Post by Superstar David G. on May 14, 2019 8:28:27 GMT -6
The thunderous ovation of the crowd echo’s through his ears. David shoves W2K Champion Andrew Bradford off of the apron outside the ropes onto a set up table to the outside. A momentary gasp of the crowd as the champion hits the table flush, but it doesn’t break…. David’s eyes grow wide, and he looks utterly bewildered. A deep breath, composure, and then he signals to the top rope, once again the small San Antonio arena filling with thunderous applause. The DOG hops to the top rope and signals up his signature five star frog splash to the rabid fans. Sweat drips from his brow, he closes his eyes for a brief moment. This is it. Ten years. His entire life since childhood, way back in that original W2K Arena in Defiance, Ohio. A culmination of a lifetime's worth of fandom, blood, sweat, and tears. It all comes to a head, here on Bedlam, elimination tables, the grandest prize of his life time on the line. The noise of the arena suddenly becomes like a distant white noise, all he can focus on is his opponent. David leaps….
BEEP!
“We are now coming up on Houston, Texas.”
David jumps from his slumber. A quick peripheral check of his surroundings confirms he's still on the Amtrak from San Antonio, TX to Houston, TX, home of the next EWC Friday Night Rampage, and the spot where David will jump onto the EWC circuit. He sits up a straight, having been slouched down in his sleep. Craning his neck a bit, he stretches out as best he can within the small confines of his seat, trying not to make too much commotion to wake the few other passengers in his train car. It’s extremely early, but David wanted to get an early leg on getting there and getting the work done. He won’t be featured on the taping this Friday, nor will he be live out in the arena, but that’s to be expected. Rubbing his eyes he yawns, and lifts his drink from its cup holder taking a swig. He grimaces, the coffee stone cold, but a shot of caffeine to rouse him nonetheless. Adjusting the black fitted ball cap on his head to its proper position, David reaches down into his jean pockets and produces his phone. The screen lights as he checks emails, news, and text messages.
It’s been two years since David Gowolski, or then ‘Superstar David G’ has seen the inside of a wrestling ring. That fateful night at Bedlam, he had a chance to end a lifelong obsession with being the top tier of a wrestling organization, to say nothing of the fact it was the one he grew up watching. However, an associate of the champion ripped him off the table while David was in mid air, effectively eliminating himself last, and leaving the only man standing, the defending champion. That would be his last chance, as one show later, Wrestling 2000 would close its doors, as it would seem, forever. It wasn’t all bad, David’s body was beaten from eight years of indy wrestling, it was a nice reprieve and an easier life. He turned his attention to wrestling academies, training other young up and comers with stars still in their eyes about the business. His girlfriend at the time, a former W2K Champion herself and legend in the San Antonio era. David and Terri lived a fairly regular life, both happy with the way things had turned out. Then, cancer struck. Terri battled, like she had battled all her life. Never, was there an opponent, a foe, she couldn’t topple. Until that last one. As valiant as she fought, eventually, this past fall her life would be claimed. Suddenly, David’s world came to a halt, existence as he knew it radically altered, and his future completely erased.
David pauses over the last text, the one he’ll probably never delete. Then moves on scrolling. His life since that event had been a whirlwind of emotion and loss, but eventually he pieced himself back together. With no reason to stay, he began shopping his resume around to wrestling promotions looking to get booked, when eventually he had come across EWC. The big leagues, something that he had never experienced. Done with the small arena’s and untelevised house shows, David was looking for something bigger, something grander, something to… Make her proud. At nearly thirty years old, he continue to pass his knowledge on to a newer generation of wrestlers. A feat in which there is absolutely no shame, or he could take the time he has left at his peak, and put his life and soul, what remains of it, into the profession that he’s dreamed of since being a young boy.
[Good luck champ.]
[You’ll do great bud.]
[Gonna make us proud.]
Encouragement and praise from friends and family as he looks through his messages. A chirp of his phone as a new message pops up on his screen.
[Taylor Smith: You into Houston yet?
DG: Coming up on the city now. Just got the announcement.
TS: Excited?
DG: In a sense. Been a long time. Nervous really.
TS: Understandable. Also needless. You’re incredibly talented.
DG: We’ll see. Different world than the indies.
TS: Wrestling is wrestling.
DG: I suppose. You sign your contract yet?
TS: Still reviewing it.
DG: What’s to review? Take the plunge.
TS: Yeah… Alright. Seen you soon.]
The train begins its descent into the station, slowing to a halt. Slipping his phone back into his front pocket, David stands and collects his bags, slinging them over his shoulders and departs the train…
Nerves. Not the medical definition of the word, but the feeling. The proverbial butterflies in the stomach. The shakes. That nervous excitement, you’re ready to go, chomping at the bit, as the saying goes, yet you aren’t completely sure what the future holds. It’s a rush of adrenaline, a jumpstart to the nervous system, your entire body feels the effects. The nerves of meeting a new woman, the nerves of starting a new job. An excitement of the future possibilities mixed which just a pinch of self doubt and worry. As the event that drives this ‘nervous’ feeling draws closer, the doubt closes in more and more, until it’s put up or shut up time. Will I be good enough to contend? Is the time I’ve missed enough time to effectively end whatever momentum my career had going? Did I stunt my potential growth and waste my talent by not staying active? How could I given how things progressed? Self doubts greatest hits, playing in the background of your mind, just enough to keep the excitement from being complete elation. Just that little hint of the reality that things could go very wrong, very fast. I think those nerves are important. I think those nerves are what gives us our edge. The moment you stop feeling them, is the moment you should probably get out of the business, because it means you no longer care the way you should. If you can walk into an arena, with ice running through your veins, that’s one thing, but if you can honestly, look at yourself and say, I feel no excitement, nothing, for this, then your career is effectively over. You can lie to yourself and go through the motions, but those nerves, that’s what drives us… Ten years of professional wrestling, and those nerves still haven’t gone away. God help me if they ever do...
