Freedom
Jul 30, 2019 0:13:38 GMT -5
Post by Seth Iser on Jul 30, 2019 0:13:38 GMT -5
Everything is in black and white. The astonishing depressing note of what life could be like in a prison. A couple of cops pacing around in their uniforms with their hands near their weapons in full guard. There are a couple of inmates with various bulky profiles and a couple of them lashing out at the doors wanting their chance at freedom. Then you go to a cell in the corner and rather than dressed like an inmate, is a man dressed as a guest though he’s in the cell alone with a cold expression on his face. That man is Seth Iser, the FGA Pride champion.
Seth Iser: Sometimes no matter what you do in life...you’re almost a prisoner of sorts to life. Maybe it’s fate itself that’s imprisoning you. Perhaps it’s more in the literal sense like in here...where either you were in the wrong place at the wrong time or you actually committed the crime. Sometimes you’re in a more metaphorical prison because of circumstance. And in wrestling...sometimes a wrestler puts you in a specific type of prison.
The professionally dressed Iser, in his suit, remains seated on the hastily and disorganized looking bed but he ends up standing to his feet and glances over at the door and at the one cop going by. The tie on his suit is disgruntled and flopping around in a messy manner.
Seth Iser: ...No matter the circumstances you’ve found yourself there is one thing in common unless you’ve given up entirely on your lot in life: you want to escape. You want a taste of what it’s like to feel a certain level of freedom again because rightly or wrongly you’ve been put here. You’re trapped. Encapsulated. And certain parts of your own resume are segregated off and all certain people will ever remember is that ugly, irremovable wound that was your time here. You’ve been forced to put in certain time, learn some sort of life lesson, or more deviously just plot out revenge and put someone else through the hell you’re going through right now.
The FGA champion lets out a disgruntled sigh as he rubs his temple and closes his eyes.
Seth Iser: But for the ones who lose hope, it’s almost a morbid sense of stockholm syndrome where you accept the lessened portion of life and let the stain define you. Maybe even end you as you lose all hope and you breathe in this poison that is your prison sentence for far too long. You become accustomed to it before trying to pine and fantasize what it was before and even if you accept it now. You miss the way things were before. And then that could end up being your end.
There’s a darkening to Seth’s face as you see him wince but his eyes still haven’t opened back up yet.
Seth Iser: Sometimes you’re even diluted to this fate because of the effects of the poison and try to go about it under normal circumstances ignoring the reality at hand.
Seth’s eyes shoot open and there’s an element of wildness to it even in the black and white presentation of this all in this dull, barren, and breaking experience one could feel in a prison cell. But beyond the wildness, there’s this look of desperation in his eyes.
Seth Iser: All roads lead to the same result at the end of the day: You’re looking for your escape.
The tone in Seth’s voice is chilling, cold to the bone and unrelenting in his depressing diatribe.
Seth Iser: Since I’ve came into this company...I’ve been in a specific type of prison and initially I didn’t even know it. Wouldn’t have even guessed I’ve already been arbitrarily sentenced. In my hubris and an admitted blindspot...I thought the first culprit behind this was an old rival. Someone my opponent in a couple of weeks knows all too well. One of the worst human beings on the planet and a habitual liar and scumbag: Owen Gonsalves.
Seth mutters that name with particular venom as he shakes his head and leans his back at the wall. There’s even a laugh that escapes him but it’s a humorless one.
Seth Iser: I kick his ass at last year’s All Star Showdown and rip away the satisfaction he could have in beating me once more, a feeling I never got tired of, and once again sent him into those horrible shadows. But I still felt those cuffs, that poisonous air...that taint to everything. Still believing it was Owen I dug up an old artifact and then chased him out of the company knowing full well what I was going to do to that son of a bitch. At long last, the Unbreakable one was broken entirely. And I thought I’d get the key to my freedom...but I thought wrong.
Seth shakes his head and there’s a momentary sigh that escapes from him but it doesn’t exactly mellow him out of this mood.
