Stand By Me

It had been a good couple weeks for Brian Hollywood.  I in no way was jumping the gun on anything.  I knew better than that.  I was especially tuned to that fact because I knew what false expectations and promises led to.  That went double where my HOW career was concerned.  I felt like a rookie again, though.  Feeling that excitement like it was for the first time was exhilarating to me.  I certainly knew better, though.  These types of feelings, while it may have been completely normal anywhere else, this wasn’t just anywhere else.  This was High Octane Wrestling.  I guess what you could have said, and this was probably the most accurate, is that this was a red herring.  Red herrings are a dime a dozen in HOW.  Simply being, that on any given night, anything can and will wrong.  There is no such thing of a happy, perfect career when it comes to High Octane Wrestling.  You can be on top of the world one day only to turn around and hit rock bottom.  It’s happened to everyone in the history of High Octane.  We’ve all been there.  It’s simply the nature of the beast.  It’s natural, just like the flow of time.  Natural just like the state of life.  We all hit our high points, but without the lowest points, who the fuck are we?  It’s in those moments..in those darkest of times that what we do next defines us all.  I felt like I was at another impasse in the road.  I’ve been here before…was I on my way back to the top?  Even with everything going on in my life, I was finding a little thread of happiness in my current HOW run.  It was that thread, ever so thin and fragile, that I was clinging onto in the hopes to get myself back to solid ground.  The coveted high ground as they say.  Where I go from here will help shape what I do next.  My personal life I’ve got my own shit I’m dealing with…but even in my personal life, I’m holding onto that same thread because one wrong misstep and it can all go very wrong.  I guess I was in the eye of the storm, currently.  Everything is in perspective, but on the other side of that eye, lies turmoil and chaos.  I had to be ready for it.  For the sake of both my personal life and my wrestling career.

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REFLECTION

 

They say that hope can be contagious.  Hope is a great thing.  You can compare happiness and success to the very word.  However, the word can also be a red herring.  When it came to happiness and success in High Octane Wrestling, red herrings were often associated with the very word.  Well, I was at that very point in my HOW career again.  But I assure you, this time around, I’m keeping my guard up.

 

Ever since my victory over Darin Zion, I’ve really put a lot of focus back on my wrestling career.  I’ve been taking things on a weekly basis…not looking ahead and what I could do or how to get there.  I’ve just been doing it one match at a time.  That’s all you can do, especially in High Octane Wrestling.  I’m not the most popular guy in that locker room.  In fact, I’m quite despised given my history.  Even though I’ve turned over a new leaf and have turned to an honorable approach in that ring, almost every other HOW wrestler in that locker room can’t stand me.  I don’t know if that’s by design or if I, myself, did something to warrant that being so.  Regardless, whether I’ve taken short cuts or have done the honorable thing, I’m viewed by my peers as a guy who people can’t stand to be around.  I’m a guy that everyone wishes would just retire and disappear from the void of HOW.  I may have changed…but I know where I stand in this company. Despite the whole lot not being able to stand me, I’ve got news for all of you..

 

I’m not fucking going anywhere!

 

I know my value and I know my worth and I know that I still have plenty left in the fucking tank!  First I beat Darin Zion, then I turned my focus to Evan Ward and you know what I beat him, too.  A win over Zion, it was good just to get a win again and get myself back on track.  But earning a win over Evan Ward?  That changed everything.  THAT felt amazing.  Evan Ward may not be the man he once was, but that’s not to take away the kind of star power he gravitates in this business.  Beating Evan Ward felt like I had become a champion again, even though there was no title to be had.  That kind of feeling can become infectious.  It was definitely contagious and it was nice none the less.

 

Now this week I turn my attention to one Scott Stevens.

 

Stevens, you and I are definitely no strangers to each other.  Out of everyone on this roster, I have more history with you than anyone else in HOW right now.  That was evident and you are also the second one I have the most history with outside of Darin Zion.  Our careers could also be considered to be almost identical to each other.  We both found success and we capitalized on that success.  We’ve both been on the top of the HOW mountain and we’ve both been HOW World Champion.  Hell our careers are almost so identical that we both even had success with some variation of the Best Alliance.  We both also know what it’s like to be on the opposite side of that Alliance.  The only difference between the two of us, however, is that one of us holds passion in a different light than the other.

 

We both love this business.  I also can’t think of anyone who’s been more loyal to HOW than you.  Not counting myself, you’re the only one who’s been here that has given a damn…even when everyone else stopped giving a damn.  We both have put up with more bullshit than the average joe around here.  You might have had more shit stacked against you than me, but we both know what it’s like to be HOW’s punching bag.

