10-25-2022, 03:23 PM
Chapter 3
A.D. 430
Mount Parnassus
Greece
It had been over thirty years since the last time she stood here on this temple’s porch. It had been a full generation, but she could remember the bone chilling cold as if it was yesterday. She stood here as a child that day, with little knowledge of what was occurring, but a deep understanding that she had a more important role to play in the maintaining of ancient traditions than she could possibly imagine. More important than her peasant upbringing, more important than the woman who had brought her here, and more important than the ongoing war that continued to change the course of human history.
The flames that formerly shone bright in this place no longer danced in the night, but they’ve left behind a diminished illusion of times gone by: an overflow of gold and jewels, armies-worth of statues carved by the finest artists, and crowds of people who traveled far and wide to hear the words of the Oracle.
But no more.
On that fateful day so long ago, she stood here with the Oracle of Delphi, believed at the time to be the final Oracle, and the last to be called Pythia. But on the seventh day of the seventh month, as the Roman legions climbed the mountains below, and Apollo swung his chariot high to bring the sun into the morning sky, the Oracle was able to perform the sacred ritual and cause Anthea to inherit the powers that were fated to be lost that day. Her mission. Her only mission. Her life’s mission: do not let the way of the Oracle fade to nothing. Do not die, do not perish, do not get captured until able to perform the same ritual and pass the lineage of the Oracle to another innocent.
But she had failed. In hiding for the vast majority of the previous three decades, she was unable to locate the next in the Oracle line. She spent the last two years searching far and wide under the canvas of the night sky, safe to stay out of the sight of the Roman soldiers who now inhabit the area, but it was not enough. Now she had fallen victim to the Plague of Athens, an ancient disease that was thought to have gone dormant, and she can sense that her end is near. Thought to have been caused by a Roman soldier eating meat from an unclean rodent, the highly contagious epidemic killed swiftly and efficiently. The time from incubation to death merely days, it killed nearly twenty-five percent of the population of Athens and nearly ten percent of the population of all of Greece.
So, she has returned to the place of her creation, with hours to live, and minutes until sunrise. Through great effort and pain, she has bathed in Castilia’s silver spring, drank from the Kassotis spring, and sacrificed bay leaves to the eternal flame on the black marble alter near the temple entrance. She performed the preparations for the sacred ritual the same as the first Oracle had centuries ago, but without an innocent to absorb the lineage of the Oracle, she’s laid her faith into an absolute last resort:
The Forbidden Ritual.
It was said that the twelfth Pythia transferred the power of the Oracle into a statue of Apollo, only to be stricken down by the god for violating the Oracle’s sacred oath. As the story goes, Apollo unleashed the power of the sun and burned her in her place, before passing the powers to the next Pythia himself. Normally she would not be one to take such a risk, but when faced with the prospect of losing the Oracle’s lineage to a murderous virus, the wrath of Apollo did not sound so bad.
She pulled a sack from her back and opened it, revealing the only item she could procure on her secret escape to this location: a bible taken from the luggage of a Roman soldier. She nearly had to laugh at the irony of the situation, at the fact that the thing most prominently driving these Romans to conquer these lands could end up being the one thing that would keep the local traditions alive in the world.
As she lowered herself and knelt on the cold ground, the sun began to peek over the mountaintops in the distance. Knowing she was almost out of time, she quickly lowered her head, laid her hands on the book, and hurriedly whispered the sacred invocations required for the ritual.
A deep, final breath escaped her lungs as the last bits of sun that had remained hidden came into view. One way or the other, her fight was over. Completely exasperated by her long journey, she let the virus take her and fell to the ground, lifeless. She would go to the grave without the knowledge of whether her ritual was successful, or if she had truly failed.
But as the sun reached its highest point in the sky, a gust of wind pushed back the cover of the blessed book, revealing that the pages within have been cleaned.
It was as if each page had been bleached and prepared for a new story to be written.
Chapter 4
Present Day
Hollywood, CA, USA
The front door of a house in the Hollywood Hills swings open and in steps the “Rockstar” Randy Ramon. If his 2010 apartment looked like a single man’s first bachelor pad, then this home looks like a grown-ass man’s second house. Everything is clean, everything is in its place, and there’s not a speck of dust to be seen. He drops his keys in a bowl near the door, sets his bag down and heads directly for the bar in the corner of the room.
On his way he stops and clicks on the false fireplace that rests under the flat screen TV and across from the couch. After pouring himself a glass of a nondescript brown liquor, he plops down on the referenced couch and lets the events of the past few months wash over him.
