Post by dylanblack on Aug 5, 2023 14:30:06 GMT -6
So this is it. The final stretch. Just a few more nights and it’s all over- the AXW. The European Championship. The last stand between the final four titans. This Saturday night we finally lay rest to the wicked, and close this final chapter.
What a fucking ride it has been fellas. What a fucking time and a half. From early days of wrestling in small clubs, getting ready in a communial toilets, having our smoke break backstage in an alleyway, literally standing behind a small curtain waiting for your music to play so you can walk those fifteen steps to the ring and feel like a fucking pro in a small room… it was all bliss. I wouldn’t change a damn thing about any of it. The wars, the fighting, the troubles, the good times and the bad… I’ll never forget a fucking night of this circus called ‘home’ for the last two years.
I went to Ireland, I fought for the AWF and I locked in my spot to fight for the United States Championship. I just lost it but and soon it will be mine again. Danny Ray is shook, Johnny Sniper is trembling, and Tommy Kelly is getting pissed in a public park! Happy fucking days! With AWF on the backburner for the next few days, my main focus is what comes next, what was always my main focus to be honest, why drives me and keeps me up at night… the European Championship. A taste of honor, a sliver of history, a ticket into the annals of XHF history. It had it, for so damn long… and threw it away in a moment of weakness.
But that all changes soon. AXW might be ending, but the StormCrow is only getting going. And he will fly again, with the golden belt of Europe around his damn sexy waist. 2020 is the Chinese Year of the Crow, and I’ll be soaring into it as a double Champion. Don’t believe me?
Then go fuck yourself.
October 22nd, 2019
Rosemary Gardens, London UK
This place holds a special part in my heart. Not good memories, not even fond memories. Terrible memories, god-forsaken shadows of my past that I just want to be rid of. This is where I used to come for a bit of a kip, if I knew I wasn’t going to get any peace anywhere else. Living on the streets is tough enough, but doing so in London… fuck, the coppers just never give you a break. That or the young chavs roaming around, fuck even the other fucking homeless bums. But here in Rosemary Gardens, I always felt somewhat safe.
Propped up on my old favourite bench, my mind is awash with memories. Not good ones, but still fond to think back on now seeing how far I’ve come. I’d sit here and neck cans all day, I’d play a small tune on my shitty old acoustic that I found in an alley. I’d pop a hat on the ground and busk a few pound out of generous folks pockets, enough for a hamburger and maybe a shoulder of vodka to see me through the night. At the time I thought I was invincible, I’d survived the horrors of jail, of being drafted into the army and sent to fight, and now here I was, alive and forgotten. But mainly, alive.
“Evenin’, ma’am” I say as a lovely lady strolls by. It’s only 5.30pm but already the skies are getting darker and darker. A shady, shaggy looking guy like me might draw suspicion but what I’ve learned is if you show them some manners first, they tend to leave you alone.
“Chance of a few pence to spare, guv’nor?” I ask, knowing full well I would often say it hundreds of times in a day and be lucky to come away with a tenner. I know I don’t need it now, and I know how far I’ve come from those days, but if I want to get back into the mind of what it took for me to win the European belt in the first place, I need to go back to where I was in November 2017. And it was not a nice place.
I need to go back to rock bottom.
“Spare some change please?” I say again to the folks passing by, and this time I get a winner. A young clean shaven kid slows his speed to drop a couple pounds into my palm, and I politely accept. “God bless you, young man” I say, and he quickly shuffles on. He just gave a couple pound to a former wrestling superstar, and a pending future megastar. Little does he know however, as I probably look as far as opposed to that as possible. Shaggy hair, matted beard, worn leather jacket on a dirty t-shirt, and ripped jeans with soggy Cons to finish. Two pounds is all it cost to bring me back to the beginning.
Yeah, I look like fucking shit. And hell, I feel like shit. Sat on this bench brings me back, but the last time I sat here I was sure I was aiming for the grave. Just like I am now, sat here with a bag of cans, a shitty guitar and a look of neglect on me, I last sat here after I left London Regional. After I pulled the plug on my best friend... fuck Dreadvan, fuck Scorpion and fuck Swann, all that shit doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. When I last sat here, I was ready to die.
“Heya lovey, fancy hearing a little story?” I extend the offer to a smart looking business woman passing on her way home. She darts her eyes to me, and shows me an expression of utter disgust. “Yeah, don’t judge me too hard sweetie”. Wouldn't be surprised if she puked in her mouth a little. Sure, look at the state of me.
Despite the successes, I still look like a drunken hobo.
Hah, classic StormCrow. Always a fucking disappointment. But, the clock is ticking on the AXW and my final chance to show the world I can be something is nearing. ‘StormCrow’ Tommy Kelly, the forty-seventh European Champion of the XHF… yeah, that has a nice ring to it. I’ll drink to that.
*crack*
*ssslurp*
“Ahh, that’s the best tasting piss I’ve ever had.” Cans of Carling on special, six for a fiver. Can’t bate that! It was my go-to back in the day, and I guess bad taste never changes. But it’s true, I stand the chance of walking into that ring with fucking rock-stars, and leading the group home. None of them need any more words, they are household names. Scorpion with his near-infinite legacy, Dreadvan the breaker of records, and Swann the re-inventor of pain. And then you have me… sitting on a park bench supping on cans of Carling at half five on a Tuesday. I know where I’d put my money!
But all of this doesn’t matter if you don’t have someone to share it with, and the one person I know I’d love to enjoy this success with can’t make it. And I’ll never forgive myself.
“...don’t do it Tommy, you know it’s pointless…” I battle with myself, knowing that my next actions mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. But part of me just won’t lay this wicked bitch to rest… “Yer only going to wreck your own head again all night…”. I’m right, I should listen to myself more often. “...fuck it, if I need to get back to rock bottom, then I have no choice.”
