Post by zackjones on Jan 15, 2017 23:54:44 GMT
Word Count: 2467 words
NOTE: Green italicized words are Zack's thoughts. Bold green words are words Zack is saying out loud.
NOTE: Green italicized words are Zack's thoughts. Bold green words are words Zack is saying out loud.
September 26th, 2015
“ONE! TWO! THREE!”
“ZACK JONES HAS BEEN ELIMINATED!”
I slowly rolled out of the ring after hearing that, getting some help from the two refs that were around, before falling to the ground outside. As I lied there, I could taste the defeat I had just suffered at the hands of El Cabron Malo, having come so close only to be forced to lie there as two other people fought for the title that could have been- maybe even should have been mine.
“Maybe I wasn’t ready to come back.”
“Maybe I wasn’t ready to be thrown right into the spotlight.”
“Maybe I didn’t even deserve this shot.”
I got up and looked at the two continuing in the ring, knowing one of them would walk out of here with what could have been mine.
“Goddammit.”
December 26th, 2015
“ONE! TWO! THREE!”
“HERE ARE YOUR WINNERS AND THE FIRST EVER AIR TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS, HURACAN ROJO AND EL VAINILLO!”
I was too late. We had lost. I was forced to pretty much watch my wife get pinned and the tag team championships that could have been ours go to the team of Rojo and Vainillo, two men that should haven’t even gotten to this point.
“How did this happen?”
“How did we lose?”
“We were so good.”
“We were undefeated.”
“We should be champions.”
And yet, we fell in the finals. We lost to the better team that night and were forced to accept that. We were forced to accept the fact that we would not be walking out with gold again. I was forced to accept it for a second time, which made me even more annoyed. Which made me somewhat bitter.
“Unbelievable.”
January 21st, 2016
I didn’t hear the count. I was out cold when it was made. I didn’t hear the bell afterwards either. All I remember was my lights getting knocked out and waking up possibly a minute later, getting checked by medics. I pushed them off and told them that I was fine as I came to and got to a seated position, it hitting me all at once.
Flame was walking away and to the back, his music playing loudly around the arena. Erin was talking to the ref, an angry look on her face. Hadn’t seen her that pissed since the dog took a shit in her favorite pair of shoes. And I was just lying there, the medics making sure I was alright after the match I had just been through, which I would have been thankful for if I too wasn’t pissed.
“You lost again.”
“Maybe you’re not cut out of this.”
“Maybe you should go back to that desk job you had while you were injured.”
“Maybe you should just leave the wrestling business altogether, LOSER.”
I sighed as I leaned my head back on the barricade and could no longer contain my disappointment.
ZACK JONES: Son of a bitch...
CAMERA: ON
“January 21st, 2016.”
Zack Jones, the young man out of Philadelphia, is seen staring at last year’s calendar, the date he just mentioned having a black circle around it. He keeps a small smile on his face as he looks at the date closely, knowing it had a lot of meaning to him.
“2016 was arguably the best year of my career. I won the Young Guns Cup. I won the AIR Velocity championship. I won the SSWA World championship. I won multiple awards. I was undefeated for a very long time and unpinned for an even longer time. I was good in 2016. I was damn good. But my last loss before I went on an undefeated streak? The last time I was pinned before losing the SSWA World champion in December 2016?
January 21st, 2016...in AIR.”
Jones sets the calendar down on his lap as he leans back on the steel chair he’s sitting on in front of the brick wall, somewhere in the Paul Jones Gym.
“Now, I feel as if a bit of a backstory is deserved here. When I returned from injury, the first company I signed for was AIR in July 2015. From there, I had a pretty easy go at it, winning most of my matches, but failing to win any championships despite being a favorite to win any title match I was in. I was winning all the matches that didn’t have championship implications, but I was not winning the matches that the reward was championship gold.
Finally, at the start of 2016, I was given another shot at becoming the Champion of Champions after failing to become the first ever holder of that title. I defeated Bloody Mary and Nicky Tesla in a triple threat match to set up another triple threat match, which would determine the #1 contender. The other two matches saw my very own wife come out on the winning end and my opponent in this round, Flame, defeat the two people they had put in front of him.
And that set up the triple threat to determine who would get the shot at trying to unseat Sofia King and take her title. Erin Jones vs Zack Jones vs Flame.”
The young man from Philadelphia lets out a chuckle as he looks back down on the date before continuing.
“The main storyline in that match was the fact that husband and wife would go head to head. That Zack would face Erin in the ring for the first time since their brief stint in IWF, with that match not having a winner in the end. But maybe, just maybe, the focus should have also been given to Flame, who was clearly the third wheel in that match.
But the focus should have been on him from the start. The focus shouldn’t have been on the husband and wife. Not on the two people who had just failed to win tag team championships with each other just a few weeks prior. The focus should have been on the man who went on to win that match...sorta.
Flame was declared the victor that night, but my wife had also managed to drape an arm over me, though the ref never caught that. That’s what lead to the two eventually fighting over that title, Flame having won it off Sofia and eventually retiring my wife from pro wrestling after she failed to win the title off of him.”
Zack runs his right hand through his hair, eyes on the calendar still.
“And now, almost a year later, we’re going to meet in the ring again. This time, no third person. Nobody I have anyone personal feelings towards also being involved. Just you and me, Flame. Now, I guess the question is, what do we both want to prove with this match?