Losing his one and only World Championship under false pretenses.
Nearly dying attempting to exact revenge on the man responsible.
Being saved by someone who refuses to make themselves known.
The instructions that keep rolling in from said someone, with no end in sight.
It’s a lot to deal with, feeling like the rug is being pulled out repeatedly, so he does what he does best and finishes off his first glass of brown.
Randy clicks the TV on, but doesn’t really pay attention to it, instead allowing himself to be alone with his thoughts.
His mind drifts back to the various losses he’s had to endure over the years: a partner, a friend, another partner-turned-brother. It’s been a lot.
Unfortunately, this line of thought has sent him back to that day, to those feelings, to that pain, to... that box. He remembers the words of his mother in the accompanying letter, when she told him that the contents of the box would change his life, forever, when he was ready. He wasn’t ready then. He’s probably not ready now. But as he thinks about it, he’s not sure he’ll ever be MORE ready than he is at this point, ahead of the biggest match of his career. And if something is going to “change his life,” what better place than here, what better time than now?
A short time later, after ripping his closet apart and emptying its contents across his bedroom, he’s back on the couch and the mahogany box rests on the coffee table in front of him. His head rests in his hands as he surveys the edges and considers the contents. After a long pause, he finally – after nearly twelve years – allows himself to open the box. Inside rests a single golden key and a rolled-up piece of papyrus.
Randy unravels the scroll and opens it, much to the chagrin of the material, which loudly crinkles as it’s flattened. The words within detail aspects of Randy’s family history that he now learns for the first time. Apparently, his family descends from the same bloodline as the last Oracle of Delphi. That’s not to say that any member of his immediate family possesses the power of the Oracle, but they’ve been charged with protecting the Book of Wonder.
Before perishing, the last Oracle was able to transfer the powers of the Oracle into a book, which was found by an invading Roman soldier. The Romans did not understand the meaning behind the book, or what it could do, and merely added it to their collection of treasures ravaged from ancient Greece. The book is said to be completely empty, not a single mark on any page. But there are several instances of viewers claiming that they saw inscriptions on the pages, and that those words were the exact ones they needed to hear at that time. Randy is skeptical but continues reading.
At some point during the crusades of the late fourteenth century, the book ended up in the hands of an Italian merchant, who brought it with him in 1492 on the voyage that brought Columbus to North America.
It bounced around in various museums from there, but ultimately ended up back in the possession of the Oracle's blood line. Randy’s great grandmother eventually passed it down to his grandmother, who passed it down to his mother, who placed it in a safety deposit box in suburban Detroit. The key in the mahogany box will open that vault. It’s now his responsibility to protect the secrets of the Oracle. The scroll ends there.
A few moments of reflection follow, before Randy allows the scroll to return to its rolled form, sets it back in the box, and takes the key in his hand.
After a moment of contemplation, he drops the key back in the box and chuckles as he leans back on the couch. “There’s no way, right?” he says to no one in particular, in a tone that suggests he’s trying to convince himself more than anything.
But then his mind is drawn back to various shenanigans from his past that seem to keep happening for inexplicable reasons.
Stacked up against those events, maybe this isn’t so crazy, he thinks to himself.
“God damnit,” he mutters to himself.
A few minutes later he’s booked a flight to Detroit, the key is in his pocket, his wrestling gear is in hand, and he’s back out the door.
Chapter 5
Present Day
Detroit Rock City, USA
Standing outside of the First National Bank of Detroit, he can’t help but feel the weight of the moment. It’s as if there’s a stabbing knot in his stomach telling him that something big is about to happen, but he has literally no idea what. Randy is going to walk inside and retrieve the book, assuming the thing even exists and is still here after all these years, and then who knows from there.
He gathers himself and walks through the double doors, crosses the lobby, procures the help of the Bank Manager, and is led into a small side room within the apartment-sized bank vault. The room is lined with safety deposit boxes – there must be at least a few thousand of them. Probably more. As they approach box number 1026 a chill runs down his spine. So much for coincidence - this is feeling more and more like fate. The manager inserts his key on the left, then Randy does the same on the right. The box is removed from the small vault and laid on a glorified card table in the center of the room.
Randy takes a seat at the table as the manager leaves the vault, with instructions to holler when he’s finished. He takes a deep breath as he undoes the hinge and flips the lid back. Excitement rushes through him. He didn’t believe it would be there. He convinced himself that this was just some elaborate prank his mother was playing on him from beyond the grave, but lo and behold.