 

High Octane Wrestling turned its back on us both.  The machine has to continue running…but there’s a difference between the machine running and continuing and being used up cogs on the wheel that were replaced when we were defaulted.  It’s almost eerie to consider just how alike you and I truly are, Stevens.  The love and passion we not only have for this business, but for HOW cannot be matched by anyone else.  We both have put this company on our backs and we went to work to continue to keep this company flowing and well oiled no matter what the risks to our health and wrestling careers were.

 

So you see, you and I are not so very different, are we?  I’ve sat here and didn’t just think about it…I really went through it thoroughly and the more and more I thought about it…the more PISSED OFF it made me when I’ve thought about how this company turned its back on us both and we were left as an afterthought.  I’ve been fortunate to turn my career around, but you’ve got to be mad about where you are at in this company today.  I know you’re just as passionate as I am when it comes to High Octane Wrestling, but I can’t help but to wonder if you really give a fuck today!

 

I’ve watched and seen your career as of late and it looks like you made the same decision I did when it comes to career decisions.  I stopped giving a fuck and look where it got me?  Now that’s not to say I stopped giving a fuck about HOW, more or less my personal life consumed me.  I’m still on the hunt for my sister Serenity’s killer and wanting to find out where and who my brother is.  This is the type of things that can really distract a man.  I mean, my HOW career wasn’t going anywhere and I was more concerned to finding my sisters killer and finding my brother.  Those things I put ahead of my wrestling career and it was easy to at the time because I was at an extremely low point in my life.  I was an afterthought here in HOW and nobody gave a fuck about me anymore.  I could have faded into the darkness, into obscurity if I really wanted and nobody would have objected to it.

 

But it took my best friend, Darin Zion, to make me realize that it was no ones fault but my own how I fell on hard times.  I should have embraced my wrestling career here in HOW tighter while I deal with my personal problems because at the end of the day, wrestling is really all I have left when you strip away everything away from the rest of my life.  Even before I learned about my sisters death being a murder, or finding out I have a brother out there somewhere, wrestling was always the one constant I have had.

 

I should have never took it for granted.

 

That’s on me. Hundred percent.

 

But I can’t change the past so what do I do about it now?

 

I start giving a fuck again.  And I did and it started with Darin Zion.  It felt great not only wrestling Zion, but also winning.  I know I’m not going to win every single match all the time, but just giving a damn again, allowing that adrenaline to course through my veins, I felt alive again.

 

That’s what you need to do, too, Stevens.

 

You have a choice to make and you need to make it fast.  What side do you want to stand on when the dust settles?  I’ve seen the results when you’re passionate and when you give a damn, Stevens.  I’ve seen it because, again, it’s practically exactly similar to my career as well.  I will handle my personal shit when I’m not currently in that ring.  There’s plenty of time for it but what there’s not plenty of time for is our careers in this business.  Eventually, we all have to hang it up at some point.  Our bodies can’t do this forever and Father Time catches us all in the fucking end.  Our time is finite and all we have to do is what will we do with the time that is given to us in High Octane Wrestling?

 

I’ll tell you what I’m going to do with mine, Stevens.

 

I’m going to make the most of it and go out to that ring and make a difference again.  I know I’ve got more than enough in the tank to make another successful run here in HOW.  Picking up wins against Darin Zion and Evan Ward has channeled that focus and my love for this business in more ways than anyone can imagine.  However, I KNOW you out of all people can imagine what I can imagine because you and I are not so different.

 

With the Final Alliance running rampant right now in HOW, someone has to step up and say enough is fucking enough and take this company back from their clutches.  So I don’t know about you, but I plan on being that someone and besides me, you’re the only other person on this fucking roster and in that locker room that gets that and the Alliance than anyone else.

 

So come time for this Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, I’m going to go out to that ring and continue to take care of business the best way I know how.  I also know that whenever I really stop fucking around and actually focus, I’m a tough motherfucker to take out on any given night.  That’s not me being cocky…that’s me being confident and hopeful enough to know that I can be great again.  I can be great on any given night…it just took giving a fuck again to help me realize and remember that.

 

So I implore you….show up at Chaos.  Show up in Columbus, Ohio ready for a fight!  I want you at your best and I know you’re capable of being great, Stevens.  I’m the only one in that locker room who actually believes you can be great again.  We both can be.  So let’s give everyone a show and let’s prove to everyone in that locker room that you and I can be just as great as all those other fuckers don’t think we can be!

 

The only thing that I will be focused on come time for this weekend will be our match.  Everything else will fall into place. 

 

I KNOW I have what it takes to be great again.  I have lots more left in the tank, Stevens, and I still have a lot to prove around here.  However, now that this roster is full of HOW Hall of Famers and legends, I can’t see why you wouldn’t want to prove now more than ever what you know you’re capable of doing when you’re focused.

 

I’m focused, Stevens…more than ever.  I made my mark when I beat Darin…but I put everyone in that locker room on notice when I defeated Evan Ward because I know I still have what it takes to be the best.  So I will show up to that ring in Columbus, Ohio with a mission.  That mission continues with me doing what ever I must to defeat you in that ring and continue my streak and continue my march to being relevant again.