Seth Iser: The next thing I thought was okay then...I need to stake my claim for championship gold like I have in many other places. That might be the thing that takes off the chains and emancipates me from this prison. And it was a damn struggle...first getting myself out of the mind frame of that mask and back to what I do better than anybody else in the world and that’s wrestle. The Final Frontier didn’t go my way to grant that FGA World Title opportunity but the thinking man’s championship was well within grasp and a victory over Izzy Anders in said tournament gave me an opportunity to get that. It ment I had to defeat her a second time…
Seth blinks for a moment and you can see a hint of satisfaction on his face.
Seth Iser: And defeat her I did in the World’s Most Famous arena. And with the gold I now carry around...you’d think maybe that was the thing that freed me. That I proved myself perfect to escape winning a championship with my mind with the rules designed so that my best weapon, my punch, is completely discouraged from being used. But...you’d be wrong yet again. Especially after the stunt Izzy pulled with Moretti...and created that whole situation but that’s a whole different can of worms I’ve gone over enough times.
Seth’s eyes narrow slightly as he thinks of that.
Seth Iser: But beating her yet again did feel gratifying and proved my point that I’m everything I’ve ever said I am as an evolving professional wrestler and wrestling’s greatest mind. But even that second victory in Two Falls of Honor...that didn’t free me. While I got a portion of my honor back...I wasn’t free. No…but at least at that moment after the gloating of my victory was done and that empty feeling sank in yet again...I realized the true culprit of who put me here. The person who is my captor.
Seth’s eyes turn to a more neutral expression as everything then goes from black and white into full color. You can see the dark circles under his eyes better as he’s seemed to obsess over this, the hallow orange walls, the rust on a couple of the prison bars. And then he even eyeballs down the hall and the door opening showing the light of potential freedom before it closes again.
Seth Iser: ...My captor, the one responsible for all of this, is Tyler Storm.
Seth states this coldly and truthfully and you can see more of a determination than anger over his face.
Seth Iser: Yes, Tyler. You’re the one who put me here whether you meant to or not because...we’ve been interlinked the moment both of us signed our names on the dotted line for this company. I realize that now...and I hate the fact that it took me this long to peel all the layers back and see this source but nothing gets by me. I always solve the mystery eventually. It is why I’m the Greatest Mind in the Sport and the current Pride Champion...but there is one thing I haven’t fully solved…
Seth’s eyes then show a hint of that legendary temper of his that has caused quite a bit of destruction over his career.
Seth Iser: I haven’t solved you. Even when I had my hand raised in victory in our second meeting with the loaded pad, I didn’t fully solve you. I solved Owen and ran him out of the company. I solved Izzy to the point she assaulted an innocent man. I solved an insane human being who is more at home searching Area 51 than living a normal life in that ring. But the solution to Tyler Storm, the man I even earmarked as the Swiss Army Knife of the sport, that eludes me…
Seth mutters that last term with disgust and disdain with himself more than anything as he brushes the hair from his face.
Seth Iser: Not once but twice it’s eluded me when it matters. First was the deal with Moretti where you broke his ankle and you proved you were here to stay after starting to chase me. Then you defeated me the second time in a fatal fourway at 2018’s rendition of Only the Strong Survive to earn your first opportunity at the championship. You even rubbed salt in the wound and went after me and teamed up with a sack of crap to eliminate me from the Gold Rush Rumble that year and that’s probably the most offensive thing you ever did to me. And hell, I was actually in your corner when you had that opportunity considering how much of a disgusting human being your opponent was but alas it wasn’t your night and you’re hoping one year later...it will be your night.
Seth shakes his head in disgust as he delivers a forearm to the wall just hard enough to create a thud in anger and he grits his teeth in pain and then lashes out toward the bars.
Seth Iser: But I’ll be DAMNED if I let you have this moment on this very night Tyler. Because for as much as you’ve been chasing me and even earning those victories. For as much as you have worked your ass off to rebound from your back injury to regain your form. Hell, for as much as you want to equal what I’ve even been in this industry...I can’t let you have YOUR validation in the United States for this hard work because right now you’ve become something I never would have pegged you as when I met you the first time: an enemy.
