Post by TheNewBreed on Oct 21, 2023 21:45:45 GMT -5
Dear John,
It's been awhile since we talked... well, like this at least. We should more often, and that's on me... I know. A lot's happened since last time... things have been rough to say the least. I didn't expect to end up here... like this... and I guess you didn't either.
Who would, right?
I wish I had had more forethought into what you would do with your life... what choices you would have to make and how you would feel about the things you had to do to get where you were headed... but I guess everyone does, huh? Wouldn't it be nice to just lay out the plan, day by day, week by week... and have it all just go as you hoped it would? I know I would give up nearly anything I've ever loved to have it work that way... but life doesn't work like that, does it?
We struggle... we endure... we persist... just to struggle more the next day to persist to the next one after that... and for what?
To succeed?
To survive?
But why though?
Why do we even try?
Well, John... we try because of Hope. We Hope that tomorrow will be the day we finally succeed. We hope that tomorrow will see us streaking towards our end goals at the speed of light. We hope that tomorrow is the day all the toils and torment are finally rewarded and we find the glory we have sought the whole time...
But Hope...
Hope's a drug... and it can make us do things that we know we shouldn't do... things we wouldn't do if the reward was just a little bit smaller... things we wouldn't dare try if the glory gained wasn't as great as it was... but Hope drives us... compels us to take the chance... try the thing... risk it all.
Thus... Hope can be our destroyer.
Hope can lead us down a path we should have never taken... but we will... every time.
We can't help it, really. Hope is so much of what we are... hopeful romantic... hopeful leader... hopeful creator... hopeful father... it's a part of us. Hope IS us... and it's that same Hope that has led us to find so much tragedy... and remain resilient enough to endure... to survive.
We don't deserve the torments we have survived. We don't deserve the treatment we have received. We don't deserve to scratch and claw for every little thing we gain for ourselves... we don't deserve it.
We just endure it.
We only thrive because of Hope... Hope for a better tomorrow... Hope for the future we seek with no promise to ever actually see it come to fruition... and yet we hope that some day will be tomorrow and it will all be worth it.
That's the allure of Hope.
That's the danger of Hope.
Hope can make us disregard all of the warning signs to rush headlong into the future where we might finally get he thing we have been chasing... and no matter how many times the Universe has tried to teach us the lesson... we will forever be drawn to the Hope of a better tomorrow like a moth to the flame.
It's our nature... and it is undeniable.
At this point, John... I truly believe we exist merely by our own will to do so.
It's that same resilient nature that allows us to continue to believe in Hope, and in that we find a cyclical nature of our very being.
We Hope... We try... We suffer... We Hope...
Nowhere in this notion of ours is the idea of failure... even though we fail far more often than we succeed.
Failure is a lesson learned... a new idea taught through real life application... an attempt at something new.
Failure is not to be feared... it never was.
Men like us understand fear... and face it. Failure isn't a thing we fear.. but we are all too happy to have embraced the failure for the attempt, if nothing else.
That's one of the things I love about us, John... we will try... and no matter the outcome... we will try again... and again... and each and every time... we learn a little bit more... we become more capable... we claw our way one step closer to making our Hope mean something... every single time.
We carry so much hurt... so much betrayal... so much loss.
I know I said I was going to treat us kinder last time... I was going to try to keep us safe, and I promised you I would... and I tried, John. I really did. I tried to be the man you expect me to be... and I tried to give us a better life than I had given us before... and while I made some good strides towards that effort... like most of our attempts... I failed.
In that failure... I learned many lessons, John. Many. My life is different now... and so is yours. I'm not going to apologize for it anymore though... or make any promises for the future that I can't live up to either. I'm tired of not living up to the hype. I'm tired of not achieving the things I want out of life, and for far too long... I thought if we just worked hard... we would deserve it. We would get everything we ever wanted because we were good men and we deserved it... if we just did what we could and endured until tomorrow came...
We would deserve it...
Naturally we would get it...
Right?
