Whichever Road You Took
Dec 27, 2016 20:56:32 GMT -5
Post by The Mason on Dec 27, 2016 20:56:32 GMT -5
December 23, 2016
Ocean City, MD
I told myself I wasn’t going to watch it again but I did. I found myself sitting awake in the dark kitchen of the Ocean City condo, phone gripped in my hands, watching the Red Carpet Rumble all over again. At first I’d tried to convince myself that I wasn’t looking for that one specific moment but I soon accepted that I was lying to myself.
I paused, every time, right at the moment where Avaset and I pushed ourselves to our feet, looking right at one another other from across the ring. I took a drink from my wine glass, making a conscious effort to not bring it down harder than the time before it with each sip. I would hit Play and watch as the two of us traded punches before falling away from each other. I would charge at Avaset and sacrifice myself to take her out of the Rumble. And at first it was satisfying. Then it devolved into amusing. Then troubling.
By the beginning of the third glass, it felt frustrating.
”Fuuuuuck…”
I scrubbed forward to the end of the video, watching with a sour taste in my mouth as Cyncity dumped Tillman over the ropes during the struggle with Gaines. No matter how low I turned the volume, the boos were impossible to ignore. They were loud back then, even as I sat in the back, and they were loud now coming from the speakers of an iPhone. I watched as the streamers fell. I watched as Cyncity gladly accepted the championship she told everybody she would secure. The moment felt so much farther away now than it ever had before.
I took another sip, bringing a swift end to glass number three.
And I replayed the video, just one last time.
December 27, 2016
Los Angeles, CA
”The whole thing could’ve been executed a little better.”
We don’t see Jenny, though we hear her clearly.
”I had a personal score to settle with Ava and it got in the way of things. I couldn’t see it at the time. When you’re stuck in those moments it’s like, you can’t see anyone else… everything gets cloudy… and you make mistakes, like I did, costing myself an opportunity at the Paramount Championship. When the night was over, like, yeah, I felt good about myself at someone else’s expense but I still didn’t have anything to show for it.
Years from now, people still won’t remember it. There was no impact there.
So I thought, Keegan, maybe things would start to change with you. No one had heard from you since you teamed up with Ethan Thompson-- which was maybe less successful than your old team with the Baroness, but I shouldn’t judge-- then you made a comeback at the Rumble. And it looked really good. Obviously I’d already goofed and I wasn’t there to see it in person but you dominated everybody. You laid out any and every wrestler in sight…
...but then you didn’t actually accomplish anything. You got thrown out right next to Mercy. And I guess you could turn a blind eye to it and look at it like an isolated incident. Like, there were so many factors in that match and who knows what you were doing for that month where no one heard from you. No one’s business, right? Maybe there was some ring rust. Or worse, maybe you weren’t there, mentally. I totally get that. Trust me.
But no. Um. It definitely wasn’t a fluke. I looked back at everything that’s happened since you showed up in 3GW and you told us, hard quote ‘anything can happen’ but literally nothing happened. Nothing ever happened.
And… gahhh… sir, that is a painful reminder of the road I could be heading down right now. I mean, I’m not saying I’m the most awesome thing this side of Hollywood or anything but I don’t want all of this to end up like it’s ending for you. You were the last APEX Tag Team Champion in the LDFC and I can’t take that away from you. When you were with the Crimson Baroness, or even with Prince MacRear you meant something. You might’ve been something big. But now you’re everything I’m trying to not become.
I don’t know what kind of impact defeating you will have. I don’t know where this leaves me heading into 2017 but I know, at least, it’s not whatever road you turned down to get into Hollywood.
It's a start.”
Ocean City, MD
I told myself I wasn’t going to watch it again but I did. I found myself sitting awake in the dark kitchen of the Ocean City condo, phone gripped in my hands, watching the Red Carpet Rumble all over again. At first I’d tried to convince myself that I wasn’t looking for that one specific moment but I soon accepted that I was lying to myself.
I paused, every time, right at the moment where Avaset and I pushed ourselves to our feet, looking right at one another other from across the ring. I took a drink from my wine glass, making a conscious effort to not bring it down harder than the time before it with each sip. I would hit Play and watch as the two of us traded punches before falling away from each other. I would charge at Avaset and sacrifice myself to take her out of the Rumble. And at first it was satisfying. Then it devolved into amusing. Then troubling.
By the beginning of the third glass, it felt frustrating.
”Fuuuuuck…”
I scrubbed forward to the end of the video, watching with a sour taste in my mouth as Cyncity dumped Tillman over the ropes during the struggle with Gaines. No matter how low I turned the volume, the boos were impossible to ignore. They were loud back then, even as I sat in the back, and they were loud now coming from the speakers of an iPhone. I watched as the streamers fell. I watched as Cyncity gladly accepted the championship she told everybody she would secure. The moment felt so much farther away now than it ever had before.
I took another sip, bringing a swift end to glass number three.
And I replayed the video, just one last time.
December 27, 2016
Los Angeles, CA
”The whole thing could’ve been executed a little better.”
We don’t see Jenny, though we hear her clearly.
”I had a personal score to settle with Ava and it got in the way of things. I couldn’t see it at the time. When you’re stuck in those moments it’s like, you can’t see anyone else… everything gets cloudy… and you make mistakes, like I did, costing myself an opportunity at the Paramount Championship. When the night was over, like, yeah, I felt good about myself at someone else’s expense but I still didn’t have anything to show for it.
Years from now, people still won’t remember it. There was no impact there.
So I thought, Keegan, maybe things would start to change with you. No one had heard from you since you teamed up with Ethan Thompson-- which was maybe less successful than your old team with the Baroness, but I shouldn’t judge-- then you made a comeback at the Rumble. And it looked really good. Obviously I’d already goofed and I wasn’t there to see it in person but you dominated everybody. You laid out any and every wrestler in sight…
...but then you didn’t actually accomplish anything. You got thrown out right next to Mercy. And I guess you could turn a blind eye to it and look at it like an isolated incident. Like, there were so many factors in that match and who knows what you were doing for that month where no one heard from you. No one’s business, right? Maybe there was some ring rust. Or worse, maybe you weren’t there, mentally. I totally get that. Trust me.
But no. Um. It definitely wasn’t a fluke. I looked back at everything that’s happened since you showed up in 3GW and you told us, hard quote ‘anything can happen’ but literally nothing happened. Nothing ever happened.
And… gahhh… sir, that is a painful reminder of the road I could be heading down right now. I mean, I’m not saying I’m the most awesome thing this side of Hollywood or anything but I don’t want all of this to end up like it’s ending for you. You were the last APEX Tag Team Champion in the LDFC and I can’t take that away from you. When you were with the Crimson Baroness, or even with Prince MacRear you meant something. You might’ve been something big. But now you’re everything I’m trying to not become.
I don’t know what kind of impact defeating you will have. I don’t know where this leaves me heading into 2017 but I know, at least, it’s not whatever road you turned down to get into Hollywood.
It's a start.”