Well, I don’t know you too well, Flame, but I’ll guess that winning Iron King is obviously on your checklist. But when it comes to this matchup, you want to make sure that I can never say that I can beat you. You want to bury it in my head that when you and I step in the ring, you’re always going to be better than me, no matter how people are involved in the match. You want the wrestling world to know that no matter what I’ve done in the past year, I’m still inferior to you when we get into that ring. Which would be something achievable...if you weren’t dealing with a stubborn son of a bitch like myself.
Because you damn well know that I’m not someone who’s just willing to accept anyone being better than me, even if they beat me thirteen straight times. When we get in a ring, no matter the experience, the amount of accolades, the athletic ability, you are my equal and I stand as much of a chance of winning this match as you do.
And maybe that’s what I really want to prove in this match against you.”
Jones grabs the calendar and tosses it out of the shot.
“Maybe I want to prove that the Zack Jones you faced last year ain’t nearly on the level of the Zack Jones you’re facing in a few days. Maybe I want to prove that now, we’re more equal than we’ve ever been. Maybe I want to prove that while you beat me that one time, you won’t be able to beat me again. Or maybe I just want to even the score and eventually set up for the rubber match when our paths eventually cross again.
Honestly? The one thing I really want out of this match is to walk out as the winner and advance one step closer to becoming Iron King, something I failed to do two years ago. Getting that win you got over me back would just be the cherry on top of the sundae. What I really want is to become Iron King and you, one of the only people that can claim they pinned me in 2016, is the one who stands in my way.
So, really, the way I look at it, it’s going to be a ‘two birds, one stone’ situation if I’m the one getting their hand raised at the end of it, with not only beating someone who has the upper hand over me in terms of previous results, but advancing to the next round too.”
Jones rubs his chin.
“But my work gets really cut out when you consider the match stipulation involved. Grappling only.”
Zack takes a deep breath and holds it in...then lets out an exhale a few seconds later.
“Let’s just be very clear about this right off the bat. I’m not afraid to get in the ring and fight in any type of match stipulation. You will never see me complain about being thrown into a cage, or weapons being legal, or having to fight on top of a scaffold. I’ll do whatever for the people employing me and for the fans that keep allowing me to get paid to perform in front of them.
But when I say that this might be the one match stipulation I never wanted to see, it might just be God’s honest truth.”
He shakes his head.
“I’m a high flyer. What I’m best at is using my speed and putting my body on the line. I do flips. I do dives. I go to the top rope. I springboard off of the ropes. I do some real dangerous stuff sometimes. But one thing you’ll rarely ever see me do is try to ground and out-grapple my opponent. I don’t have any experience in amateur wrestling. If there’s any weak part of my wrestling ability, it’s the grappling aspect. And that puts me at a disadvantage right off the bat when taking on Flame, who is likely a lot better at grounding and grappling his opponent than I ever will be.
But weirdly enough, I like that.”
The former SSWA World champion now cracks a small grin as he looks at his own hands.
“If you were to look up and see what both Flame and I could do, the smart money would be on Flame to out grapple me in this match and punch his ticket into the next round. The smart money would be on practically everyone else looking a lot better than I would at the whole grappling thing that’s got to wrestle in a grappling only match.
And that’s what I want. I want to go into this as the weakest in this category. I want to have this disadvantage. I want to be the one everyone expects to honestly be the worst at this stipulation. And I want it because of the message it would send.
‘What message would it send, Zack’? Good question, me.”
Jones finally looks up, that grin still on his face.
“The message it would send, especially if I defeat Flame in this round, would certainly be a big one. After all, how much more seriously would I be taken as a contender to win this whole thing if I not only defeat Flame in a grappling only match, but put on a better performance than some of the other people in this round too?”
He lets out a low whistle.
“I sure as hell hope a lot of people are ready, because I didn’t sign up for this tournament to walk out with anything less than the whole thing, just like I didn’t sign up for the Young Guns Cup last year to walk out with anything less than the whole thing.
So if I gotta take on Flame in a match that’s going to test the weakest part of my wrestling skill, I’ll do it and I’ll do it better than I should be doing it just to advance. If I gotta take on one of Phoenix Wrestling’s best in Faith in a street fight, I’ll continue showing that heart as I avoid trying to get my ass beat. If you want me to take on a legend like Andreas Lasiewicz in a match that would suit him better, I’d go right into that ring and face him head-on. I’ll take on anyone that stands in my way, no matter who they are or what the match is. It doesn’t matter to me when in the end, all I want is to be the Iron King.”
Zack leans back in his seat again and folds his arms.
“Flame and I have some very minor history, that’s true. But all that matters to me in the end is beating him and ending his chances of becoming the Iron King.
I’m willing to put myself through hell. I’m willing to bleed for this. I’m willing to pull out every move in my arsenal, every trick in my playbook. Every single freaking thing that I can do to win I will do to win, because I want to be the one who can say that he defeated some of the best wrestlers in the world en route to winning one of the top tournaments in wrestling to date.
Flame, you’re good, but in the end, it’s going to be about who wants it more and I can guarantee you that while you’re willing to put your body on the line like it’s nothing, you don’t want this as much as I do.
So good luck, Flame, because you’re about to get in there with the best version of Zack Jones anyone has ever seen.
And you’re going to walk out of there knowing you lost to someone with a damn good shot at becoming Iron King.”
The camera stops rolling after that, Jones giving the camera a glare before cutting out.
