Post by Chris Lionheart on Mar 27, 2009 5:42:40 GMT -5
March 27th was going to be a very important day for many people. March 27th was the day that several people had been granted special access to one of the most influential buildings in wrestling history. A tour bus packed with wrestling superstars, established and green alike, was pulling into the Georgia Dome, former home of TNB Wrestling. Stepping off the bus and sorting into a line as the tour-leader Chris Lionheart checks off all the names on his list, saying that the other bus will be here shortly and asking us to keep things civil with the other party because it was his name down as the trip organiser, and it was him who'd get the shit if things went badly. It was all very daunting for a green wrestler like myself. I looked around and saw established names from the past and wondered how I had gotten myself here.
There was Shawn Youngblood, who was looking to return to wrestling this year after all of his big time movie deals had finally run dry. His eyes may have been hidden behind his sunglasses, but I could tell from his stance and posture that he was just itching to get inside the building and step back inside the 'squared-circle' once more. I heard he'd gotten into a brief argument with someone in a cafe recently about the differences between being a dedicated 'cruiserweight' wrestler and the supposed superiority of being an XWA 'X-Gen' wrestler. As he carried a sports hold-all bag close to him, I think I could figure out what he had inside. A trusty Singapore cane, a symbolic representation of one which Jason had given him as a token of brotherly love after a hardcore match they were forced to have against each other in May 2006; after Jason had used it to split Shawn's head open and win the match. Also in that bag, if he planned to do a speech to the rest of us lowly greenhorns, would be his various Cruiserweight titles. I know he with him being one half of the last holders, he'd kept kept the physical TNB Cruiser-Tag belts as a memento, even after they'd been shelved by the company and later merged into the lineage of the TNB World Tag Titles in that big Night of Champions tournament they did to tie up all the title belt loose ends. Looking at him now... he certainly looked like he had something to prove. Everyone knew, especially me, that he wanted to finally step out of his younger brother's shadow and prove himself once more inside a wrestling ring now that the Hollywood Star treatment had worn off. I knew that especially.
Next to him was Jason Youngblood. All the brutal wars he'd been in over the years were taking their toll on him. The psychological mind-fucks that he'd been through as he battled almost constantly through his bouts with depression told a story that only he could tell if you truly looked into his face. To look at his body was arguably more powerfull, as he now leaned with his back against the bus, an open vest showing off an old scar on his chest, as a leather skirt allowed all to see his bare skin, and his now twice operated-on knees, encased in heavy knee braces. If he was in that sort of pain then he had no business fighting, or wrestling, if you asked me. Jason Youngblood may now be a father to a beautiful baby boy who was now pushing 4 years old and was running around as cute as anything, pretending to be his dad, but as Jason put his arm around his wife Lucy Youngblood, it was clear that he had a sickness. A sickness for the wrestling business itself, and a sickness within himself. Jason Youngblood had a sickness where no matter what he achieved, no matter how well known and respected he was, even by people who didn't know of him personally or only spent enough time around him in which to have a cup of coffee, no matter how many title belts he had held in different companies, or in different title divisions which showed off his diversity, he could never look at himself in the mirror and say he was the best in the world. There was always someone else out there, perhaps someone young and upcoming, or someone who'd recently surpassed him, or someone who was already established and didn't take a few years away from the ring to raise their kid. There was always somone out there to make him doubt himself and return to his old ways of thinking. That was usually when he picked up a barbed wire 2x4...
As I turn my attentions to Lionheart, I see a guy wearing a business suit, who looks a lot older than I remember seeing him at our training sessions last month. Out of his wrestling attire, with his ear pierced, an 5 o'clock unshaven stubble around his cheeks, his eyes seem to be clouded over and he looks weary. Perhaps it was caused by all the head trauma he'd had to endure over the last year after he was brutally attacked in the backstage area after a bounty was placed upon his head. He'd definitely made some enemies in his time as what some people say was a 'truely' controversial wrestler. But for someone to purposely put a dollar amount on his health? That seemed over the top to me. He'd spent much of 2007 on the sidelines with the same injury, and when he did seldom return to the ring it was as a crazed wild man who shouldn't have been anywhere near. But that was the kind of fighter he is, just like Jason Youngblood I guess. Never willing to truly hang up the boots. As he saw himself no longer performing at the levels he used to, I was sure that is why he'd turned towards starting up a new developmental territory in order to once more help younger guys like me, who were fresh and complete blank slates, get their start. I guess when you've done as much as Lionheart has in this business, there's not much you can do, and yet you don't want to leave, so you end up becoming a shadow of your former self, inside the ring and out of it.
Elijah Aries accidentally barged passed me as we started walking into the arena, obviously eager to get there first. He had the look, certainly, but I couldn't help but think his connection to god might hold him back in wrestling. As his white, gold and black attire was adorned with crosses, he'd made his faith pretty much into his gimmick, as his Jesus Cross swung around his neck on it's chain. Wrestling was full of what he would call sinners, I didn't understand how such a moral person would survive in such an immoral environment. Then I saw him pass by Lionheart and flash a thumbs up, and I realised that if Elijah did ever make it big, he'd probably do something similar to what Lionheart did on many occasions. And that would be to stand up for what was honourable, just and heroic. If that was the case, I didn't think it'd be long before he got himself almost black-balled and a bad reputation like Lionheart had, by the corrupt ones in this industry who didn't like what he was preaching.
As our tour group pours into the arena front doors, I notice another bus pulling up with some XWA wrestlers inside it. I wondered what they were doing here today, and if there'd be any trouble. I hung around the parking lot long enough to see them spill out and head in our direction...
