Post by cyborg878 on Jan 25, 2021 23:12:44 GMT -5
I find myself in quite a peculiar situation. When I came to Alpha Pro Wrestling I never thought I'd find myself showing any level of real concern for any of my "co-workers". Sure I didn't want anything to happen to Lex or Smith, but that was mostly just out of self preservation... better to have them in one piece because it benefitted me and my goals.
America Jackson has proven to be the kryptonite to my cold, unforgiving wall of "don't give a fuck". A man who I once thought was the unintelligent southern hick sidekick to Zaigon Carter... he's so much more. What was it that Shrek said? Right he's an onion... he has layers. Sure he's a bit hard headed, but there's substance beyond his ego and thicc ass.
And it due to that substance which has snuck through all of my time tested defenses that I now find myself doing something I never thought I would ever be willing doing. It's time that I find god.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Damon Warrens pulls up on his motorcycle into the driveway of a quaint church in San Diego. On the outside are a few stained glass windows that catch the sunlight perfectly, but they pale in importance and beauty to the one thing that catches the Nitemare's attention more than anything: a large flag pole upon the top of which flies proudly a rainbow flag. He smiles inwardly before turning off his vehicle and making sure it is locked before slowly journeying to the church's front door. At the entrance he pauses a moment before entering. Having never been a particularly religious man himself and having also experienced a lot of anti-gay hatred wrapped in a coating of Christianity walking through the doors of a church has become one of the only experiences to still give him anxiety.
Upon finally walking through the doors he already finds things contrary to his expectations of what a "church" is. Once inside he finds a small kitchen like area set up with various instant coffees, cappuccino cups, tea bags, and hot chocolate mixes. A pair of young men behind the counter greet Damon warmly and offer to make any of the selection with the Nitemare choosing an orange pekoe tea. He thanks the men profusely when they hand him the tea before adding some sugar and milk and heading into where the service will take place.
Upon walking through a set of double doors Damon meets yet another surprise. This nave is not filled with pews as expected, but plenty of round tables encircled with chairs. Damon sits at an empty table near the back of the room. He watches as dozens of church goers trickle in and walk past his empty table, filling up the front. After a few more minutes a middle aged woman and presumably her teenaged son pause to look back at Damon as they pass. After a moment of contemplation they decide to join his table. They introduce themselves as Marianne and Avery before delving into some small talk with Damon. After a few minutes of "how's your week been"s and "what brought you to church" the pastor walks up to a podium at the front of the room and the chatter falls to a hush.
The pastor is a woman, probably in her fifties, with short grey hair. She is dressed not in any fancy robes that Damon would have expected to be typical pastoral garb, but instead a simple dress pant and shirt combination. She introduces herself to the new folks as Pastor Katherine. She explains that the topic of the day revolves around navigating religion and self acceptance. The theme resonates perfectly with Damon and his goal for the visit.
In the hour of service that follows Katherine speaks vulnerably about her own journey of acceptance as a lesbian before the conversation moves to focus more on what the Bible says and how it can be interpreted in regards to accepting oneself or others. Interspersed are a few brief discussion periods with the people at the table. At which point Damon learns that Marianne and Katherine are married and are Avery's mothers. They learn from Damon about his family as well as why he showed up to church today. Marianne promises that she will bring Katherine over to talk to Damon after the service.
Once service ends Marianne makes good on her promise and brings Katherine over. The Pastor smiles and warmly greets Damon as Marianne and Avery leave to give them privacy as well as speak with other members of the church.
Katherine: Damon it's a pleasure to meet you. Now my wife told me that you were looking for some advice for a friend. What's the situation your friend finds himself in.
Damon: So recently he came out to me.. let me know he was in a relationship with a man. I'm one of the only people who knows. He's a good old Texas boy so from my understanding growing up his father was... very religious and intolerant.
Katherine: Has your friend expressed any concerns about his family knowing?
Damon: Not yet no. He's not exactly an open book, but I worry that he could find himself battling that sort of religion, family, and cultural values versus personal identity and self worth battle. I'm not well versed in religion... I've admittedly had pretty awful experiences with it being used against me... so I don't have a huge knowledge base for how I could provide support in this sort of aspect if he were to ever ask for it.