Tommy, you’re your own worst enemy sometimes. As I dig out the cellphone from my pocket, I know already that this is going to be a tear jerker. But fuck it, I miss him and I want to talk to him, even if it’s one last time. Tommy, you’ve finally done it.
Welcome back to rock bottom.
RING RING…
RING RING…
RING RING…
“Hey, you’ve reached Elijah, sorry I can’t answer but you know what to do. Here comes the beep…”
-BEEP-
“......................” I hold the phone to my ear for a conversation but what the fuck do I even say? As soon as I hear his voice it all comes rushing back, the emotions, the pain, the tears, the suffering, the absolute heartache of loneliness.
“...............heya buddy, it’s Tommy again. Been awhile since I called… how ya keeping up there?” What do you think Tommy, come on you’re a numbskull but even you know he’s not doing well. He’s fucking dead, you killed him. “I’m...I’m doing good myself, currently sat in Rosemary Gardens enjoying a few cans. Remember this place? You always said you liked it here, just didn’t like dragging my drunk arse out of here heh heh… it’s nice, still looks good here even for Autumn. Be nice if you could drag me out of here again tonight but…”
But your dead, Synn. Because I fucking killed you, brother.
“...I just wanted to call and say hello, hear your voice again. I’ve been busy, went back to wrestling actually, which I’m sure you saw if you can like, see me from… wherever you are. Hopefully you only see me wrestling though, not shitting or jacking off heh heh… shit man, I fucking miss you! I’ve got a lot going on and I could use my brother in arms with this…”
Synn was my go to guy, whenever shit hit the fan he straightened me out. Whenever I went off the rails, he pulled me back in. And with big fights looming, he got me ready. Especially now facing off against three other Champions, with not only my reputation on the line but the final ever chance for me to do something special in AXW… yeah, I’d fucking love to have you there dude.
“I’ve, uh… I’m fighting for the European Championship this weekend man, remember that back when we were kicking it? I had that strap at the time of, well, the accident. I didn’t keep it for much longer after that though. The drugs, the drinking, losing you…” Those days were dark, real dark. Suicide wouldn’t have been enough for me, I wanted the world to fucking swallow me up alive. I was miserable. “But I gave it up, I walked out of the AXW and came to see you. I let a kid named Dreadvan take the win, and he’s been a fucking superstar since that night too. I walked and didn’t look back. Then I came to see you, and I...”
I came to the hospital to see you... and I pulled your plug. I turned off your life support. Just say the fucking words, he knows what you did, you know what you did.
“...but this weekend I get the chance to win it back, and I just wanted you to know I’ll be fighting for you man. I’ll be fighting for the Brotherhood! They are pitching me against Dreadvan again, my successor. He’s never beaten me in a match, and I’ve never beaten him. This is going to be tough, he’s got about two hundred pounds weight on me!” The Demon. The Big Man. The hard place that stands on the other side of my rock bottom, crushing me.
“The current Champion is Brad Swann… you remember him? Wannabe philanthropist with a knack for losing matches. He never did much in our time but after you left, well the man blew up. Came into money somehow and opened federations, was seen shouldering up to superstars and now he’s the current Euro Champ! I haven’t seen him in a long time, too long round these parts… but I’m looking forward to clashing with him again.” Swann was always a pretentious prick, but I liked him. He made me laugh.
“And last is Scorpion. We met him once backstage, he was real nice to us both, commented on your vampire make-up too. Said you two looked alike. He’s a legend round these parts and... well, he’s the bookies favorites. 10:1 for him to win. Odds are he’ll give me the biggest flogging, but fuck it I’m not walking into that ring to lose. Scorpion has put his stamp on the XHF, and with AXW closing I think it’s time for him to disappear with it. This could lead us into something huge, a new European Champion making waves in the XHF. Just think of it…. I figured, last time I won I was in a shitty state so I’m bringing myself back to that mindset. Going back to how I was then, before you came and got me. Homeless and a mess, I was-”
-BEEP BEEP BEEP-
...miserable and alone. As my phone battery dies, so does my happiness. Fuck, Synn...Elijah, my brother. I miss you. I’m walking into this pay-per-view and doing this for you brother. I’m not representing the AWF on this one. I’m not fighting for the AXW, or Anonymous Underground. I’m not even going in there for the StormCrow.
This victory is dedicated to the Brotherhood! ‘Dead Men Don’t Die’...
As I sit here, pondering my future clash against the European goliaths, a tune enters my head. I take another drink of my can, the Carlings foul taste quickly softening the pain in my heart. I drain the can fully, and crack open a new one.
No good, the tune stays in my head, so I hum it aloud… and it becomes clear. Elijah’s favourite song. A smile cracks this old fools face and I grab my guitar.
“Sing it with me Synn… this one goes out to the AXW, and everything they gave this old fool. This old Crow gets one last dance with Anonymous… time to lay rest to the wicked.”
I hum along the song, getting it right in my mind before plucking the strings. It’s good, not as amazing as Cat Stevens but close. And it goes a little something like this…
“Now that I've lost everything to you”
“You say you wanna start something new”
“And it's breaking my heart you're leaving”
“Baby, I'm grieving”
“But if you want to leave, take good care”
“Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear”
“But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there”
“Ooh baby baby, it's a wild world”
“It's hard to get by just upon a smile”
“Ooh baby baby, it's a wild world”
“I'll always remember you like a child, girl”
“You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do”
“And it's breaking my heart in two”
“Because I never want to see you sad girl”
“Don't be a bad girl”
“But if you want to leave, take good care”
“I’ll be the next Euro Champ I swear”
“Anonymous will live in our hearts everywhere...”
Ooh baby baby, it's a wild world...