No, John. No.
We don't deserve anything... and neither does anyone else.
What does that even mean, to deserve something, really?
To be worthy... What does that even matter?
Does one's worth ensure karmic justice? Does it procure special powers, or some supreme boon? Of course not... because worthiness doesn't matter. It's a false metric... and for all of the spouting about what everyone deserves, and how someone deserves this or that special privileged or opportunity... the Universe does not weight our achievements or successes in what we deserve.
The only metric that matters to success is how much you can reach out and take for yourself and hang onto at the end of the day. That's it. That's all that matters. What do you want to take for yourself, and how much of it can you keep? The people around you choose to stick with you because of the way you treat them... how you make them feel... how you push them to be better versions of themselves. The best people around you do the same thing for you, and your presence in each other's life mutually increases your chances of enduring until tomorrow becomes today... but the only thing that matters is what you can take from the cosmic maelstrom for yourself... and what you can keep a hold of.
No one is ever just going to hand us the World Title, John... It isn't going to happen. You know that, though... I know you do... I know we do.
I know how hard this is going to be... three fights in two nights against some of the stiffest opponents you've faced all year... but I also know what you're capable of. I know how much heart you have, and how much determination blazes away in your soul.
Plenty of people in the locker room have worked hard this year to get here, into this tournament, facing off for the chance to become the next number one contender for our WGWF World Heavyweight Championship. Many of them even deserve shots at our Title.
It doesn't matter, John.
Only one person can walk into this tournament and take what belongs to us, John... and that's you. It doesn't matter that we deserve the win.. even though we definitely DO deserve it... but lots of people deserve the chance... and none of them are going to take what belongs to us.
You're going to make sure of it... I know you will.
I have faith in you.
You have given me every reason to have faith in you since the Relaunch... and I wouldn't put my money on any other horse in the race if I had to.
You're the guy...
You've always been the guy...
You just have to decide to reach out and take it, John.
This is our time... this is our chance. This is it. There is an open path to finally claiming the Title for the third time, and actually holding it... defending it... forging our Legacy in the Halls of the WGWF forever. That open path is treacherous and filled with monsters who would love nothing more than to take your place on the Throne, John... but you are the warrior that can win here... you are the one who is meant to take our Title back and put it where it belongs after all these years... you are the Beast of their nightmares... and it's you they're looking to beat.
Whether they admit it or not, John... it's you they're all looking at with fear in their hearts and trepidation in their soul. It's you they fear, John... and they know it's you they have to face in the in the end to earn our Belt... but none of them can stop you this time... if you just reach out and take it... and hold on to it for your own.
You can... right now... and you will... because we have Hope... and tomorrow could be the day.
It won't be because you want it more than they do.
It won't be because you trained harder than they did.
It won't be because we are more resilient then they are.
It won't be because we deserve it...
You will walk into that ring at the Cannabis Cup and TAKE the victory and follow the road to face off with Peter Vaughn. You will climb into that ring and TAKE our Title off of the Mechanic... You will take on all those brave enough to challenge for our Title... and you will forge the Legacy you were always meant to have.
Hope will guide you... and Hope will deliver us into the glory of tomorrow.
This is inevitable.
The Cup is merely a formality, John, designed to crush the dreams of those who fail and establish a pecking order for the challenges to come.. and they will... from all over the globe to take their chance at the Beast... and fall at our feet one after another as you establish the most dominant Title reign the WGWF has ever seen.
Oh... they will all deserve their chance... and many of them might even deserve to wear the belt one day... but this industry isn't built on deserved worthiness, John. This business is built on the shoulders of men who took what they wanted from the Universe and dared anyone to come and try to take what they had reached out into the ether and grasped for themselves. They defended what belonged to them, and they knew that whatever they couldn't defend would slip away... grasped at by countless hands trying to carve out their own horde of things to dangle in front of those who came after them... hungry new talents who learned from them and when they had learned enough... they reached out past their own things and took the things the ones who came before had built, and they made them their own. Those new talents took the opportunity to carve out their own niches in the business and shaped it in their image... and eventually... a newer talent came along and carved out their own space... and generation after generation the old ones are forgotten and disappear as the next big thing makes their way in.