Before him lays the Book of Wonder.
He carefully and gently slips the book out of the box, which is not much bigger than the book itself, and sets it on the table in front of him. After another deep breath, he flips the cover open, and is taken aback by what he sees. There are just six words strewn about the page:
At first, he’s confused. What could this possibly mean? He expected something... bigger. More grandiose. Secrets of the universe, maybe even tomorrow's lottery numbers. This makes no sense.
But then tears well up in his eyes, for as he rereads it, he can practically hear it in his mother’s voice. Shocked, he quickly slams the book shut and jumps from his seat. It this real? What kind of witchcraft is this?
Before he can even begin to contemplate the answers to those questions, a different feeling hits him: relief. It feels like a five-hundred-pound gorilla has been lifted from his back. He feels... free. Free of the guilt that has hung on him for so long. That’s not to say he’ll ever NOT regret moving to California and basically abandoning his family, but his mother’s words – whether physically hers or brought to him through some mythical magic – have lifted years of anxiety and deep self-degradation from his spirit in a matter of seconds. It’s an incredible feeling.
He finds that within moments, all feelings regarding his family, his mother, and nearly everything else have gone to the back of his mind, replaced by a new stress surrounding what might be the biggest opportunity of his life: his second chance, this time in SCW.
It worked once, why not try it again? It doesn’t take much self-convincing to bring himself to sit back down at the table and turn to the second page of the book. Incredibly, the pages are filled with words and sentences that he’d swear weren’t there a minute ago. As he reads, it’s as if he’s reading a letter to himself written by his future self:
Epilogue
Breakdown
October 26, 2022
The day has finally arrived. It’s that time. It’s this moment. Randy stands in the gorilla position, ready and waiting for his music to be ready. In the days leading up, seconds have felt like minutes, minutes have felt like hours. But now, it’s so close that he can taste it. After reading the words within the Book of Wonder, he’s let everything that he’s held onto fall away. All of his doubts, his angers, his guilts, his anxieties, his concerns. They’re all gone in support of a stronger notion: It’s finally his time.
He learned something this week – the confidence he felt in the past was just a series of mirages. It wasn't real. There was too much baggage piled on top of anything that could help him. But now, thanks to his family - the thing that most weighed on him for his entire career, the curse has been lifted.
Past losses were minor setbacks, steppingstones on the winding path to this exact moment. It’s clear to him now. He wasn’t ready yet.
Unfortunately for the SCW and Cassie Wolfe, he’s ready NOW, and that’s all that matters.
Randy can hear the anticipation of the crowd growing louder and louder, waiting for the first notes of his theme song to hit. The producer gives him a thumbs up, letting him know everything is ready. He takes a deep breath, calms himself, and nods to the producer at hand.
He looks to his left, at the ghost of wrestling past.
Then to his right, at the ghost of wrestling future.
He takes in one last chest-full of air and lowers his chin to his chest, exhales, and allows a few final words to slip through his lips.
“This one’s for you, Mom.”
…
…
…
RIIIIIIIIIISE!!!
A.D. 430
Mount Parnassus
Greece
It had been over thirty years since the last time she stood here on this temple’s porch. It had been a full generation, but she could remember the bone chilling cold as if it was yesterday. She stood here as a child that day, with little knowledge of what was occurring, but a deep understanding that she had a more important role to play in the maintaining of ancient traditions than she could possibly imagine. More important than her peasant upbringing, more important than the woman who had brought her here, and more important than the ongoing war that continued to change the course of human history.
The flames that formerly shone bright in this place no longer danced in the night, but they’ve left behind a diminished illusion of times gone by: an overflow of gold and jewels, armies-worth of statues carved by the finest artists, and crowds of people who traveled far and wide to hear the words of the Oracle.
But no more.
On that fateful day so long ago, she stood here with the Oracle of Delphi, believed at the time to be the final Oracle, and the last to be called Pythia. But on the seventh day of the seventh month, as the Roman legions climbed the mountains below, and Apollo swung his chariot high to bring the sun into the morning sky, the Oracle was able to perform the sacred ritual and cause Anthea to inherit the powers that were fated to be lost that day. Her mission. Her only mission. Her life’s mission: do not let the way of the Oracle fade to nothing. Do not die, do not perish, do not get captured until able to perform the same ritual and pass the lineage of the Oracle to another innocent.
