Post by Vladimir T. Strife on Mar 21, 2010 3:36:14 GMT -5
"Is that camera on yet?"
"Yessir."
As it comes into focus, the source of the first voice comes into sight. It is none other than the EVPW Imperial Champion and GHW World Champion, Vladimir Strife. He is seated on a steel chair in the middle of the ring, the arena around him dark and empty as he has chosen to shoot this piece when no one else was around.
"2 and a half years... That's how long this place has been home to me. I've been through hell, high water, and things you couldn't find in either of them right here between these ropes.. these 4 steel posts."
Vladimir pauses for a moment, looking around at the empty seats.
"As you might have noticed, I've been a bit AWOL as of late. You see.. it seems somehow a very personal secret got leaked out to my dear wife.. a secret that I very well wish wasn't true. As I visited her in the hospital, she was delivering our son... and she told me to get out. She told me she knew about Amanda and she wanted nothing more to do with me ever again.. And it made me really take a step back."
"I found myself questioning what I'm doing here week in and week out, inside my little house. And the truth is that I don't have the slightest idea.."
"I've even skipped out on several matches, including a title match with Rurouni Kenshin Kobashi.. who I had been dying to fight again. As a matter of fact, I believe I'm not the only one that noticed... at least, it seems Metal Dragon took notice.."
"What did you say again, MD? That I was a coward? That you were my equal? That you've done more for GHW than I have?"
"Normally I'd leap out of this chair right now, get excited and pissed off and scream... but you see... I can't. I'm... broken. I don't want to do that anymore... I don't want to do this shit anymore. It's not even that I'm feeling like I have nothing left to give or don't have it in me anymore or that I'm not physically able and at the top of my game anymore... even if the latter is true. No, it's something way past that.."
Vladimir takes out a smoke and lights up, enjoying the calming effects of the nicotine.
"I do remember when GHW was the most inspiring and action packed thing around. In case you forgot, I was there. I also remember when EVPW was at it's very highest. I also remember how as time went on I just felt more and more worn out... not physically either, but mentally. It's taken me a long time to come to terms with why that is... but I think I finally have and I want to share it with you.."
"I'm sick of this dance because well, it's lonely at the top. See, GHW was great when it had men like Jake Diamond, Alex Stall at the top of his career, Hawkeye, you, Oliveira, etc. and EVPW was great when we has men like that and others like Rhaps, Demon, hell - Nicholas Carson even, men that were making an impact.."
"But now... look around. Tell me what you see.. Metal Dragon, I'm no coward.. I'm tired of proving time and time again what we ALL already know... that I am the greatest. Did you think it was mere coincidence that GHW came into greatness with MY arrival... and crumbled after my departure? Did you figure it was merely happenstance that EVPW, a company I built and worked from the ground up with my sweat, blood, and tears... became even bigger? Or that it should fall into a slump only in my absence? I hope you aren't foolish enough to convince yourself that there is no correlation between these things.."
"MD, GHW rose to the top because I carried it there. EVPW was the best because it was designed and held in the hands of the best. I have innovated the very core of wrestling and this is why I am a legend... a god.. in this industry. My work in and out of this ring revolutionized this business. Men like you, Matty, Diamond, Demon... they owe their greatness to me. It was ME who came along and upped the ante. I am the one who brought this from playful banter and fighting to true competition, transformed it into a battle of oneupmanship. And you dare to ask me to prove my worth against you?"
"MD, I don't have to prove anything... you want to fight me because you want to prove yourself. See, I can step away right now, never to come back, and people are still going to remember that you couldn't beat me... that the only smear on my perfect record rested in the midst of a bout where I managed to make every mistake I could in my deteriorated mental state. It took literal insanity to break me... and even then, only once. The only man in this business who could stop me did so... and that man was me."
"Andeven now, should I walk into that ring to face you, something I doubt I will do... I will only reaffirm everything I've said here today. I am a true Titan in this business and I fear that my own shadow has eclipsed what I loved. In molding this business to my own whims, I have created a world that can not survive with me in it. How can competition flourish when it is suppressed? I made this about competition and then killed it because I have been the King and under my reign.. there is no competition. There is no man nor woman nor ninja nor dragon that can match me..."
"It is such as the story of one of my heroes... Atilla the Hun. I wear this little sword around my neck as a sign of the sword of mars... the sword he wielded that made him unbeatable in battle. Atilla expanded the empire of the Hun's far beyond what it had been... he brought them higher than ever before; to great power and success. But upon his death... the empire became split.. because no man was fit to take his place - none were as mighty as he was."
