Post by america on Nov 25, 2020 0:12:15 GMT -5
Again.
Again America Jackson was a double champion.
Again he had achieved something no one else in this company had managed, holding tag gold while also being the American Champion, fighting alongside the World Heavyweight Champion in an unlikely pairing that would now immediately be known as the most dominant force in the company. Even when he was fighting alongside Zaigon, they’d never managed to secure all the top titles this way. Now he had finally accomplished his goal with a man he couldn’t stand after being cast away from the man who saved him.
It was fitting that the words tasted like ashes in his mouth.
Above all else, America Jackson was a competitor. That was the binding agent that put him and Damon Warrens on the same page. When the bell rang, they had trusted that the other would fight with all they had because that was who they truly were beneath it all. Yet Bonnie Blue had to make her grand showing and take all the fight out of it. The new tag team champions, a grand accomplishment, unearned.
It disgusted him.
Meanwhile his championship needed defending again. Another pretender to the throne. America welcomed the fight. Before everything grew larger than life he was a fighter first and foremost. It felt comfortable. It was his element. Yet another unearned challenger irritated him further. He began to wonder if he really would be champion forever, for it seemed like the only man who might be able to beat him was the only man they wouldn’t let him face.
Again, America felt adrift.
For the first time he didn’t have anything to fight for. The money he’d made from Zaigon Carter had allowed him all he needed to get the farm up and running again. It was making more than enough money for his mother’s needs to be attended. Even if it weren’t, a champion’s salary beyond that had left him with more money than he’d ever had in his life. He’d spent so long as a prizefighter, scrambling to make the next bill, to find the fight that would pay for it. He had spent his whole adult life in desperation. Being free of it left him…uneasy.
Further he had been freed of Zaigon Carter’s crusade. While there were a good many things he had agreed with Mr. Carter about, the fact was that without the shadow of his childhood reigning over him America wasn’t sure what he believed in. He’d been raised to believe in God and be faithful to him. He’d held that close right up to the past few years. But as he realized that the people who raised him were not who he’d thought they were, the thought had begun to come to him that the values they taught him were just as flawed. The time he spent away from them at college had shaped him somewhat before his life changed so suddenly that he never had time to see what path that would take. But now…
America Jackson was free.
Freedom was a prison.
Freedom left him having to choose directions not out of any sort of coercion or consequence, but truly decide his path forward. Freedom meant defining himself without the input of anyone around him. Freedom left him to build his own relationships and decide his own fate. Freedom was impossible and stifling and yet also left him seeking something like he was holding a breath.
In all this uncertainty, there was only one thing America was sure of.
He would remain the American Champion.
Whatever may come, he would defend his title.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The disrespect in this company is astronomical.
First, my client becomes the first man EVER to have held the APW World, American, and Tag Team Titles as well as the first to hold the American and Tag Titles simultaneously! While this victory was a certainty for two competitors at the level of America Jackson and Damon Warrens, little drama queen Bonnie Blue needed someone to pay attention to her so instead of glory this record setting run must start in infamy.
THEN my client made a very reasonable request. After nearly six months as the American Champion with a total of ONE singles loss to his name in that time, still having yet to be pinned or submitted in that ring, and with the champion’s rematch clause laid before them…the managers of this company refused him the title match that he deserves. Historically some blame could fall on the champions themselves, but Damon Warrens has been fighting for the same thing so with champion and challenger in agreement, surely the result will be…
Oh, one of Jubei’s old buddies getting a title shot on debut while Damon gets the big reveal of what will doubtlessly be some reject from another company shined up and ready to walk straight into a title match because the only people who don’t get title shots around here are the ones who have earned them!
The fact is that since his debut in this industry a mere six months ago, America Jackson has become THE defining wrestler in this company. He has surpassed every record possible for the American Title, become the first man to hold the World and American Titles simultaneously by defeating every other reigning champion at that time in his second match of the night, and has now become the first to hold the Tag Titles and American Titles at the same time thus making him the first Triple Crown Champion in APW history. When he walks into Vendetta it will be day 149 of his title reign, a 56 day increase over the previous record and the longest singles title reign in company history. With an overall record of 15-3, he is without a doubt THE man to beat in this company. Hell, he was getting all the main events over the World Champ on TV right up until management decided to drop him down the card, surely not at all a punishment for speaking against them.