Seth’s tone is a little more aggressive as he states this as fact and you see it in his eyes as they show full blown hostility.
Seth Iser: Anyone who is viewed as an equal to me...is an enemy because I want to be known as the best for my championship. And even in Australia you went and chased me further to equal what I did with the Proving Grounds championship and tried to define it in this season like I did the season prior. So something has to give right? You’ve been chasing me for a couple of years now, and I’ve been chasing freedom since you put me here when I had my first defeat to you. Obviously something has to give now doesn’t it?
Seth’s face then turns into something somewhat peaceful at least for a split second before the inner war he wants to rage comes out.
Seth Iser: One of us gets our answer in Los Angeles, California in the biggest show of the year for the company. And because you’re an enemy...because you put me in this prison...because all of these damned fans compare us to one another because we happened to enter into this company at the same time. Hell...because you’ve been chasing me these last couple of years...I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get my hand raised and continue to define the Pride Championship the same way I defined that Proving Grounds title you went through all the trouble to hold in Australia!
The brief tranquility is gone obviously. The vein is in his neck.
Seth Iser: Two out of Three Falls. There’s no fluke in winning that. And I saw you prepare trying to wrestle workman’s wrestlers who think on another level to get your mind sharp. But you know damn well there isn’t anyone in the entire world like me with my experience, my brain, and my brutality. And with the stakes higher than ever between us...with my freedom on the line...there will be no doubt I’ll be the better man.
Seth’s face darkens entirely.
Seth Iser: Instead of chasing me on this continual uphill climb, you’ll find that this endeavor will be more akin to running in place in a hamster wheel because I promise I’ve finally cracked your code and solved you entirely. It’s just a matter of showing the work. And it’ll be shown in L.A. because when my hand is raised and the championship is put back around my waist one more time to show a successful title defense and get one step closer to wanting to break the mark for most successful Pride Title defenses...I’ll have something more important back. Yes, I’ll have the full extent of my honor, my pride, and the perks that come with the champion but...
And with that you see the prison door in front of Seth finally open and the guard gesture for the champion to walk out.
Seth Iser: ...I’ll have my freedom from this prison you sentenced me to at long last…
And with that last statement the champion glares toward the camera before walking off toward the opening doors of daylight to this metaphoric freedom.
Seth Iser: Sometimes no matter what you do in life...you’re almost a prisoner of sorts to life. Maybe it’s fate itself that’s imprisoning you. Perhaps it’s more in the literal sense like in here...where either you were in the wrong place at the wrong time or you actually committed the crime. Sometimes you’re in a more metaphorical prison because of circumstance. And in wrestling...sometimes a wrestler puts you in a specific type of prison.
The professionally dressed Iser, in his suit, remains seated on the hastily and disorganized looking bed but he ends up standing to his feet and glances over at the door and at the one cop going by. The tie on his suit is disgruntled and flopping around in a messy manner.
Seth Iser: ...No matter the circumstances you’ve found yourself there is one thing in common unless you’ve given up entirely on your lot in life: you want to escape. You want a taste of what it’s like to feel a certain level of freedom again because rightly or wrongly you’ve been put here. You’re trapped. Encapsulated. And certain parts of your own resume are segregated off and all certain people will ever remember is that ugly, irremovable wound that was your time here. You’ve been forced to put in certain time, learn some sort of life lesson, or more deviously just plot out revenge and put someone else through the hell you’re going through right now.
The FGA champion lets out a disgruntled sigh as he rubs his temple and closes his eyes.
Seth Iser: But for the ones who lose hope, it’s almost a morbid sense of stockholm syndrome where you accept the lessened portion of life and let the stain define you. Maybe even end you as you lose all hope and you breathe in this poison that is your prison sentence for far too long. You become accustomed to it before trying to pine and fantasize what it was before and even if you accept it now. You miss the way things were before. And then that could end up being your end.
There’s a darkening to Seth’s face as you see him wince but his eyes still haven’t opened back up yet.