We are the last of the old guard... and the only one who has yet to truly forge their Legacy from that bygone era. The roster has the deepest group of Talent it's seen in decades, and this fight will be the hardest fight of your life so far... of this I have no doubt... but I have faith... and I have Hope... in you.
For all the grief you're given about your failure to close the deal when the stakes are high... only two men have a singles victory over you since you returned a year and a half ago... two.
Those two men were at the top of the ladder when you fought them... and you gave them both a fight they won't soon forget.
We took Mark Flynn to the limits in CCPE Vs the World, and while he won that match... he didn't seem very eager to climb into a ring and do it again any time soon, did he? He was the reigning XWF World Heavyweight Champion when you fought him... and we took him to task, John. One of the most prestigious Belts in the Business at the time... and we took him to the edge of the abyss and made him look himself in the mirror and wonder if he had what it took to finish the job...
Yeah... We did that.
We made the world wonder who would come out the WGWF World Heavyweight Champion when you finally got your chance at Peter Vaughn's reign... and we definitely made him ask more than a few questions during one of the best Title Defenses Vaughn had in his run as Champion... and now... we have the chance to rectify that loss. I know Vaughn is watching this at home right now... and in the back of his mind... he wonders if it's going to be you that pulls this off. It tickles the back of his brain to think about it... I know it does. It's there, nagging away at him... and he wants so badly to forget that this might come to pass in just a few weeks. He's said his prayers to the great Wrench in the sky and he has asked the Holy Mechanic to let anyone other than you win this match... because of all the people who could win... YOU are the one he doesn't know if he can beat again.
Many other Superstars have climbed into a ring with you since your return... and one on one... you have beaten them all, in every sort of match at every sort of arena and on every conceivable stage. The fans have rallied behind you for a reason... and its time to give them what they have believed you could give them from the beginning.
It's time to give ourselves what he have been working for... and it's time for tomorrow to become today.
Yes we deserve it... but many others do as well...
This isn't about being worthy, John... though we are... its about reaching out and taking what belongs to us... what we want for ourselves... and defending it against anyone foolish enough to come and try to take it for their own.
I know you can.
I know we can.
Now it's time to do it... time to prove it... time to reach out and take it... finally... making tomorrow today. It's our time, John... now go do it... take it... hold it... defend it... cherish it... for every moment we get to hang onto it... because it belongs to us... and it's finally time to go bring it home.
We deserve so much more than I give ourselves... and it's been too long since I've forgotten that. This year has shown me that I've been selling us short in everything... and I'm not going to do that again.
That promise I CAN make... because I know what we're worth now, John... and I'll never forget it again.
With Faith and Hope for tomorrow...
Mel
As the purple smoke swirled around Cable dimly lit in the strange crossroads surrounded by the thick trunks of pine trees that disappeared above in the shadows of the darkness beyond the single pale white streetlamp, the other John rushed from the copse of trees into the roadway towards him. Panic gripped him... too long he had waited to get this chance at revenge... and somehow... somehow that droid had found a way to reach them, even here!
POP
The purple flash of blinding light made the other John shield his eyes, but when he could look again... Cable was gone. The faint swirls of purple smoke twirled away in the night winds and were gone just like his quarry... and he was livid.
βNO!!! GOD's BE DAMNED!!!β he shouted at the empty crossroad, his gravely tone so familiar, but the seething rage made it strange and twisted.
The other John pushed his dark blue coat sleeve up and smashed a few of the many buttons on the face of the device on his wrist, his frustration and anger evident from the force of his thick fingers on the keys and the shaking of his hands.
βThis isn't over you son of a bitch. I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done.β he said between gritted teeth to no one as the sphere of dimly lit forest began to dissolve into a star speckled void and the other John fell into nothing and disappeared.
