Sad Hour

[Eddie Nash]

A little bit of sunshine... a little bit of booze...
A little bit of me... and a little bit of you...
A little bit country... a little bit of blues...
A little slice of Heaven and and a little piece of you...

Alcohaulin' Ass... Pour Another Drink in my Glass
Alcohaulin' Ass... Alcohauuuuuuuuuuul... in' Ass...

Alcohaulin' Ass - Hellyeah

An empty room in the South Knoxville Community Centre, shrouded in darkness. The walls were bare, the carpet shredded and the ceiling cracked. This was a room that was not used frequently and would unlikely be used again. It was Eddie Nash's locker room for the evening. With a turn of the key and a twist of the handle Eddie Nash himself entered a locker room as a Kingdom of Pride wrestler for the very last time. Although it wasn't the same building, the room was almost identical to the locker room he claimed home back in Cookeville. Bare, drab, barren, just the way he liked it. Taking off his aviator sunglasses, he pocketed them and flicked the switch completely flooding the light with room. Abandoned rooms usually have lightings that struggle to flicker on through use but this one apparently had barely been touched.

Tonight was the night. Pride, Valiance and Honour II. Having worked out all Saturday and enjoyed a lazy Sunday after a busy schedule of saving the life of someone trying to gauge out his windpipe with a switch blade and completely annihilating himself in the gym, exerting himself to the point of fatigue just so he could well and truly have the physical edge over his opponent Eddie now had to win the psychological war with himself. It wasn't one that would be easy. Eddie had tried to convince himself that no matter what happened, he would win but then he couldn't promise that, not to his fans and certainly not to himself. Eddie Nash's dichotomy with Josh Eagles is one that he never failed to raise in discussions.

Could hard work and determination overcome natural excellence and talent, or would even with enough effort the simple genetic factor of inheriting superior genes and birthrights for greatness be automatically enough to quash Nash's futile argument with himself? As Nash pondered this he slowly started to strip down. Boots first, followed by jacket, socks, jeans and shirt soon to follow followed finally by the drop of underwear leaving him completely bare. His body, almost never seen bare was a tapestry of tattoos, scars and scrapes upon a canvas of sheer muscle. Although Nash always wrestled in combat pants, it appeared his legs were far stronger than they lead people to believe.

”It's been five months... since I first came to the Kingdom of Pride. Four months, and yet it seems like a lifetime because the truth is, it HAS been a lifetime. I know I talk a lot about how I changed my life for the greater good and while yes, that is a true thing to say the reason my Kingdom of Pride career feels like a lifetime is because it IS my reborn life as a man of the people and not a man for myself. I've only been truly living five whole months and now with my new life I'm getting my one and only once in a lifetime opportunity, my chance to even the score against Josh Eagles.” said Nash, looking straight ahead. His voice seemed a little choked up, intensity pouring out his skin. His fists were clenched and his jaw was locked.

”Josh Eagles by far is the greatest natural born pure athlete to ever step into a Kingdom of Pride ring. I am the toughest fighter ever to step into a Pride ring and the thing that bugs me more than anything else about Josh is that even with all the toughness in the world, all the ability to take a beating that I have I still can't beat him. I outlasted him in the massacre that was the ten man tag match and picked up my second pinfall loss to Johnny Noble, a man I've beaten before. A man who only pinned me via virtue of a three on one assault. But when the lights were on bright and everyone was watching I had my one opportunity to beat Josh Eagles and I failed... My undefeated streak was gone in the instance forever...” said Nash, pausing as he looked his body up and down for all the hideous scars that had afflicted him over the years.

Mostly from bike wrecks, there was the odd exception to the rule. Stab wounds, burns from petrol bombs and a single gunshot wound in his stomach, an occasion which he narrowly survived. He used to take great pride in his war scars. They were trophies of all the vicious atrocities he'd committed upon other people, innocent or not and showed that he was willing to sacrifice it all for the good of The Sons. For the brotherhood. Now he was ashamed, that such a violent criminal mind once possessed his body. The proud ego that he once used to carry was now replaced with a humble yet courageous sense of modesty.

”These scars... they adorn my body like paintings in an art gallery. There ain't nothing fancy about these wounds though. The scars on the top of my head are from when I came off my bike mid-chase and went head first through a glass window, with a helmet and was subsequently prosecuted for drunk driving and criminal damage. I was nineteen years old and I came within inches of dying. Did I care? No. That little circle on my stomach is where I was shot, for the first time and the last. I got it from breaking into a family home and attacking a man's wife. Countless scars telling countless different tales... but there's one more...” said Eddie, before raising his chin up high. Though there's no visible wounds, only his masculine chin protruding out towards the camera.

”This is the last wound... When Josh Eagles hit me with the Impact Asylum he did more than just beat me, he dislocated my jaw. I continued to wrestle through it and I've since recovered but the chips in the bone are still there, and the clicking I hear when I yawn is forever a reminder of how Eagles bested me. However, there is still time. More scars will be made, more injuries, more pain and more suffering. In my final match I'm tapping into the one resource that I've never had to use in Pride. The will to be utterly ruthless at all costs. Josh Eagles, you have injured my body and you have done even greater damage to my mind but the battle is not over... In this, the final chapter of Pride I will give you, my wolfpack and everyone watching one last interpretation of my old mantra. In this world... you can either ride or get rolled on and tonight we will truly see if Josh Eagles will go out riding or simply crash and burn...” concluded Nash, dropping the catchphrase.

Nash then unzipped a bag and pulled out black cargo pants, his bandoliers and bandanas and quickly assembled his outfit for competing in the ring later tonight. It was time. It was finally time. The final battle was upon us and there was no more fitting way to end it than with two of the biggest stars colliding one on one the way God intended. Fully dressed and ready to go, Nash slowly made his way towards the door taking one look back at the locker room that he'd laced up his boots in countless times. He could already hear the people cheering him on his mind and the thought of what he was about to endure brought not just a smile... but a tiny glistening tear in the corner of his eye as he realized what he was leaving behind. Only two words could describe Nash's thoughts...

”Show Time...” whispered Nash before shutting the locker room door behind him for the very last time. Pride was well and truly on the line, the stakes could not be higher. Eddie Nash, the challenger, Josh Eagles, the champion in an epic collisions. The old saying goes that when the villains are gone, the heroes vie for supremacy. There would be no more heroes, no more villains. Just an epic war, two men with mutual respect putting themselves and the audience through a psychological and physical drama that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. All this in the name of the Holy Grail, Kingdom of Pride's Valiant Championship.

Thank You.

Fade...