Seth Iser: Sometimes you’re even diluted to this fate because of the effects of the poison and try to go about it under normal circumstances ignoring the reality at hand.
Seth’s eyes shoot open and there’s an element of wildness to it even in the black and white presentation of this all in this dull, barren, and breaking experience one could feel in a prison cell. But beyond the wildness, there’s this look of desperation in his eyes.
Seth Iser: All roads lead to the same result at the end of the day: You’re looking for your escape.
The tone in Seth’s voice is chilling, cold to the bone and unrelenting in his depressing diatribe.
Seth Iser: Since I’ve came into this company...I’ve been in a specific type of prison and initially I didn’t even know it. Wouldn’t have even guessed I’ve already been arbitrarily sentenced. In my hubris and an admitted blindspot...I thought the first culprit behind this was an old rival. Someone my opponent in a couple of weeks knows all too well. One of the worst human beings on the planet and a habitual liar and scumbag: Owen Gonsalves.
Seth mutters that name with particular venom as he shakes his head and leans his back at the wall. There’s even a laugh that escapes him but it’s a humorless one.
Seth Iser: I kick his ass at last year’s All Star Showdown and rip away the satisfaction he could have in beating me once more, a feeling I never got tired of, and once again sent him into those horrible shadows. But I still felt those cuffs, that poisonous air...that taint to everything. Still believing it was Owen I dug up an old artifact and then chased him out of the company knowing full well what I was going to do to that son of a bitch. At long last, the Unbreakable one was broken entirely. And I thought I’d get the key to my freedom...but I thought wrong.
Seth shakes his head and there’s a momentary sigh that escapes from him but it doesn’t exactly mellow him out of this mood.
Seth Iser: The next thing I thought was okay then...I need to stake my claim for championship gold like I have in many other places. That might be the thing that takes off the chains and emancipates me from this prison. And it was a damn struggle...first getting myself out of the mind frame of that mask and back to what I do better than anybody else in the world and that’s wrestle. The Final Frontier didn’t go my way to grant that FGA World Title opportunity but the thinking man’s championship was well within grasp and a victory over Izzy Anders in said tournament gave me an opportunity to get that. It ment I had to defeat her a second time…
Seth blinks for a moment and you can see a hint of satisfaction on his face.
Seth Iser: And defeat her I did in the World’s Most Famous arena. And with the gold I now carry around...you’d think maybe that was the thing that freed me. That I proved myself perfect to escape winning a championship with my mind with the rules designed so that my best weapon, my punch, is completely discouraged from being used. But...you’d be wrong yet again. Especially after the stunt Izzy pulled with Moretti...and created that whole situation but that’s a whole different can of worms I’ve gone over enough times.
Seth’s eyes narrow slightly as he thinks of that.
Seth Iser: But beating her yet again did feel gratifying and proved my point that I’m everything I’ve ever said I am as an evolving professional wrestler and wrestling’s greatest mind. But even that second victory in Two Falls of Honor...that didn’t free me. While I got a portion of my honor back...I wasn’t free. No…but at least at that moment after the gloating of my victory was done and that empty feeling sank in yet again...I realized the true culprit of who put me here. The person who is my captor.
Seth’s eyes turn to a more neutral expression as everything then goes from black and white into full color. You can see the dark circles under his eyes better as he’s seemed to obsess over this, the hallow orange walls, the rust on a couple of the prison bars. And then he even eyeballs down the hall and the door opening showing the light of potential freedom before it closes again.
Seth Iser: ...My captor, the one responsible for all of this, is Tyler Storm.
Seth states this coldly and truthfully and you can see more of a determination than anger over his face.
Seth Iser: Yes, Tyler. You’re the one who put me here whether you meant to or not because...we’ve been interlinked the moment both of us signed our names on the dotted line for this company. I realize that now...and I hate the fact that it took me this long to peel all the layers back and see this source but nothing gets by me. I always solve the mystery eventually. It is why I’m the Greatest Mind in the Sport and the current Pride Champion...but there is one thing I haven’t fully solved…
Seth’s eyes then show a hint of that legendary temper of his that has caused quite a bit of destruction over his career.