It's been awhile since we talked... well, like this at least. We should more often, and that's on me... I know. A lot's happened since last time... things have been rough to say the least. I didn't expect to end up here... like this... and I guess you didn't either.
Who would, right?
I wish I had had more forethought into what you would do with your life... what choices you would have to make and how you would feel about the things you had to do to get where you were headed... but I guess everyone does, huh? Wouldn't it be nice to just lay out the plan, day by day, week by week... and have it all just go as you hoped it would? I know I would give up nearly anything I've ever loved to have it work that way... but life doesn't work like that, does it?
We struggle... we endure... we persist... just to struggle more the next day to persist to the next one after that... and for what?
To succeed?
To survive?
But why though?
Why do we even try?
Well, John... we try because of Hope. We Hope that tomorrow will be the day we finally succeed. We hope that tomorrow will see us streaking towards our end goals at the speed of light. We hope that tomorrow is the day all the toils and torment are finally rewarded and we find the glory we have sought the whole time...
But Hope...
Hope's a drug... and it can make us do things that we know we shouldn't do... things we wouldn't do if the reward was just a little bit smaller... things we wouldn't dare try if the glory gained wasn't as great as it was... but Hope drives us... compels us to take the chance... try the thing... risk it all.
Thus... Hope can be our destroyer.
Hope can lead us down a path we should have never taken... but we will... every time.
We can't help it, really. Hope is so much of what we are... hopeful romantic... hopeful leader... hopeful creator... hopeful father... it's a part of us. Hope IS us... and it's that same Hope that has led us to find so much tragedy... and remain resilient enough to endure... to survive.
We don't deserve the torments we have survived. We don't deserve the treatment we have received. We don't deserve to scratch and claw for every little thing we gain for ourselves... we don't deserve it.
We just endure it.
We only thrive because of Hope... Hope for a better tomorrow... Hope for the future we seek with no promise to ever actually see it come to fruition... and yet we hope that some day will be tomorrow and it will all be worth it.
That's the allure of Hope.
That's the danger of Hope.
Hope can make us disregard all of the warning signs to rush headlong into the future where we might finally get he thing we have been chasing... and no matter how many times the Universe has tried to teach us the lesson... we will forever be drawn to the Hope of a better tomorrow like a moth to the flame.
It's our nature... and it is undeniable.
At this point, John... I truly believe we exist merely by our own will to do so.
It's that same resilient nature that allows us to continue to believe in Hope, and in that we find a cyclical nature of our very being.
We Hope... We try... We suffer... We Hope...
Nowhere in this notion of ours is the idea of failure... even though we fail far more often than we succeed.
Failure is a lesson learned... a new idea taught through real life application... an attempt at something new.
Failure is not to be feared... it never was.
Men like us understand fear... and face it. Failure isn't a thing we fear.. but we are all too happy to have embraced the failure for the attempt, if nothing else.
That's one of the things I love about us, John... we will try... and no matter the outcome... we will try again... and again... and each and every time... we learn a little bit more... we become more capable... we claw our way one step closer to making our Hope mean something... every single time.
We carry so much hurt... so much betrayal... so much loss.
I know I said I was going to treat us kinder last time... I was going to try to keep us safe, and I promised you I would... and I tried, John. I really did. I tried to be the man you expect me to be... and I tried to give us a better life than I had given us before... and while I made some good strides towards that effort... like most of our attempts... I failed.
In that failure... I learned many lessons, John. Many. My life is different now... and so is yours. I'm not going to apologize for it anymore though... or make any promises for the future that I can't live up to either. I'm tired of not living up to the hype. I'm tired of not achieving the things I want out of life, and for far too long... I thought if we just worked hard... we would deserve it. We would get everything we ever wanted because we were good men and we deserved it... if we just did what we could and endured until tomorrow came...
We would deserve it...
Naturally we would get it...
Right?
No, John. No.
We don't deserve anything... and neither does anyone else.