Derek Wellings, you were a champion once. Surely you must understand how obscene this is. While I can’t imagine how low the intelligence could be of anyone who would name a company New Blood Pro Wrestling Wrestling because they apparently get so erect at Japanese culture that they don’t understand the origins of borrow words, I have to believe that they wouldn’t give someone walking in the door a shot at the top champion because the boss used to ride with him. Surely the company you’re so proud of representing was not run by and for cowards.
If you had any dignity, you would forfeit this match and walk right to the back of the line until you’d built a reputation here in APW on the back of the work you’re doing in this company, right now. But apparently you and John Blade and anyone else Jubei might recognize from memories of the past flowing through his diseased brain can walk right into title matches because being the best is secondary to being the most connected. Of course, if Jubei was less of a filthy coward, maybe he wouldn’t have had to fake his own death to ease the pressure of being a champion.
Don’t worry Jubei. All the top titles are in the hands of men who won’t crumble under the pressure.
That’s just the thing. America has gone from a rookie to a pillar of this company in less time than it takes most men to get off ring duty. You all keep thinking that his moment will end and then another one comes along just to cement him as greater and greater. You can keep throwing him these challenges, hoping he’ll fail but the fact remains that if America Jackson had been World Champion of New Blood Weeaboo Wrestling, it might not have come crumbling down around him.
Derek Wellings is the dead champion of a dead company. It’s an insult to drag him out here as the leftovers of someone else’s career and think that it earns him anything. But since all you seem to be providing America with is undeserving challengers, what option is there but to keep being the greatest champion he can be? So when this is done and America marches into month seven as American Champion setting ANOTHER record as the longest title reign of ANY champion in this company’s history…
Then we will have another talk about when his title match with Damon Warrens will be scheduled.
Respect.
That’s a big thing with me Derek.
See, Damon Warrens and I don’t like each other much. We’re built different from each other. Come from different places in life that make us see the world around us differently. We found enough commonality to come together and win the tag team titles just like we’ll find it again when it comes time to defend them. We recognize each other as champions. That’s why no matter what we’re putting on the line, we gotta mix it up. Between us, we need to know who’s better.
I respect your history.
I’ve only been in this business a short time.
It’s been nothing but fighting.
Fighting to get to the top.
Fighting to stay there.
Fighting to be the best.
I don’t know the places you walked before, but I do know that to come out on top of them you must have fought with damn near everything you had time and time again. I respect that. Truly I do. I’m sure you’ve got all sorts of tricks in your bag ready to get dusted off against this young punk coming out here to tell you that this ain’t your ring anymore. Though it sounds nasty, I say it with all the respect in the world.
Thing is.
I don’t respect handouts.
You walked on in like you owned the place because you knew a guy and all of a sudden you got the shot. I’ve been working this place just like you worked all yours back in the day for six long months and you just walk on in and step to the front of the line. I don’t know how your companies worked. I’m apparently unsure of how this one works with all the shots going out like candy lately. But no.
I do not respect a man who won’t earn his shot.
That reflects everything I never want to be. A man who relies on the distant past to earn me things in the present. It’s not in my nature. I get handed something and it feels wrong. When I got awarded the shot at the American Title so early in my career, I didn’t think I deserved it. Even when I beat the champ it felt wrong. Wasn’t until I had locked in defense after defense that it started to come round. Now I’ve got the same thing to do with this tag title…fight and fight until it goes clean.
You have been given a chance you do not deserve.
You’re old.
You’re busted.
You’re relying on who you were to shape who you are.
You think Jubei giving you a title shot means you’re ready to be a champ again.
You’re not.
We’re going to step into that ring and I’m gonna show you what a champion looks like.
When it’s done.
When my hand is in the air.
You’ll know exactly who I am.
