and the fans deserve it. I am going to pull out all the stops, reach deep into my playbook and pull out some stuff that the fans haven't seen in quite sometime. I'll figure out away around Nash be it in the air or on the ground. I am just not losing."
"Well to be fair, Nash can't match your heart Josh! No matter what you believe there is no way I'll believe after everything that you've been through here in the Kingdom that he can match your heart! You're something like 24-8 since coming to the Kingdom, you've won the Valiant Championship twice! You've taken beatings from the best this company could throw at you, beaten the impossible odds, and beaten everyone that's been put in your way!"
I remembered all the way back to when I started. I remembered the Gauntlet Match, I remember fighting hard to earn my shot, then beating Chris Hart to become champion. I remembered defending in a ladder match, I recalled Christian Kane spoiling my victory. I remembered fighting through Tic Tic and having him cost me the belt and then managing to overcome two young stars and win a cage match and then constantly defend my title and health. I had been here a long time and had fought for every inch of ground I had gained.
"It's like I said, it doesn't matter how large or skilled Nash is. I'll take it too him and I'll find a way to beat him and to keep the championship, to retire as champion. I want to be remembered and no matter how much I respect Nash, I won't be letting him stand in the way of that."
As we are walking a clock catches my attention.
"We have to go or we'll miss the plain."
Jenny looked at me and smiled and ran off to collect our stuff as I stood there reflecting on my time in the Kingdom. Nash deserved a lot in his life, but this is one thing I couldn't allow him to have. No matter what it took I was going to go out on top, I was giving more then I had ever given ... one last match for the fans and for me.
The rest of my training group thought I was joking and I even admitted to myself that I may have been. Maybe it was just a crazy pipe dream but that pipe dream turned into something more. The PSW sparked a passion inside me and I came to life. I finished school and launched my company and almost immediately after the PSW closed I was in the United Kingdom winning titles in More Power Wrestling. It was hard to think of everything way back then when I was a greenhorn just breaking into the business and where I was now.
I sat in my home in Ontario trying to relax before I set out to take the Kingdom by storm and in the last show ever try to defend the Valiant Championship against a more then tough opponent. But my eyes lingered on the PSW Soul Championship and the MPW United Kingdom Championship. Those two belts were my first two singles championships and both fell in my first year in the business and I was the one holding them when both companies closed. I had wondered if it was my fault, but finances were never really a person's fault I suppose.
"Sometimes I wonder if things could go back to being as simple as they were back then."
I had been around a long time and I had seen wrestling evolve from a time when people talked a little smack and duked it out in the ring to epic feuds, high lighted matches, gimmicks, and the so called storylines. I had lived through wrestling being a sport to a sport entertainment, as a fact I was a part of that change. My eyes fell on the UWL Heritage and UWL World Championships ... well my replicas to keep when I won them. Those belts are the belts that defined me and my entire career.
The Universal Wrestling League ... 2005 I was announced the first ever Heritage Champion and that is when my torrid began and where my career started to roller coaster, it was the start of the journey that brought me to where I am today. I was standing on the brink of writing the final page in the chapter of Josh Eagles. I stared around the entire room and belts from the UWL, UWC, POW, MPW, PSW, Lion's Road and many other promotions stared back at me. This entire room one could say was what I was all about, could tell the story of my career but I didn't feel that way.
This was the rewards of my career, this is what was presented to me. But my career was about so much more. It was about striving to be the best, it was about trying to become more then what I ever was before. I had one more thing I wanted to add and it was the actual Kingdom of Pride Valiant Championship to my collection. It wasn't to add gold to the room, it was to bring an end to my career, it was to say that I finally made my career mean something.
"Seven years I fought for what I thought was championships and fame and it never occurred to me that I wanted to be something more then all of that. The Kingdom of Pride has given me so much, it has redefined what everyone thought I stood for ..."
"Talking to yourself again?"
I turn around and my eyes lock with Jenny and I smile. I still didn't know what I found in this girl or what was going to come of it I just knew that she cared about me and liked to be around me. I think she wanted me to make this last act, to finish this last match and hang up my boots. She was scared, worried that I was going to get myself to hurt.
"Well you know I am getting senile in my old age."
"27 is hardly old there Mr. Eagles, I think your body just feels old cause of all the beatings."
I run my hand through my hair and smile. It was true, for months my body had been racked with aches and pains and the doctor had told me that if I didn't stop soon that I was going to do damage to my body I couldn't heal from. I wasn't ready for that and I had done a lot in my time.
"That's why this will be my last match."
I watched as Jenny's face went from shock to delight. She could barely contain her excitement as she clearly thought that I would sign somewhere else, perhaps back with the UWL or start over again in the EUW.
"You aren't messing with me?"
"My time here in the Kingdom is something I can be proud of. Since day one I have fought with everything that I had, I have been the go to guy around here. I have never given up, I have never stopped fighting and I've been rewarded for it. I feel now is the right note to go out on."