But she had failed. In hiding for the vast majority of the previous three decades, she was unable to locate the next in the Oracle line. She spent the last two years searching far and wide under the canvas of the night sky, safe to stay out of the sight of the Roman soldiers who now inhabit the area, but it was not enough. Now she had fallen victim to the Plague of Athens, an ancient disease that was thought to have gone dormant, and she can sense that her end is near. Thought to have been caused by a Roman soldier eating meat from an unclean rodent, the highly contagious epidemic killed swiftly and efficiently. The time from incubation to death merely days, it killed nearly twenty-five percent of the population of Athens and nearly ten percent of the population of all of Greece.
So, she has returned to the place of her creation, with hours to live, and minutes until sunrise. Through great effort and pain, she has bathed in Castilia’s silver spring, drank from the Kassotis spring, and sacrificed bay leaves to the eternal flame on the black marble alter near the temple entrance. She performed the preparations for the sacred ritual the same as the first Oracle had centuries ago, but without an innocent to absorb the lineage of the Oracle, she’s laid her faith into an absolute last resort:
The Forbidden Ritual.
It was said that the twelfth Pythia transferred the power of the Oracle into a statue of Apollo, only to be stricken down by the god for violating the Oracle’s sacred oath. As the story goes, Apollo unleashed the power of the sun and burned her in her place, before passing the powers to the next Pythia himself. Normally she would not be one to take such a risk, but when faced with the prospect of losing the Oracle’s lineage to a murderous virus, the wrath of Apollo did not sound so bad.
She pulled a sack from her back and opened it, revealing the only item she could procure on her secret escape to this location: a bible taken from the luggage of a Roman soldier. She nearly had to laugh at the irony of the situation, at the fact that the thing most prominently driving these Romans to conquer these lands could end up being the one thing that would keep the local traditions alive in the world.
As she lowered herself and knelt on the cold ground, the sun began to peek over the mountaintops in the distance. Knowing she was almost out of time, she quickly lowered her head, laid her hands on the book, and hurriedly whispered the sacred invocations required for the ritual.
A deep, final breath escaped her lungs as the last bits of sun that had remained hidden came into view. One way or the other, her fight was over. Completely exasperated by her long journey, she let the virus take her and fell to the ground, lifeless. She would go to the grave without the knowledge of whether her ritual was successful, or if she had truly failed.
But as the sun reached its highest point in the sky, a gust of wind pushed back the cover of the blessed book, revealing that the pages within have been cleaned.
It was as if each page had been bleached and prepared for a new story to be written.
Chapter 4
Present Day
Hollywood, CA, USA
The front door of a house in the Hollywood Hills swings open and in steps the “Rockstar” Randy Ramon. If his 2010 apartment looked like a single man’s first bachelor pad, then this home looks like a grown-ass man’s second house. Everything is clean, everything is in its place, and there’s not a speck of dust to be seen. He drops his keys in a bowl near the door, sets his bag down and heads directly for the bar in the corner of the room.
On his way he stops and clicks on the false fireplace that rests under the flat screen TV and across from the couch. After pouring himself a glass of a nondescript brown liquor, he plops down on the referenced couch and lets the events of the past few months wash over him.
Losing his one and only World Championship under false pretenses.
Nearly dying attempting to exact revenge on the man responsible.
Being saved by someone who refuses to make themselves known.
The instructions that keep rolling in from said someone, with no end in sight.
It’s a lot to deal with, feeling like the rug is being pulled out repeatedly, so he does what he does best and finishes off his first glass of brown.
Randy clicks the TV on, but doesn’t really pay attention to it, instead allowing himself to be alone with his thoughts.
His mind drifts back to the various losses he’s had to endure over the years: a partner, a friend, another partner-turned-brother. It’s been a lot.
Unfortunately, this line of thought has sent him back to that day, to those feelings, to that pain, to... that box. He remembers the words of his mother in the accompanying letter, when she told him that the contents of the box would change his life, forever, when he was ready. He wasn’t ready then. He’s probably not ready now. But as he thinks about it, he’s not sure he’ll ever be MORE ready than he is at this point, ahead of the biggest match of his career. And if something is going to “change his life,” what better place than here, what better time than now?
A short time later, after ripping his closet apart and emptying its contents across his bedroom, he’s back on the couch and the mahogany box rests on the coffee table in front of him. His head rests in his hands as he surveys the edges and considers the contents. After a long pause, he finally – after nearly twelve years – allows himself to open the box. Inside rests a single golden key and a rolled-up piece of papyrus.