 

It was a shot heard around the HOW world when I defeated Evan Ward.  I will take a similar shot at you before I set my sights back on the Final Alliance and being one of the first to step up and do something about their reign of terror.

 

If anyone has had success fighting any variation of the Alliance, it has been me!

 

I lost focus.  I stopped caring and I paid for it every week in that ring. 

 

I’m fucking DONE with that fucking bullshit!

 

I owe payback against The Final Alliance…and it’s time they feared me for who I once was.  I’m going to be that fucking thorn in their side that not only doesn’t go away, but continues to drive that thorn deeper and deeper into their side and start making them bleed out.

 

Because like I said…I’m fucking over it, Stevens!  It’s high time that The Final Alliance remembers just why they ever feared Brian Fucking Hollywood!  They all know what I can do on a great day.  It’s time to remind them that that Brian Hollywood still lives and he’s going to come back to tell them all that their days reigning over all of HOW are fucking numbered.

 

The question is though, Stevens, am I going to be the only one who takes that first shot at bringing them down?  Or will the only other man who has been a pain in their side step up and become the second one to give a shit and say enough is enough?

 

Either way, Stevens, I know which Brian Hollywood is going to show up at Chaos to take care of business.  The time has come for my resurgence and it’s time to get back to doing what I do best…and that is make any variant of the Alliance lives a living fucking hell.

 

One way or another….business is going to be handled this Sunday at Chaos and I will make it an Executive Decree to do so!

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STAND BY ME

 

Columbus, Ohio

 

The scene opens up inside a local bar as Brian Hollywood sits at the bar sipping on a glass of Wild Turkey.  He looks content as he ponders away staring at his drink.  Before long, his friend Phil Woods shows up much to the delight of Hollywood.

 

Brian Hollywood: “Phil my friend!  Thanks for coming brother!”

 

The two of them share a hug before Phil takes a seat next to Hollywood.

 

Phil Woods: “Bri, my friend, how ya been?!”

 

Brian Hollywood: “I’ve been….distracted if I’m being honest.  I’ve got some business to take care of in Indianapolis, Indiana, but I’ve got business to first attend to here in Columbus.  I’ve been preparing my match against Scott Stevens this weekend.”

 

Phil Woods: “That’s great to hear Bri!  Sounds like yer wrestlin career is goin better since the last time we talked.  I know I’ve been busy on the road lately.  Truck drivin keeps a man busy if ya know what I mean.”

 

Hollywood shares a laugh as he orders Phil a drink. 

 

Brian Hollywood: “Yea, my wrestling career in HOW, I’ve turned a corner Phil.  It’s helped me take my mind off of my personal issues I’m dealing with.  I know I told you over the phone the last time we’ve talked about what’s going on with my sisters murder and of course learning that I have a brother.  Well, I’ve got a solid lead, probably the biggest lead since I’ve started hunting for Serenity’s killer.  After my match this weekend, I plan on hopping on my jet to head to Indianapolis to hopefully put an end to the mystery surrounding my sisters murder once and for all.”

 

Phil slowly nods his head in agreement.  He sees that Hollywood has been plagued with this for quite some time and even though Hollywood has handled it better as of late, he still sees the anguish on Hollywood’s face.

 

Phil Woods: “I guess all I’m gonna say is just be careful, Bri.  Ya may have yer emotions in check right now, but I’ve seen this here movie before.  Ya might have yer thoughts together right now, but there’s no sayin what yer state of mind may be when yer face to face with yer sisters killer.  Emotions have destroyed people’s lives who are bent on revenge.  Please don’t be another one added to those statistics, Bri, I implore ya.”

 

Hollywood slowly nods his head as he takes a real moment to think about what Phil was saying to him.  Hollywood knew he was extremely close to this and even though he didn’t know how he would react, there was also the reaction from The Chair that he had to consider as well.

 

Brian Hollywood: “It seems easy to agree with your statement, Phil.  I guess there is a part of me that worries what kind of state I’m going to be when I come face to face with Roberto.  I won’t lie…my time with The Chair has hardened me when it comes to my emotions.  My heart has hardened as my time goes by that I’ve been with The Chair.”

 

Phil Woods: “Well I’m here fer ya brother.  Just concentrate on what’s in front of ya right now.  Keep focusing on yer HOW career and what’s in front of you.  Keep doin that and you’ll be just fine!”

 

Hollywood smiles and nods his head.  He knew his friend was right.  His HOW career was getting rejuvenated and it helped keep him focused.  Still, there was that little voice in the back of his head that was doubtful when it came time with how he would react when he comes face to face with Roberto that bothered him still as all he could do was wonder and ponder as the scene slowly fades to black.