And the only thing I’ll leave you able to feel is…
Respect.
Again America Jackson was a double champion.
Again he had achieved something no one else in this company had managed, holding tag gold while also being the American Champion, fighting alongside the World Heavyweight Champion in an unlikely pairing that would now immediately be known as the most dominant force in the company. Even when he was fighting alongside Zaigon, they’d never managed to secure all the top titles this way. Now he had finally accomplished his goal with a man he couldn’t stand after being cast away from the man who saved him.
It was fitting that the words tasted like ashes in his mouth.
Above all else, America Jackson was a competitor. That was the binding agent that put him and Damon Warrens on the same page. When the bell rang, they had trusted that the other would fight with all they had because that was who they truly were beneath it all. Yet Bonnie Blue had to make her grand showing and take all the fight out of it. The new tag team champions, a grand accomplishment, unearned.
It disgusted him.
Meanwhile his championship needed defending again. Another pretender to the throne. America welcomed the fight. Before everything grew larger than life he was a fighter first and foremost. It felt comfortable. It was his element. Yet another unearned challenger irritated him further. He began to wonder if he really would be champion forever, for it seemed like the only man who might be able to beat him was the only man they wouldn’t let him face.
Again, America felt adrift.
For the first time he didn’t have anything to fight for. The money he’d made from Zaigon Carter had allowed him all he needed to get the farm up and running again. It was making more than enough money for his mother’s needs to be attended. Even if it weren’t, a champion’s salary beyond that had left him with more money than he’d ever had in his life. He’d spent so long as a prizefighter, scrambling to make the next bill, to find the fight that would pay for it. He had spent his whole adult life in desperation. Being free of it left him…uneasy.
Further he had been freed of Zaigon Carter’s crusade. While there were a good many things he had agreed with Mr. Carter about, the fact was that without the shadow of his childhood reigning over him America wasn’t sure what he believed in. He’d been raised to believe in God and be faithful to him. He’d held that close right up to the past few years. But as he realized that the people who raised him were not who he’d thought they were, the thought had begun to come to him that the values they taught him were just as flawed. The time he spent away from them at college had shaped him somewhat before his life changed so suddenly that he never had time to see what path that would take. But now…
America Jackson was free.
Freedom was a prison.
Freedom left him having to choose directions not out of any sort of coercion or consequence, but truly decide his path forward. Freedom meant defining himself without the input of anyone around him. Freedom left him to build his own relationships and decide his own fate. Freedom was impossible and stifling and yet also left him seeking something like he was holding a breath.
In all this uncertainty, there was only one thing America was sure of.
He would remain the American Champion.
Whatever may come, he would defend his title.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The disrespect in this company is astronomical.
First, my client becomes the first man EVER to have held the APW World, American, and Tag Team Titles as well as the first to hold the American and Tag Titles simultaneously! While this victory was a certainty for two competitors at the level of America Jackson and Damon Warrens, little drama queen Bonnie Blue needed someone to pay attention to her so instead of glory this record setting run must start in infamy.
THEN my client made a very reasonable request. After nearly six months as the American Champion with a total of ONE singles loss to his name in that time, still having yet to be pinned or submitted in that ring, and with the champion’s rematch clause laid before them…the managers of this company refused him the title match that he deserves. Historically some blame could fall on the champions themselves, but Damon Warrens has been fighting for the same thing so with champion and challenger in agreement, surely the result will be…
Oh, one of Jubei’s old buddies getting a title shot on debut while Damon gets the big reveal of what will doubtlessly be some reject from another company shined up and ready to walk straight into a title match because the only people who don’t get title shots around here are the ones who have earned them!
The fact is that since his debut in this industry a mere six months ago, America Jackson has become THE defining wrestler in this company. He has surpassed every record possible for the American Title, become the first man to hold the World and American Titles simultaneously by defeating every other reigning champion at that time in his second match of the night, and has now become the first to hold the Tag Titles and American Titles at the same time thus making him the first Triple Crown Champion in APW history. When he walks into Vendetta it will be day 149 of his title reign, a 56 day increase over the previous record and the longest singles title reign in company history. With an overall record of 15-3, he is without a doubt THE man to beat in this company. Hell, he was getting all the main events over the World Champ on TV right up until management decided to drop him down the card, surely not at all a punishment for speaking against them.