Katherine: I really appreciate your concern for your friend. When it comes to God and being queer obviously there's a lot of debate on whether God is accepting of queer people or not. I think for a lot of folks that their first instinct when thinking about it is to jump right to Leviticus 18:22 -
Damon: Thou shalt not lie with mankind; as with womankind : it is an abomination.
Katherine: Correct. Whenever anyone who is Christian and also anti-queer talks about God and queerness... that's their go to line. "See God hates fags". We've all heard it or seen it at least once right? The problem I find with that besides the obvious homophobia... is that in order to accept that line as the word of God you have to ignore and discredit several other passages. I mean for instance Matthew 22:37-40: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets". Those two commandments are a love of God and a love of your neighbor. The most important thing to God is love Him and to love others. We can't do that if we are condemning people for being gay or being trans, can we?
Damon nods and takes out a small notepad and a pen. He quickly scribbles down "Matthew 22:37-40" on the pad before returning his attention to Katherine.
Katherine: There's also of course Psalm 139: 113-14: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” God did not make a mistake in making gay people. As His creations we are perfect and fully intended to be who we are so long as we love each other as I said earlier. When people try to use the Bible to hate another person I remind them of
John 8:7 “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” We are not perfect. We have all sinned. We have no place to say who God does and does not love... He has already told us.
Damon finishes copying down jot notes on what Katherine has told him before returning the pen and pad to his pocket.
Damon: Thank you so much for your wisdom Pastor Katherine. I don't know that I will need this to support my friend, but it's good to have it ready incase I ever do.
Katherine and Damon finish their conversation and the Devil Himself exits the church with a newfound perspective and a hopefulness for the future.
------------------------------------------------------
I have found God APW. Ironic isn't it? "The Devil Himself" Damon Warrens finding God?
We live in a strange world don't we?
Now no, I am by no means of the imagination diving into Christianity. However Recent events made me realize the power of belief systems. For me I choose to believe in myself. Others choose to believe in something beyond though and that's fine.
Well it's fine only so long as they do not use their belief systems as a weapon.
It's fine only so long as they don't victimize people for not believing in their god or following their religious doctrine.
It's fine only so long as they don't act like one Brother Zeke.
Zeke you're quite the character aren't you?
Son of a Preacher Man.
Not just any preacher man though... one from one of the most vile groups in the world...
The Westboro Baptist Church.
It seems Brother Zeke that you were raised on a diet of hatred and intolerance.
It makes sense that you've turned out the way you have.
Twisted.
Hateful.
Delusional.
Evil.
That's right I Damon Warrens...the man known as the Devil Himself is calling you EVIL.
Quite ironic isn't it?
A man who has made a name for himself as a Villain...
As a Nitemare....
As a Devil....
And he is the one calling a God worshipping Christian evil.
I know how this battle looks.
Heaven versus Hell.
God versus the Devil.
Good versus Evil.
The problem with the advertisements though is they've labelled the wrong entity as the villain of the story.
I mean look at our actions in APW.
I have admittedly been recently named APW's Villain of the Year, but realistically I haven't really been that bad of a guy. With the exception of some baseless rumours started that I sliced open the Sitch's head with a razor blade... I really haven't been even remotely the Villain I once was. I fought against Jason Ryan who as we've seen is just dark and twisted. Corey Bull has probably murderer and eaten several people. I overcame those psychopaths. I'm the hero of this story Zeke.
You on the other hand Zeke... you haven't exactly been an angel have you. Weeks into your debut in APW and you attacked a referee....and might I add...still lost the match. You allowed Corey Bull to stretch the rules in his match against me. Very unjust refereeing. Then you and the rest of Monsters Inc attacked me four on one. But then... last Metal.. you attacked my partner... you attacked me... and you harmed my beloved.
Who among us is truly the Devil Zeke?
That's the twisted part of this all though Zeke... despite all the evidence to the contrary... you still think you're the good guy here don't you? You still think that your self righteous quest to "cleanse APW of its sins" is well intentioned... for the greater good. And yet all you've preached in this company comes from a place of ignorance... of bigotry... of hate.
What's funny to me however is how dominant you think you've been. I mean didn't you tell Lilianna Rose that you were one of the HOTTEST things in APW? That's just so far from the truth on all counts. Out of nine matches you've had in APW.... you've lost five of them. This great dominant cleanser of sins who will reign over APW hasn't even beaten fifty percent of the opponents placed in front of him.