What does that even mean, to deserve something, really?
To be worthy... What does that even matter?
Does one's worth ensure karmic justice? Does it procure special powers, or some supreme boon? Of course not... because worthiness doesn't matter. It's a false metric... and for all of the spouting about what everyone deserves, and how someone deserves this or that special privileged or opportunity... the Universe does not weight our achievements or successes in what we deserve.
The only metric that matters to success is how much you can reach out and take for yourself and hang onto at the end of the day. That's it. That's all that matters. What do you want to take for yourself, and how much of it can you keep? The people around you choose to stick with you because of the way you treat them... how you make them feel... how you push them to be better versions of themselves. The best people around you do the same thing for you, and your presence in each other's life mutually increases your chances of enduring until tomorrow becomes today... but the only thing that matters is what you can take from the cosmic maelstrom for yourself... and what you can keep a hold of.
No one is ever just going to hand us the World Title, John... It isn't going to happen. You know that, though... I know you do... I know we do.
I know how hard this is going to be... three fights in two nights against some of the stiffest opponents you've faced all year... but I also know what you're capable of. I know how much heart you have, and how much determination blazes away in your soul.
Plenty of people in the locker room have worked hard this year to get here, into this tournament, facing off for the chance to become the next number one contender for our WGWF World Heavyweight Championship. Many of them even deserve shots at our Title.
It doesn't matter, John.
Only one person can walk into this tournament and take what belongs to us, John... and that's you. It doesn't matter that we deserve the win.. even though we definitely DO deserve it... but lots of people deserve the chance... and none of them are going to take what belongs to us.
You're going to make sure of it... I know you will.
I have faith in you.
You have given me every reason to have faith in you since the Relaunch... and I wouldn't put my money on any other horse in the race if I had to.
You're the guy...
You've always been the guy...
You just have to decide to reach out and take it, John.
This is our time... this is our chance. This is it. There is an open path to finally claiming the Title for the third time, and actually holding it... defending it... forging our Legacy in the Halls of the WGWF forever. That open path is treacherous and filled with monsters who would love nothing more than to take your place on the Throne, John... but you are the warrior that can win here... you are the one who is meant to take our Title back and put it where it belongs after all these years... you are the Beast of their nightmares... and it's you they're looking to beat.
Whether they admit it or not, John... it's you they're all looking at with fear in their hearts and trepidation in their soul. It's you they fear, John... and they know it's you they have to face in the in the end to earn our Belt... but none of them can stop you this time... if you just reach out and take it... and hold on to it for your own.
You can... right now... and you will... because we have Hope... and tomorrow could be the day.
It won't be because you want it more than they do.
It won't be because you trained harder than they did.
It won't be because we are more resilient then they are.
It won't be because we deserve it...
You will walk into that ring at the Cannabis Cup and TAKE the victory and follow the road to face off with Peter Vaughn. You will climb into that ring and TAKE our Title off of the Mechanic... You will take on all those brave enough to challenge for our Title... and you will forge the Legacy you were always meant to have.
Hope will guide you... and Hope will deliver us into the glory of tomorrow.
This is inevitable.
The Cup is merely a formality, John, designed to crush the dreams of those who fail and establish a pecking order for the challenges to come.. and they will... from all over the globe to take their chance at the Beast... and fall at our feet one after another as you establish the most dominant Title reign the WGWF has ever seen.
Oh... they will all deserve their chance... and many of them might even deserve to wear the belt one day... but this industry isn't built on deserved worthiness, John. This business is built on the shoulders of men who took what they wanted from the Universe and dared anyone to come and try to take what they had reached out into the ether and grasped for themselves. They defended what belonged to them, and they knew that whatever they couldn't defend would slip away... grasped at by countless hands trying to carve out their own horde of things to dangle in front of those who came after them... hungry new talents who learned from them and when they had learned enough... they reached out past their own things and took the things the ones who came before had built, and they made them their own. Those new talents took the opportunity to carve out their own niches in the business and shaped it in their image... and eventually... a newer talent came along and carved out their own space... and generation after generation the old ones are forgotten and disappear as the next big thing makes their way in.