Derek Wellings, you were a champion once. Surely you must understand how obscene this is. While I can’t imagine how low the intelligence could be of anyone who would name a company New Blood Pro Wrestling Wrestling because they apparently get so erect at Japanese culture that they don’t understand the origins of borrow words, I have to believe that they wouldn’t give someone walking in the door a shot at the top champion because the boss used to ride with him. Surely the company you’re so proud of representing was not run by and for cowards.
If you had any dignity, you would forfeit this match and walk right to the back of the line until you’d built a reputation here in APW on the back of the work you’re doing in this company, right now. But apparently you and John Blade and anyone else Jubei might recognize from memories of the past flowing through his diseased brain can walk right into title matches because being the best is secondary to being the most connected. Of course, if Jubei was less of a filthy coward, maybe he wouldn’t have had to fake his own death to ease the pressure of being a champion.
Don’t worry Jubei. All the top titles are in the hands of men who won’t crumble under the pressure.
That’s just the thing. America has gone from a rookie to a pillar of this company in less time than it takes most men to get off ring duty. You all keep thinking that his moment will end and then another one comes along just to cement him as greater and greater. You can keep throwing him these challenges, hoping he’ll fail but the fact remains that if America Jackson had been World Champion of New Blood Weeaboo Wrestling, it might not have come crumbling down around him.
Derek Wellings is the dead champion of a dead company. It’s an insult to drag him out here as the leftovers of someone else’s career and think that it earns him anything. But since all you seem to be providing America with is undeserving challengers, what option is there but to keep being the greatest champion he can be? So when this is done and America marches into month seven as American Champion setting ANOTHER record as the longest title reign of ANY champion in this company’s history…
Then we will have another talk about when his title match with Damon Warrens will be scheduled.
Respect.
That’s a big thing with me Derek.
See, Damon Warrens and I don’t like each other much. We’re built different from each other. Come from different places in life that make us see the world around us differently. We found enough commonality to come together and win the tag team titles just like we’ll find it again when it comes time to defend them. We recognize each other as champions. That’s why no matter what we’re putting on the line, we gotta mix it up. Between us, we need to know who’s better.
I respect your history.
I’ve only been in this business a short time.
It’s been nothing but fighting.
Fighting to get to the top.
Fighting to stay there.
Fighting to be the best.
I don’t know the places you walked before, but I do know that to come out on top of them you must have fought with damn near everything you had time and time again. I respect that. Truly I do. I’m sure you’ve got all sorts of tricks in your bag ready to get dusted off against this young punk coming out here to tell you that this ain’t your ring anymore. Though it sounds nasty, I say it with all the respect in the world.
Thing is.
I don’t respect handouts.
You walked on in like you owned the place because you knew a guy and all of a sudden you got the shot. I’ve been working this place just like you worked all yours back in the day for six long months and you just walk on in and step to the front of the line. I don’t know how your companies worked. I’m apparently unsure of how this one works with all the shots going out like candy lately. But no.
I do not respect a man who won’t earn his shot.
That reflects everything I never want to be. A man who relies on the distant past to earn me things in the present. It’s not in my nature. I get handed something and it feels wrong. When I got awarded the shot at the American Title so early in my career, I didn’t think I deserved it. Even when I beat the champ it felt wrong. Wasn’t until I had locked in defense after defense that it started to come round. Now I’ve got the same thing to do with this tag title…fight and fight until it goes clean.
You have been given a chance you do not deserve.
You’re old.
You’re busted.
You’re relying on who you were to shape who you are.
You think Jubei giving you a title shot means you’re ready to be a champ again.
You’re not.
We’re going to step into that ring and I’m gonna show you what a champion looks like.
When it’s done.
When my hand is in the air.
You’ll know exactly who I am.
And the only thing I’ll leave you able to feel is…
Respect.