"This business isn't a competition... it's a joke. It becomes more so with every passing day and I blame you more than anyone else, MD. You and Matthew Oliveira... with your shitty little promo's where you did nothing but laugh it up and make a mockery of what men like me worked hard to make a respectable industry. And see... now is the part where I get mad..."
The King sits forward in the chair and carelessly flicks his cigarette out into the empty arena seats.
"I busted my ass off to create what pricks like you reap the benefits from! You want to say I'm your equal? Dream of screwing my wife all you want, but I honestly don't believe you can even conceive being in my league! I built my own damn federation from the ground up and made it the most successful, innovative, talented one the world has seen! You want to know what I did for GHW, MD? You want to compare!? I did more than just holding 3 different titles there! On top of being the longest reigning champion the company has had TO THIS VERY DAY STILL, I created that title you're holding! I brought GHW the Golden Angel and Silver Devil titles! I brought Wednesday Night Genesis to GHW! Fan Appreciation and Fighty fighty person Appreciation nights? MY ideas! When SCW merged with GHW, I debuted in the main event at a Pay per view with a showing so brutal, so devastating that it not only ended the question of what company had the better talent, but it made people strive to fight longer and harder and bring more to the table than what people had been seeing already for years! Before I came to GHW, there was nothing! It was disorganized, unskilled, crap! The only men there that could even claim they had any talent in light of what I've brought was Hayden Hardkore and Tai Nai O Neill! And if you don't remember the latter, it's because he's never been the same since I dismantled him in that debut! I wasn't just some pretty face or a piece of talent... I was the very life force of GHW and if you don't believe me, you look back and TRY to remember what happened to it once I left... it withered away! And with so much as meager return and the claiming of it's title... I brought life back to it."
"Dome a favor and just attempt to muster up the balls to claim that this resurrection isn't because of me.. Tell me that you and Olive Oil would have given a shit about it if I hadn't taken this belt for my own! It was your revulsion at the fact that drove you to care, but nonetheless, you owe it to ME!"
"And let's go beyond the narrow vision of GHW... tell me who inspired the men who built ICW? Exactly who created EVPW, the fed that nearly put GHW in the grave? Hell, look at GHW's former management... it's former champions... tell me how many of them came from my playground in SCW? Who in the hell do you think brought a golden era to Hardcore and showed the world that it meant more than swinging the biggest stick?"
"I am God in this business... I give life and I take life to my whim. Everything that I touch turns to gold or fades to dust with my desires. So, before you go and retort to all of this and try to argue with everything that I've said... take a step back, rewind this, and listen to it again... because as far as I can see it... you should be down on your knees thanking me for making everything you've achieved possible."
"You complain about these men that come in here and immediately think a title shot is in order... but down deep, you're not a damned bit different. You may have the talent they don't, but you're still wrapped up in this ridiculous sense of entitlement... you still think that no matter what all I've accomplished, that because you've accomplished a lot too, that you're the same. You are everything that I despise in this business... everything that has driven me away. You have no respect for what we do. You laugh it all away and act like you're owed the world because people laugh at your jokes and pay you homage. I would venture to guess that you believe your name should go down in the books right up there with mine even. This entire industry... is polluted with men and women just like you... disrespectful ingrates who piss away their potential and think that being as popular as me means they are as great as me."
"Go ahead and chalk it up to narcissism, but one day you're going to understand everything I'm saying. You want the GHW world championship? Have it. I would rather personally hand it to you than to sit through one more of your little promos. I would lay down in the middle of the ring and let you cover me for the 3 so you can have it and prove to the world that this business is dead once and for all. And I would take all the beatings you wanted to dish out for it without striking back once if it would teach you and the rest of the world a bit of respect for the men who came before you, who paved the road you walk on."
"And the attitude I find in all of you has simply become contagious. I now give just as little of a damn about this industry as the rest of you do.. and I can't do this anymore. I can't sit back and watch the sport I love trampled and ripped apart and dying... especially when deep down the only person that I blame more than you for it is myself. I guess we do have a lot in common.."
As the Behemoth exits the ring, the shot fades out and the footage ends.
((I guess that's it for now, guys.. To be open and honest, I don't actually blame MD for any damages to Efedding, but I really have lost my interest. I just don't feel like the competition is there for me, like I have anything to strive for. I hope that no one agrees with my following statement, but I can't help but believe that the golden era of efedding is dead and that I'm outdated with it. Maybe I'll change my mind one day and I'll come back and things will be as great as they used to be, but it feels about as hopeful as thinking such of an ex.
I've had more amazing memories in this hobby than anything in my life... something that's either really pathetic or very depressing in retrospect. I wish the best to everyone.
I know this is going to be cheesy as hell, but I have a song stuck in my head from all of this and I want to share it... so with this, I bid you all adieu.