BEEP!
“We are now coming up on Houston, Texas.”
David jumps from his slumber. A quick peripheral check of his surroundings confirms he's still on the Amtrak from San Antonio, TX to Houston, TX, home of the next EWC Friday Night Rampage, and the spot where David will jump onto the EWC circuit. He sits up a straight, having been slouched down in his sleep. Craning his neck a bit, he stretches out as best he can within the small confines of his seat, trying not to make too much commotion to wake the few other passengers in his train car. It’s extremely early, but David wanted to get an early leg on getting there and getting the work done. He won’t be featured on the taping this Friday, nor will he be live out in the arena, but that’s to be expected. Rubbing his eyes he yawns, and lifts his drink from its cup holder taking a swig. He grimaces, the coffee stone cold, but a shot of caffeine to rouse him nonetheless. Adjusting the black fitted ball cap on his head to its proper position, David reaches down into his jean pockets and produces his phone. The screen lights as he checks emails, news, and text messages.
It’s been two years since David Gowolski, or then ‘Superstar David G’ has seen the inside of a wrestling ring. That fateful night at Bedlam, he had a chance to end a lifelong obsession with being the top tier of a wrestling organization, to say nothing of the fact it was the one he grew up watching. However, an associate of the champion ripped him off the table while David was in mid air, effectively eliminating himself last, and leaving the only man standing, the defending champion. That would be his last chance, as one show later, Wrestling 2000 would close its doors, as it would seem, forever. It wasn’t all bad, David’s body was beaten from eight years of indy wrestling, it was a nice reprieve and an easier life. He turned his attention to wrestling academies, training other young up and comers with stars still in their eyes about the business. His girlfriend at the time, a former W2K Champion herself and legend in the San Antonio era. David and Terri lived a fairly regular life, both happy with the way things had turned out. Then, cancer struck. Terri battled, like she had battled all her life. Never, was there an opponent, a foe, she couldn’t topple. Until that last one. As valiant as she fought, eventually, this past fall her life would be claimed. Suddenly, David’s world came to a halt, existence as he knew it radically altered, and his future completely erased.
David pauses over the last text, the one he’ll probably never delete. Then moves on scrolling. His life since that event had been a whirlwind of emotion and loss, but eventually he pieced himself back together. With no reason to stay, he began shopping his resume around to wrestling promotions looking to get booked, when eventually he had come across EWC. The big leagues, something that he had never experienced. Done with the small arena’s and untelevised house shows, David was looking for something bigger, something grander, something to… Make her proud. At nearly thirty years old, he continue to pass his knowledge on to a newer generation of wrestlers. A feat in which there is absolutely no shame, or he could take the time he has left at his peak, and put his life and soul, what remains of it, into the profession that he’s dreamed of since being a young boy.
[Good luck champ.]
[You’ll do great bud.]
[Gonna make us proud.]
Encouragement and praise from friends and family as he looks through his messages. A chirp of his phone as a new message pops up on his screen.
[Taylor Smith: You into Houston yet?
DG: Coming up on the city now. Just got the announcement.
TS: Excited?
DG: In a sense. Been a long time. Nervous really.
TS: Understandable. Also needless. You’re incredibly talented.
DG: We’ll see. Different world than the indies.
TS: Wrestling is wrestling.
DG: I suppose. You sign your contract yet?
TS: Still reviewing it.
DG: What’s to review? Take the plunge.
TS: Yeah… Alright. Seen you soon.]
The train begins its descent into the station, slowing to a halt. Slipping his phone back into his front pocket, David stands and collects his bags, slinging them over his shoulders and departs the train…
Nerves. Not the medical definition of the word, but the feeling. The proverbial butterflies in the stomach. The shakes. That nervous excitement, you’re ready to go, chomping at the bit, as the saying goes, yet you aren’t completely sure what the future holds. It’s a rush of adrenaline, a jumpstart to the nervous system, your entire body feels the effects. The nerves of meeting a new woman, the nerves of starting a new job. An excitement of the future possibilities mixed which just a pinch of self doubt and worry. As the event that drives this ‘nervous’ feeling draws closer, the doubt closes in more and more, until it’s put up or shut up time. Will I be good enough to contend? Is the time I’ve missed enough time to effectively end whatever momentum my career had going? Did I stunt my potential growth and waste my talent by not staying active? How could I given how things progressed? Self doubts greatest hits, playing in the background of your mind, just enough to keep the excitement from being complete elation. Just that little hint of the reality that things could go very wrong, very fast. I think those nerves are important. I think those nerves are what gives us our edge. The moment you stop feeling them, is the moment you should probably get out of the business, because it means you no longer care the way you should. If you can walk into an arena, with ice running through your veins, that’s one thing, but if you can honestly, look at yourself and say, I feel no excitement, nothing, for this, then your career is effectively over. You can lie to yourself and go through the motions, but those nerves, that’s what drives us… Ten years of professional wrestling, and those nerves still haven’t gone away. God help me if they ever do...