We are the last of the old guard... and the only one who has yet to truly forge their Legacy from that bygone era. The roster has the deepest group of Talent it's seen in decades, and this fight will be the hardest fight of your life so far... of this I have no doubt... but I have faith... and I have Hope... in you.
For all the grief you're given about your failure to close the deal when the stakes are high... only two men have a singles victory over you since you returned a year and a half ago... two.
Those two men were at the top of the ladder when you fought them... and you gave them both a fight they won't soon forget.
We took Mark Flynn to the limits in CCPE Vs the World, and while he won that match... he didn't seem very eager to climb into a ring and do it again any time soon, did he? He was the reigning XWF World Heavyweight Champion when you fought him... and we took him to task, John. One of the most prestigious Belts in the Business at the time... and we took him to the edge of the abyss and made him look himself in the mirror and wonder if he had what it took to finish the job...
Yeah... We did that.
We made the world wonder who would come out the WGWF World Heavyweight Champion when you finally got your chance at Peter Vaughn's reign... and we definitely made him ask more than a few questions during one of the best Title Defenses Vaughn had in his run as Champion... and now... we have the chance to rectify that loss. I know Vaughn is watching this at home right now... and in the back of his mind... he wonders if it's going to be you that pulls this off. It tickles the back of his brain to think about it... I know it does. It's there, nagging away at him... and he wants so badly to forget that this might come to pass in just a few weeks. He's said his prayers to the great Wrench in the sky and he has asked the Holy Mechanic to let anyone other than you win this match... because of all the people who could win... YOU are the one he doesn't know if he can beat again.
Many other Superstars have climbed into a ring with you since your return... and one on one... you have beaten them all, in every sort of match at every sort of arena and on every conceivable stage. The fans have rallied behind you for a reason... and its time to give them what they have believed you could give them from the beginning.
It's time to give ourselves what he have been working for... and it's time for tomorrow to become today.
Yes we deserve it... but many others do as well...
This isn't about being worthy, John... though we are... its about reaching out and taking what belongs to us... what we want for ourselves... and defending it against anyone foolish enough to come and try to take it for their own.
I know you can.
I know we can.
Now it's time to do it... time to prove it... time to reach out and take it... finally... making tomorrow today. It's our time, John... now go do it... take it... hold it... defend it... cherish it... for every moment we get to hang onto it... because it belongs to us... and it's finally time to go bring it home.
We deserve so much more than I give ourselves... and it's been too long since I've forgotten that. This year has shown me that I've been selling us short in everything... and I'm not going to do that again.
That promise I CAN make... because I know what we're worth now, John... and I'll never forget it again.
With Faith and Hope for tomorrow...
Mel
* * * * *
* * * * *
As the purple smoke swirled around Cable dimly lit in the strange crossroads surrounded by the thick trunks of pine trees that disappeared above in the shadows of the darkness beyond the single pale white streetlamp, the other John rushed from the copse of trees into the roadway towards him. Panic gripped him... too long he had waited to get this chance at revenge... and somehow... somehow that droid had found a way to reach them, even here!
POP
The purple flash of blinding light made the other John shield his eyes, but when he could look again... Cable was gone. The faint swirls of purple smoke twirled away in the night winds and were gone just like his quarry... and he was livid.
βNO!!! GOD's BE DAMNED!!!β he shouted at the empty crossroad, his gravely tone so familiar, but the seething rage made it strange and twisted.
The other John pushed his dark blue coat sleeve up and smashed a few of the many buttons on the face of the device on his wrist, his frustration and anger evident from the force of his thick fingers on the keys and the shaking of his hands.
βThis isn't over you son of a bitch. I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done.β he said between gritted teeth to no one as the sphere of dimly lit forest began to dissolve into a star speckled void and the other John fell into nothing and disappeared.