Randy unravels the scroll and opens it, much to the chagrin of the material, which loudly crinkles as it’s flattened. The words within detail aspects of Randy’s family history that he now learns for the first time. Apparently, his family descends from the same bloodline as the last Oracle of Delphi. That’s not to say that any member of his immediate family possesses the power of the Oracle, but they’ve been charged with protecting the Book of Wonder.
Before perishing, the last Oracle was able to transfer the powers of the Oracle into a book, which was found by an invading Roman soldier. The Romans did not understand the meaning behind the book, or what it could do, and merely added it to their collection of treasures ravaged from ancient Greece. The book is said to be completely empty, not a single mark on any page. But there are several instances of viewers claiming that they saw inscriptions on the pages, and that those words were the exact ones they needed to hear at that time. Randy is skeptical but continues reading.
At some point during the crusades of the late fourteenth century, the book ended up in the hands of an Italian merchant, who brought it with him in 1492 on the voyage that brought Columbus to North America.
It bounced around in various museums from there, but ultimately ended up back in the possession of the Oracle's blood line. Randy’s great grandmother eventually passed it down to his grandmother, who passed it down to his mother, who placed it in a safety deposit box in suburban Detroit. The key in the mahogany box will open that vault. It’s now his responsibility to protect the secrets of the Oracle. The scroll ends there.
A few moments of reflection follow, before Randy allows the scroll to return to its rolled form, sets it back in the box, and takes the key in his hand.
After a moment of contemplation, he drops the key back in the box and chuckles as he leans back on the couch. “There’s no way, right?” he says to no one in particular, in a tone that suggests he’s trying to convince himself more than anything.
But then his mind is drawn back to various shenanigans from his past that seem to keep happening for inexplicable reasons.
Stacked up against those events, maybe this isn’t so crazy, he thinks to himself.
“God damnit,” he mutters to himself.
A few minutes later he’s booked a flight to Detroit, the key is in his pocket, his wrestling gear is in hand, and he’s back out the door.
Chapter 5
Present Day
Detroit Rock City, USA
Standing outside of the First National Bank of Detroit, he can’t help but feel the weight of the moment. It’s as if there’s a stabbing knot in his stomach telling him that something big is about to happen, but he has literally no idea what. Randy is going to walk inside and retrieve the book, assuming the thing even exists and is still here after all these years, and then who knows from there.
He gathers himself and walks through the double doors, crosses the lobby, procures the help of the Bank Manager, and is led into a small side room within the apartment-sized bank vault. The room is lined with safety deposit boxes – there must be at least a few thousand of them. Probably more. As they approach box number 1026 a chill runs down his spine. So much for coincidence - this is feeling more and more like fate. The manager inserts his key on the left, then Randy does the same on the right. The box is removed from the small vault and laid on a glorified card table in the center of the room.
Randy takes a seat at the table as the manager leaves the vault, with instructions to holler when he’s finished. He takes a deep breath as he undoes the hinge and flips the lid back. Excitement rushes through him. He didn’t believe it would be there. He convinced himself that this was just some elaborate prank his mother was playing on him from beyond the grave, but lo and behold.
Before him lays the Book of Wonder.
He carefully and gently slips the book out of the box, which is not much bigger than the book itself, and sets it on the table in front of him. After another deep breath, he flips the cover open, and is taken aback by what he sees. There are just six words strewn about the page:
“It is okay. I forgive you.”
At first, he’s confused. What could this possibly mean? He expected something... bigger. More grandiose. Secrets of the universe, maybe even tomorrow's lottery numbers. This makes no sense.
But then tears well up in his eyes, for as he rereads it, he can practically hear it in his mother’s voice. Shocked, he quickly slams the book shut and jumps from his seat. It this real? What kind of witchcraft is this?
Before he can even begin to contemplate the answers to those questions, a different feeling hits him: relief. It feels like a five-hundred-pound gorilla has been lifted from his back. He feels... free. Free of the guilt that has hung on him for so long. That’s not to say he’ll ever NOT regret moving to California and basically abandoning his family, but his mother’s words – whether physically hers or brought to him through some mythical magic – have lifted years of anxiety and deep self-degradation from his spirit in a matter of seconds. It’s an incredible feeling.
He finds that within moments, all feelings regarding his family, his mother, and nearly everything else have gone to the back of his mind, replaced by a new stress surrounding what might be the biggest opportunity of his life: his second chance, this time in SCW.