Peace))
"Yessir."
As it comes into focus, the source of the first voice comes into sight. It is none other than the EVPW Imperial Champion and GHW World Champion, Vladimir Strife. He is seated on a steel chair in the middle of the ring, the arena around him dark and empty as he has chosen to shoot this piece when no one else was around.
"2 and a half years... That's how long this place has been home to me. I've been through hell, high water, and things you couldn't find in either of them right here between these ropes.. these 4 steel posts."
Vladimir pauses for a moment, looking around at the empty seats.
"As you might have noticed, I've been a bit AWOL as of late. You see.. it seems somehow a very personal secret got leaked out to my dear wife.. a secret that I very well wish wasn't true. As I visited her in the hospital, she was delivering our son... and she told me to get out. She told me she knew about Amanda and she wanted nothing more to do with me ever again.. And it made me really take a step back."
"I found myself questioning what I'm doing here week in and week out, inside my little house. And the truth is that I don't have the slightest idea.."
"I've even skipped out on several matches, including a title match with Rurouni Kenshin Kobashi.. who I had been dying to fight again. As a matter of fact, I believe I'm not the only one that noticed... at least, it seems Metal Dragon took notice.."
"What did you say again, MD? That I was a coward? That you were my equal? That you've done more for GHW than I have?"
"Normally I'd leap out of this chair right now, get excited and pissed off and scream... but you see... I can't. I'm... broken. I don't want to do that anymore... I don't want to do this shit anymore. It's not even that I'm feeling like I have nothing left to give or don't have it in me anymore or that I'm not physically able and at the top of my game anymore... even if the latter is true. No, it's something way past that.."
Vladimir takes out a smoke and lights up, enjoying the calming effects of the nicotine.
"I do remember when GHW was the most inspiring and action packed thing around. In case you forgot, I was there. I also remember when EVPW was at it's very highest. I also remember how as time went on I just felt more and more worn out... not physically either, but mentally. It's taken me a long time to come to terms with why that is... but I think I finally have and I want to share it with you.."
"I'm sick of this dance because well, it's lonely at the top. See, GHW was great when it had men like Jake Diamond, Alex Stall at the top of his career, Hawkeye, you, Oliveira, etc. and EVPW was great when we has men like that and others like Rhaps, Demon, hell - Nicholas Carson even, men that were making an impact.."
"But now... look around. Tell me what you see.. Metal Dragon, I'm no coward.. I'm tired of proving time and time again what we ALL already know... that I am the greatest. Did you think it was mere coincidence that GHW came into greatness with MY arrival... and crumbled after my departure? Did you figure it was merely happenstance that EVPW, a company I built and worked from the ground up with my sweat, blood, and tears... became even bigger? Or that it should fall into a slump only in my absence? I hope you aren't foolish enough to convince yourself that there is no correlation between these things.."
"MD, GHW rose to the top because I carried it there. EVPW was the best because it was designed and held in the hands of the best. I have innovated the very core of wrestling and this is why I am a legend... a god.. in this industry. My work in and out of this ring revolutionized this business. Men like you, Matty, Diamond, Demon... they owe their greatness to me. It was ME who came along and upped the ante. I am the one who brought this from playful banter and fighting to true competition, transformed it into a battle of oneupmanship. And you dare to ask me to prove my worth against you?"
"MD, I don't have to prove anything... you want to fight me because you want to prove yourself. See, I can step away right now, never to come back, and people are still going to remember that you couldn't beat me... that the only smear on my perfect record rested in the midst of a bout where I managed to make every mistake I could in my deteriorated mental state. It took literal insanity to break me... and even then, only once. The only man in this business who could stop me did so... and that man was me."
"Andeven now, should I walk into that ring to face you, something I doubt I will do... I will only reaffirm everything I've said here today. I am a true Titan in this business and I fear that my own shadow has eclipsed what I loved. In molding this business to my own whims, I have created a world that can not survive with me in it. How can competition flourish when it is suppressed? I made this about competition and then killed it because I have been the King and under my reign.. there is no competition. There is no man nor woman nor ninja nor dragon that can match me..."
"It is such as the story of one of my heroes... Atilla the Hun. I wear this little sword around my neck as a sign of the sword of mars... the sword he wielded that made him unbeatable in battle. Atilla expanded the empire of the Hun's far beyond what it had been... he brought them higher than ever before; to great power and success. But upon his death... the empire became split.. because no man was fit to take his place - none were as mighty as he was."
"This business isn't a competition... it's a joke. It becomes more so with every passing day and I blame you more than anyone else, MD. You and Matthew Oliveira... with your shitty little promo's where you did nothing but laugh it up and make a mockery of what men like me worked hard to make a respectable industry. And see... now is the part where I get mad..."