Seth Iser: I haven’t solved you. Even when I had my hand raised in victory in our second meeting with the loaded pad, I didn’t fully solve you. I solved Owen and ran him out of the company. I solved Izzy to the point she assaulted an innocent man. I solved an insane human being who is more at home searching Area 51 than living a normal life in that ring. But the solution to Tyler Storm, the man I even earmarked as the Swiss Army Knife of the sport, that eludes me…
Seth mutters that last term with disgust and disdain with himself more than anything as he brushes the hair from his face.
Seth Iser: Not once but twice it’s eluded me when it matters. First was the deal with Moretti where you broke his ankle and you proved you were here to stay after starting to chase me. Then you defeated me the second time in a fatal fourway at 2018’s rendition of Only the Strong Survive to earn your first opportunity at the championship. You even rubbed salt in the wound and went after me and teamed up with a sack of crap to eliminate me from the Gold Rush Rumble that year and that’s probably the most offensive thing you ever did to me. And hell, I was actually in your corner when you had that opportunity considering how much of a disgusting human being your opponent was but alas it wasn’t your night and you’re hoping one year later...it will be your night.
Seth shakes his head in disgust as he delivers a forearm to the wall just hard enough to create a thud in anger and he grits his teeth in pain and then lashes out toward the bars.
Seth Iser: But I’ll be DAMNED if I let you have this moment on this very night Tyler. Because for as much as you’ve been chasing me and even earning those victories. For as much as you have worked your ass off to rebound from your back injury to regain your form. Hell, for as much as you want to equal what I’ve even been in this industry...I can’t let you have YOUR validation in the United States for this hard work because right now you’ve become something I never would have pegged you as when I met you the first time: an enemy.
Seth’s tone is a little more aggressive as he states this as fact and you see it in his eyes as they show full blown hostility.
Seth Iser: Anyone who is viewed as an equal to me...is an enemy because I want to be known as the best for my championship. And even in Australia you went and chased me further to equal what I did with the Proving Grounds championship and tried to define it in this season like I did the season prior. So something has to give right? You’ve been chasing me for a couple of years now, and I’ve been chasing freedom since you put me here when I had my first defeat to you. Obviously something has to give now doesn’t it?
Seth’s face then turns into something somewhat peaceful at least for a split second before the inner war he wants to rage comes out.
Seth Iser: One of us gets our answer in Los Angeles, California in the biggest show of the year for the company. And because you’re an enemy...because you put me in this prison...because all of these damned fans compare us to one another because we happened to enter into this company at the same time. Hell...because you’ve been chasing me these last couple of years...I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get my hand raised and continue to define the Pride Championship the same way I defined that Proving Grounds title you went through all the trouble to hold in Australia!
The brief tranquility is gone obviously. The vein is in his neck.
Seth Iser: Two out of Three Falls. There’s no fluke in winning that. And I saw you prepare trying to wrestle workman’s wrestlers who think on another level to get your mind sharp. But you know damn well there isn’t anyone in the entire world like me with my experience, my brain, and my brutality. And with the stakes higher than ever between us...with my freedom on the line...there will be no doubt I’ll be the better man.
Seth’s face darkens entirely.
Seth Iser: Instead of chasing me on this continual uphill climb, you’ll find that this endeavor will be more akin to running in place in a hamster wheel because I promise I’ve finally cracked your code and solved you entirely. It’s just a matter of showing the work. And it’ll be shown in L.A. because when my hand is raised and the championship is put back around my waist one more time to show a successful title defense and get one step closer to wanting to break the mark for most successful Pride Title defenses...I’ll have something more important back. Yes, I’ll have the full extent of my honor, my pride, and the perks that come with the champion but...
And with that you see the prison door in front of Seth finally open and the guard gesture for the champion to walk out.
Seth Iser: ...I’ll have my freedom from this prison you sentenced me to at long last…
And with that last statement the champion glares toward the camera before walking off toward the opening doors of daylight to this metaphoric freedom.