It worked once, why not try it again? It doesn’t take much self-convincing to bring himself to sit back down at the table and turn to the second page of the book. Incredibly, the pages are filled with words and sentences that he’d swear weren’t there a minute ago. As he reads, it’s as if he’s reading a letter to himself written by his future self:
"As you stand here at the beginning of the long road that will be your SCW career, there are a few things you need to know:
First, you’ve done this before. You did it in GWA when you climbed to the top of the mountain and knocked cocky Blake Oliver from his shiny pedestal. You did it again when you reached the pinnacle of the FWA, dethroning Chris Kennedy and kicking Danny Toner’s teeth in.
Those stories may not have the happiest endings, but they say time heals all wounds.
And you? You're in your PRIME.
Why not you? Why not now?
Cassie Wolfe is merely a speedbump on your own personal Audubon to the top of the SCW. Jamison Logan was the first, and you dispatched of him with ease. The same will be true of Cassie. She’s a joke. You know as well as anyone that to defeat you is to kill you. So then – why have they sent a child to do the work of an assassin? It’s beneath you on your worst day, and a ridiculous punchline on your best.
Your trajectory is pointed squarely in the upward direction, and it’s only a matter of time until you stand across the ring from Xander Valentine and fulfill your destiny. Xander – now there’s someone worthy of your attention. Someone who understands what it takes to reach the top. Someone who would do whatever it takes to stay there. But first… the “Rebel Princess” will see her kingdom burnt to the ground, sifting through the ashes of her own broken dreams.
You know this to be true. So, before you go on listening to the experts, or the podcasts, or whatever they call themselves nowadays, remember that you belong here.
You’re not an ‘old man’, or ‘washed up’, or whatever the descriptor of the week will be. You’ve heard it all before.
They don’t know it yet, but they will.
Remember, they said that you couldn’t survive without Ayla El. Then they said the same of Devin Golden. They said you wouldn’t make it as a singles act.
They were SO sure of it that they stripped you of a single’s title shot when you entered the tag team division. But you’ve already proven them wrong!
They tried to end the revolution before it began, but they failed!
They said you weren’t championship material, but you were!
They said you’d never be a WORLD Champion. But you did it!
You’ve been doubted and second guessed at literally every single turn of your career, but you’ve ALWAYS come out on top!
That was YOU.
That was the Rockstar.
That was Randy Ramon.
They can never take that away from you.
This is it. This is the moment you’ve fought tooth and nail for, for almost fifteen years. You've already cemented yourself as one of the BEST TAG TEAM COMPETITORS of all time.
The SCW doesn’t know it yet, but they will.
This is your LAST chance to climb the ladder and win the industry's greatest prize, and cement yourself as one of THE BEST, full stop, of all time.
Why shouldn't you? You've got the biggest weapon.
Your kick is LETHAL.
NO ONE has ever kicked out of yours.
One moment is all it takes, and it's over.
They don’t know yet, but they will.
So, do it. Get on that plane.
Walk into that stadium.
Walk down to that ring and kick their teeth in.
Do what you do.
Kill them...
...and claim your birthright."
Epilogue
Breakdown
October 26, 2022
The day has finally arrived. It’s that time. It’s this moment. Randy stands in the gorilla position, ready and waiting for his music to be ready. In the days leading up, seconds have felt like minutes, minutes have felt like hours. But now, it’s so close that he can taste it. After reading the words within the Book of Wonder, he’s let everything that he’s held onto fall away. All of his doubts, his angers, his guilts, his anxieties, his concerns. They’re all gone in support of a stronger notion: It’s finally his time.
He learned something this week – the confidence he felt in the past was just a series of mirages. It wasn't real. There was too much baggage piled on top of anything that could help him. But now, thanks to his family - the thing that most weighed on him for his entire career, the curse has been lifted.
Past losses were minor setbacks, steppingstones on the winding path to this exact moment. It’s clear to him now. He wasn’t ready yet.
Unfortunately for the SCW and Cassie Wolfe, he’s ready NOW, and that’s all that matters.
Randy can hear the anticipation of the crowd growing louder and louder, waiting for the first notes of his theme song to hit. The producer gives him a thumbs up, letting him know everything is ready. He takes a deep breath, calms himself, and nods to the producer at hand.
He looks to his left, at the ghost of wrestling past.
Then to his right, at the ghost of wrestling future.
He takes in one last chest-full of air and lowers his chin to his chest, exhales, and allows a few final words to slip through his lips.
“This one’s for you, Mom.”
…
…
…
RIIIIIIIIIISE!!!