You want to talk about dominance? You should look at what I've done in this company. Twenty one matches in APW. Seventeen victories. I've only lost four matches.... two of those my partners lost for us. The only singles match I've ever lost? It took an entire faction to take me down. I'm one of only two men in this company's history to have held my precious World Championship more than once. I have the two longest reigns for a World Champion in APW. I'm one of only two men to hold a singles championship and a tag team championship simultaneously in APW.
I am dominance personified in this company. I am the bar everyone else measures up to. And I never needed a God to get me here.
So what are you going to do false prophet? Are you going to promise to spread the word of defeat to me? Like you promised my tag team partner months ago? A promise that you couldn't deliver on of course. What are you going to do to topple a real God in this business? Call back Corey Bull, Daniel Christopher, and the Bane? Hope that your ragtag group from the island of misfit toys will help you usurp the king? Are you going to grab whatever weaponry you can get your hands on to try and pummel me into unconsciousness?
I can tell you what you won't be doing Zeke. You won't be winning. You will do as almost everyone in APW has had to do before you... fall victim to the Devil Himself. I am an unstoppable entity here in APW. No desperate attempts to get around that fact will help you. And quite frankly isn't cheating a sin Zeke? I'm pretty sure one of the Ten Commandments was "Thou Shalt Not Use a Steel Chair Unless in a No DQ Match". I think it was the one right after "Thou Shalt Not Steal".
When Heaven and Hell finally meet in the ring... after a month of attacks... the world will see that the Devil isn't as evil as he's made out to be, but he's far deadlier than they could imagine. You will do what you do best and lay on the mat looking up towards your God. You will tell yourself "it doesn't matter that I lost because at least I spread my message".
You are destined to fail your God again. You are destined to fall back down the card to lose to lesser champions. Everyone has a part to play Zeke. I told you already you were a placeholder. You're a distraction. You're a toy to play with and discard.
Can I promise that I will decimate Brother Zeke? Can I truly guarantee that I will continue my second record setting reign as Alpha Pro Wrestling's World Champion? Can I have certainty that I will walk away from this battle proving that I was right all along? That Zeke was far too weak to kill the Devil? I can. In fact...
I SWEAR TO GOD.
America Jackson has proven to be the kryptonite to my cold, unforgiving wall of "don't give a fuck". A man who I once thought was the unintelligent southern hick sidekick to Zaigon Carter... he's so much more. What was it that Shrek said? Right he's an onion... he has layers. Sure he's a bit hard headed, but there's substance beyond his ego and thicc ass.
And it due to that substance which has snuck through all of my time tested defenses that I now find myself doing something I never thought I would ever be willing doing. It's time that I find god.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Damon Warrens pulls up on his motorcycle into the driveway of a quaint church in San Diego. On the outside are a few stained glass windows that catch the sunlight perfectly, but they pale in importance and beauty to the one thing that catches the Nitemare's attention more than anything: a large flag pole upon the top of which flies proudly a rainbow flag. He smiles inwardly before turning off his vehicle and making sure it is locked before slowly journeying to the church's front door. At the entrance he pauses a moment before entering. Having never been a particularly religious man himself and having also experienced a lot of anti-gay hatred wrapped in a coating of Christianity walking through the doors of a church has become one of the only experiences to still give him anxiety.
Upon finally walking through the doors he already finds things contrary to his expectations of what a "church" is. Once inside he finds a small kitchen like area set up with various instant coffees, cappuccino cups, tea bags, and hot chocolate mixes. A pair of young men behind the counter greet Damon warmly and offer to make any of the selection with the Nitemare choosing an orange pekoe tea. He thanks the men profusely when they hand him the tea before adding some sugar and milk and heading into where the service will take place.
Upon walking through a set of double doors Damon meets yet another surprise. This nave is not filled with pews as expected, but plenty of round tables encircled with chairs. Damon sits at an empty table near the back of the room. He watches as dozens of church goers trickle in and walk past his empty table, filling up the front. After a few more minutes a middle aged woman and presumably her teenaged son pause to look back at Damon as they pass. After a moment of contemplation they decide to join his table. They introduce themselves as Marianne and Avery before delving into some small talk with Damon. After a few minutes of "how's your week been"s and "what brought you to church" the pastor walks up to a podium at the front of the room and the chatter falls to a hush.