The King sits forward in the chair and carelessly flicks his cigarette out into the empty arena seats.
"I busted my ass off to create what pricks like you reap the benefits from! You want to say I'm your equal? Dream of screwing my wife all you want, but I honestly don't believe you can even conceive being in my league! I built my own damn federation from the ground up and made it the most successful, innovative, talented one the world has seen! You want to know what I did for GHW, MD? You want to compare!? I did more than just holding 3 different titles there! On top of being the longest reigning champion the company has had TO THIS VERY DAY STILL, I created that title you're holding! I brought GHW the Golden Angel and Silver Devil titles! I brought Wednesday Night Genesis to GHW! Fan Appreciation and Fighty fighty person Appreciation nights? MY ideas! When SCW merged with GHW, I debuted in the main event at a Pay per view with a showing so brutal, so devastating that it not only ended the question of what company had the better talent, but it made people strive to fight longer and harder and bring more to the table than what people had been seeing already for years! Before I came to GHW, there was nothing! It was disorganized, unskilled, crap! The only men there that could even claim they had any talent in light of what I've brought was Hayden Hardkore and Tai Nai O Neill! And if you don't remember the latter, it's because he's never been the same since I dismantled him in that debut! I wasn't just some pretty face or a piece of talent... I was the very life force of GHW and if you don't believe me, you look back and TRY to remember what happened to it once I left... it withered away! And with so much as meager return and the claiming of it's title... I brought life back to it."
"Dome a favor and just attempt to muster up the balls to claim that this resurrection isn't because of me.. Tell me that you and Olive Oil would have given a shit about it if I hadn't taken this belt for my own! It was your revulsion at the fact that drove you to care, but nonetheless, you owe it to ME!"
"And let's go beyond the narrow vision of GHW... tell me who inspired the men who built ICW? Exactly who created EVPW, the fed that nearly put GHW in the grave? Hell, look at GHW's former management... it's former champions... tell me how many of them came from my playground in SCW? Who in the hell do you think brought a golden era to Hardcore and showed the world that it meant more than swinging the biggest stick?"
"I am God in this business... I give life and I take life to my whim. Everything that I touch turns to gold or fades to dust with my desires. So, before you go and retort to all of this and try to argue with everything that I've said... take a step back, rewind this, and listen to it again... because as far as I can see it... you should be down on your knees thanking me for making everything you've achieved possible."
"You complain about these men that come in here and immediately think a title shot is in order... but down deep, you're not a damned bit different. You may have the talent they don't, but you're still wrapped up in this ridiculous sense of entitlement... you still think that no matter what all I've accomplished, that because you've accomplished a lot too, that you're the same. You are everything that I despise in this business... everything that has driven me away. You have no respect for what we do. You laugh it all away and act like you're owed the world because people laugh at your jokes and pay you homage. I would venture to guess that you believe your name should go down in the books right up there with mine even. This entire industry... is polluted with men and women just like you... disrespectful ingrates who piss away their potential and think that being as popular as me means they are as great as me."
"Go ahead and chalk it up to narcissism, but one day you're going to understand everything I'm saying. You want the GHW world championship? Have it. I would rather personally hand it to you than to sit through one more of your little promos. I would lay down in the middle of the ring and let you cover me for the 3 so you can have it and prove to the world that this business is dead once and for all. And I would take all the beatings you wanted to dish out for it without striking back once if it would teach you and the rest of the world a bit of respect for the men who came before you, who paved the road you walk on."
"And the attitude I find in all of you has simply become contagious. I now give just as little of a damn about this industry as the rest of you do.. and I can't do this anymore. I can't sit back and watch the sport I love trampled and ripped apart and dying... especially when deep down the only person that I blame more than you for it is myself. I guess we do have a lot in common.."
As the Behemoth exits the ring, the shot fades out and the footage ends.
((I guess that's it for now, guys.. To be open and honest, I don't actually blame MD for any damages to Efedding, but I really have lost my interest. I just don't feel like the competition is there for me, like I have anything to strive for. I hope that no one agrees with my following statement, but I can't help but believe that the golden era of efedding is dead and that I'm outdated with it. Maybe I'll change my mind one day and I'll come back and things will be as great as they used to be, but it feels about as hopeful as thinking such of an ex.
I've had more amazing memories in this hobby than anything in my life... something that's either really pathetic or very depressing in retrospect. I wish the best to everyone.
I know this is going to be cheesy as hell, but I have a song stuck in my head from all of this and I want to share it... so with this, I bid you all adieu.
Peace))