Like a flash of lightning she was on me and her lips locked to mine for the first time. I closed my eyes and embraced the kiss that I had been dreaming about for weeks now.
"Thank you Josh."
All I could do was smile and give a near child like smile and nod.
"Well it just makes sense. Eddie Nash is the perfect guy to finish my career on. The match is the right kind of match, no grudge, no gimmicks. It is just two guys who have fought long and hard to make their lives mean something and want to leave it all on the ring."
"I'm happy you feel that way! I just hope that ..."
"Shhh, I won't. I don't want to talk this week about me getting hurt. I know Nash is a decently big guy. He's 6'2" and 245lbs and that's nearly 50lbs on me and a good 2", but he is out to win not hurt me. He's going to do whatever it takes to put me down I am sure ... but I don't think he is coming to head hunt me, so let's just drop that talk."
I put my hand on Jenny's face and she looks worried but I put my arm around her and we walk from the room.
"Besides that, Nash has never managed to beat me in one on one action. He tore through that tourney sometime back, he tore through this roster but like normal I seem to be his kryptonite."
"I know that you know better then that."
"Well of course I do. I just like to say it you know, build my own confidence. Trust me I remember a couple months back when I stepped into that ring with Nash and the way he brought it to me. I don't think he ever did get over the fact I was the first person in this company to beat him. He's a tough customer, he hits hard, doesn't make too many mistakes, and doesn't let up on you."
In truth out of all my time in the Kingdom he was one of my best match ups. Nash and I blew the roof off of the arena when we went at it and never got a chance to do so again. It felt so right giving him the final shot at the Valiant Championship.
"Well you know now he is going to be harder then he was before. He's gotten better and he has something to fight for."
"Oh trust me I have no doubt that Eddie Nash wants to make something out of his time here in the Kingdom of Pride. He wants to be the Valiant Champion and he isn't going to give that dream up without one helluva a fight. But I'm going to fight harder! I've been part of this company and been fighting for longer for the right to be called the champion. I've given everything I had left to the ring of the Kingdom and I have enough in me to give it up one more time."
It just meant I was going to have to stick by my guns. I wasn't going to sit back and let Nash bring it to me ... I was going to be firing on all cylinders this time around. I was going to make sure he knew he was in the ring with me.
"I've had a long career Jenny. It's hard to think that my legacy is coming to an end."
Jenny stops me and she turns to me and looks at me.
"If you give it your all in that ring Josh, give everything that you've been giving to this company every other night then your legacy will never end. Everything is what you make it. Show the world the reason you are the champion and why you have fought so hard. Nash maybe bigger, but you know you are faster and more technically sound."
"That's debatable these days. Nash isn't your typical brawler ya know? Nash knows how to tie it up himself, he knows how to pick apart a body and wear you down. We are quite a like the two of us, full of heart, history, knowledge, and drive. The reason I am going to win is because this is the end for me. I don't want to go out on a sour note ... Nash is going to continue on and he is going to get better. Mark my words that after our match he'll be headed to UWL or EUW or some place like that and he WILL become a World Champion."
"But that isn't going to compare to how many times you've already done it!"
I didn't ever know what it was about Jenny but she knew exactly what to say to make things feel lighter and more attainable. I knew this was just stage one, the mental preparation.
"We need to find those tapes of Nash. The more I think about it the more driven I am! I know that normally I am not one for that style of preparation, but I think for this match both my opponent and the fans deserve it. I am going to pull out all the stops, reach deep into my playbook and pull out some stuff that the fans haven't seen in quite sometime. I'll figure out away around Nash be it in the air or on the ground. I am just not losing."
"Well to be fair, Nash can't match your heart Josh! No matter what you believe there is no way I'll believe after everything that you've been through here in the Kingdom that he can match your heart! You're something like 24-8 since coming to the Kingdom, you've won the Valiant Championship twice! You've taken beatings from the best this company could throw at you, beaten the impossible odds, and beaten everyone that's been put in your way!"
I remembered all the way back to when I started. I remembered the Gauntlet Match, I remember fighting hard to earn my shot, then beating Chris Hart to become champion. I remembered defending in a ladder match, I recalled Christian Kane spoiling my victory. I remembered fighting through Tic Tic and having him cost me the belt and then managing to overcome two young stars and win a cage match and then constantly defend my title and health. I had been here a long time and had fought for every inch of ground I had gained.
"It's like I said, it doesn't matter how large or skilled Nash is. I'll take it too him and I'll find a way to beat him and to keep the championship, to retire as champion. I want to be remembered and no matter how much I respect Nash, I won't be letting him stand in the way of that."
As we are walking a clock catches my attention.
"We have to go or we'll miss the plain."
Jenny looked at me and smiled and ran off to collect our stuff as I stood there reflecting on my time in the Kingdom. Nash deserved a lot in his life, but this is one thing I couldn't allow him to have. No matter what it took I was going to go out on top, I was giving more then I had ever given ... one last match for the fans and for me.