The pastor is a woman, probably in her fifties, with short grey hair. She is dressed not in any fancy robes that Damon would have expected to be typical pastoral garb, but instead a simple dress pant and shirt combination. She introduces herself to the new folks as Pastor Katherine. She explains that the topic of the day revolves around navigating religion and self acceptance. The theme resonates perfectly with Damon and his goal for the visit.
In the hour of service that follows Katherine speaks vulnerably about her own journey of acceptance as a lesbian before the conversation moves to focus more on what the Bible says and how it can be interpreted in regards to accepting oneself or others. Interspersed are a few brief discussion periods with the people at the table. At which point Damon learns that Marianne and Katherine are married and are Avery's mothers. They learn from Damon about his family as well as why he showed up to church today. Marianne promises that she will bring Katherine over to talk to Damon after the service.
Once service ends Marianne makes good on her promise and brings Katherine over. The Pastor smiles and warmly greets Damon as Marianne and Avery leave to give them privacy as well as speak with other members of the church.
Katherine: Damon it's a pleasure to meet you. Now my wife told me that you were looking for some advice for a friend. What's the situation your friend finds himself in.
Damon: So recently he came out to me.. let me know he was in a relationship with a man. I'm one of the only people who knows. He's a good old Texas boy so from my understanding growing up his father was... very religious and intolerant.
Katherine: Has your friend expressed any concerns about his family knowing?
Damon: Not yet no. He's not exactly an open book, but I worry that he could find himself battling that sort of religion, family, and cultural values versus personal identity and self worth battle. I'm not well versed in religion... I've admittedly had pretty awful experiences with it being used against me... so I don't have a huge knowledge base for how I could provide support in this sort of aspect if he were to ever ask for it.
Katherine: I really appreciate your concern for your friend. When it comes to God and being queer obviously there's a lot of debate on whether God is accepting of queer people or not. I think for a lot of folks that their first instinct when thinking about it is to jump right to Leviticus 18:22 -
Damon: Thou shalt not lie with mankind; as with womankind : it is an abomination.
Katherine: Correct. Whenever anyone who is Christian and also anti-queer talks about God and queerness... that's their go to line. "See God hates fags". We've all heard it or seen it at least once right? The problem I find with that besides the obvious homophobia... is that in order to accept that line as the word of God you have to ignore and discredit several other passages. I mean for instance Matthew 22:37-40: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets". Those two commandments are a love of God and a love of your neighbor. The most important thing to God is love Him and to love others. We can't do that if we are condemning people for being gay or being trans, can we?
Damon nods and takes out a small notepad and a pen. He quickly scribbles down "Matthew 22:37-40" on the pad before returning his attention to Katherine.
Katherine: There's also of course Psalm 139: 113-14: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” God did not make a mistake in making gay people. As His creations we are perfect and fully intended to be who we are so long as we love each other as I said earlier. When people try to use the Bible to hate another person I remind them of
John 8:7 “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” We are not perfect. We have all sinned. We have no place to say who God does and does not love... He has already told us.
Damon finishes copying down jot notes on what Katherine has told him before returning the pen and pad to his pocket.
Damon: Thank you so much for your wisdom Pastor Katherine. I don't know that I will need this to support my friend, but it's good to have it ready incase I ever do.
Katherine and Damon finish their conversation and the Devil Himself exits the church with a newfound perspective and a hopefulness for the future.
------------------------------------------------------
I have found God APW. Ironic isn't it? "The Devil Himself" Damon Warrens finding God?
We live in a strange world don't we?
Now no, I am by no means of the imagination diving into Christianity. However Recent events made me realize the power of belief systems. For me I choose to believe in myself. Others choose to believe in something beyond though and that's fine.
Well it's fine only so long as they do not use their belief systems as a weapon.
It's fine only so long as they don't victimize people for not believing in their god or following their religious doctrine.
It's fine only so long as they don't act like one Brother Zeke.
Zeke you're quite the character aren't you?
Son of a Preacher Man.
Not just any preacher man though... one from one of the most vile groups in the world...
The Westboro Baptist Church.
It seems Brother Zeke that you were raised on a diet of hatred and intolerance.
It makes sense that you've turned out the way you have.
Twisted.
Hateful.
Delusional.
Evil.
That's right I Damon Warrens...the man known as the Devil Himself is calling you EVIL.
Quite ironic isn't it?
A man who has made a name for himself as a Villain...
As a Nitemare....
As a Devil....
And he is the one calling a God worshipping Christian evil.
I know how this battle looks.
Heaven versus Hell.
God versus the Devil.
Good versus Evil.
The problem with the advertisements though is they've labelled the wrong entity as the villain of the story.
I mean look at our actions in APW.
I have admittedly been recently named APW's Villain of the Year, but realistically I haven't really been that bad of a guy. With the exception of some baseless rumours started that I sliced open the Sitch's head with a razor blade... I really haven't been even remotely the Villain I once was. I fought against Jason Ryan who as we've seen is just dark and twisted. Corey Bull has probably murderer and eaten several people. I overcame those psychopaths. I'm the hero of this story Zeke.
You on the other hand Zeke... you haven't exactly been an angel have you. Weeks into your debut in APW and you attacked a referee....and might I add...still lost the match. You allowed Corey Bull to stretch the rules in his match against me. Very unjust refereeing. Then you and the rest of Monsters Inc attacked me four on one. But then... last Metal.. you attacked my partner... you attacked me... and you harmed my beloved.
Who among us is truly the Devil Zeke?
That's the twisted part of this all though Zeke... despite all the evidence to the contrary... you still think you're the good guy here don't you? You still think that your self righteous quest to "cleanse APW of its sins" is well intentioned... for the greater good. And yet all you've preached in this company comes from a place of ignorance... of bigotry... of hate.
What's funny to me however is how dominant you think you've been. I mean didn't you tell Lilianna Rose that you were one of the HOTTEST things in APW? That's just so far from the truth on all counts. Out of nine matches you've had in APW.... you've lost five of them. This great dominant cleanser of sins who will reign over APW hasn't even beaten fifty percent of the opponents placed in front of him.
You want to talk about dominance? You should look at what I've done in this company. Twenty one matches in APW. Seventeen victories. I've only lost four matches.... two of those my partners lost for us. The only singles match I've ever lost? It took an entire faction to take me down. I'm one of only two men in this company's history to have held my precious World Championship more than once. I have the two longest reigns for a World Champion in APW. I'm one of only two men to hold a singles championship and a tag team championship simultaneously in APW.
I am dominance personified in this company. I am the bar everyone else measures up to. And I never needed a God to get me here.
So what are you going to do false prophet? Are you going to promise to spread the word of defeat to me? Like you promised my tag team partner months ago? A promise that you couldn't deliver on of course. What are you going to do to topple a real God in this business? Call back Corey Bull, Daniel Christopher, and the Bane? Hope that your ragtag group from the island of misfit toys will help you usurp the king? Are you going to grab whatever weaponry you can get your hands on to try and pummel me into unconsciousness?
I can tell you what you won't be doing Zeke. You won't be winning. You will do as almost everyone in APW has had to do before you... fall victim to the Devil Himself. I am an unstoppable entity here in APW. No desperate attempts to get around that fact will help you. And quite frankly isn't cheating a sin Zeke? I'm pretty sure one of the Ten Commandments was "Thou Shalt Not Use a Steel Chair Unless in a No DQ Match". I think it was the one right after "Thou Shalt Not Steal".
When Heaven and Hell finally meet in the ring... after a month of attacks... the world will see that the Devil isn't as evil as he's made out to be, but he's far deadlier than they could imagine. You will do what you do best and lay on the mat looking up towards your God. You will tell yourself "it doesn't matter that I lost because at least I spread my message".
You are destined to fail your God again. You are destined to fall back down the card to lose to lesser champions. Everyone has a part to play Zeke. I told you already you were a placeholder. You're a distraction. You're a toy to play with and discard.
Can I promise that I will decimate Brother Zeke? Can I truly guarantee that I will continue my second record setting reign as Alpha Pro Wrestling's World Champion? Can I have certainty that I will walk away from this battle proving that I was right all along? That Zeke was far too weak to kill the Devil? I can. In fact...
I SWEAR TO GOD.
