The Champion

Blaire Moise: …HUGE main event tonight, Brian. It really has that big match feel to it, wouldn’t you agree?

Brian Bare: Absolutely. I mean this is John Sektor vs Arthur Pleasant for the LSD championship. Sektor has been on a hell of a run with the LSD title over the past seven months or so. But he hasn’t faced anyone quite like Arthur Pleasant before. 

Blaire Moise: It’s no secret that Sektor’s carrying a knee injury, and Arthurs been pretty vocal on how he plans on capitalising on that. It could be a long night for the LSD champion.

Brian Bare: Or a short one. Pleasant is a very dangerous and unpredictable character. Sektor can have all the skill and experience in his corner as he likes but if Pleasant starts pulling that knee of his apart he’s going to be in big trouble. 

Blaire Moise: With that in mind, do you think we could see a new LSD champion here tonight.

Brian Bare: ..I think we might, yeah. Sektor’s got through the last two matches because he’s had a tag team partner to share the load. He won’t have that tonight. It’s just going to be him and Pleasant in there and as tough as Sektor is? I think there’s only so much a man can take and it all comes down to basic science.

CLICK!

It’s fight night. 

Intimidation is everything in this sport. Nine times out of ten I’ve beaten my opponent before I’ve gotten in the ring because I’m in their head. The brain can fuck you if you don’t know how to use it properly and there’s a reason why psychological warfare exists. If I listened to little cokehead’s opinions like Brian Bare then I lose tonight. It’s that simple. 

One of the most common questions I get asked is “how do you deal with fear? With the nerves before a big match?”

Fear is a champion’s friend. That’s what I tell them. There’s a fine line between controlling fear, and if fear runs away with you then things go wrong..badly wrong. There is much to fear as I psyche myself up for the championship defence. The fear of failure being the biggest of them all. Here is the key to my success:

Get the preparation right – The more prepared you are in gym time the easier to deal with are the emotions before the fight. If you’ve not put the training and roadwork in, then self-doubts will amplify your fear. There is no cheating yourself in these situations, you need to know that you can fight hard for the duration of the contest. Positive visualisation will be much easier with a solid and committed training regime behind you.

Simply resign yourself – The word ‘resignation’ generally has negative connotations. You resign from the game in chess and you lose. You resign from a job and the paycheck and the perks go out of the window. But, when it comes to wrestling then resigning yourself to the fact that you are absolutely, positively going to be in a fight will make you more able to put your fears into a context that you are happy to deal with. This context is winning, pure and simple. You are dealing with the fears because you are going to fight and you are going to win!

Leave hatred behind – Avoid becoming embroiled in how much you hate your opponent. Feeling hatred toward someone is easier when fear takes hold. Fear gives you a reason, however irrational, to hate that person. Rather than focusing on hatred, focus on clinical precision, supreme skills and power, all positives in your quest to douse the inferno of fear. Hatred can result in rash actions and an ignorance of skill. Be calm, be collected, be a winner!

And breath.. – Literally. Knots in the stomach are not very pleasant. A practical way to get momentary relief from the discomfort of knots in your stomach is to take a massive, deep breath. At the very top of the breath, the ache will disappear. Of course it will come flooding back when you breathe out, but at least it was good while it lasted.

Keep your eye on the prize – Finally, focus on that win. Winning just makes all of the fears worth it. Fight off the negative and see your hand raised at the end. It’s why boxer’s do it all, to get that win.

Fact is, when you are heading for a fight fear is going to walk with you every step of the way. Just make sure that you take the positives and manage the negatives. Champions deal in winning, no more, no less.

When I’m in that locker room I’m psyching myself up. I’m lacing up my boots, taping up my knee, warming up my muscles and I’m focussing on my opponent. I’m picturing their face, I’m imaging them trying to hurt me, end me, demoralise me, embarass me, do all the worst things imaginable to me because it fucking fuels me!

When I come out from behind the curtain I’m confident, but I’m scared. I’m scared to death. I’m totally afraid, I’m afraid of everything. I’m afraid of losing. I’m afraid of being humiliated. 

The closer I get to the ring the more confident I get. I’m totally confident. All through my training I’m afraid of this man, I thought this man might be capable of beating me. I’ve dreamed of him beating me. With that in mind I’ve always stayed afraid of him. The closer I get to the ring the more confident I am. Once I get in the ring?

I’m a GOD! 

No one can beat me. 

I walk around the ring but I never take my eyes off my opponent. I keep my eyes on him. All the time, staring at him. Staring hard. Laser focused looking into his soul I keep my eyes on him, keep my eyes on him. Even if he’s pumped up and excited, ready for me as well I keep my eyes on him. The once I see his eyes move away then BOOM! 

I know I have him. 

Then when he comes to the center of the ring to listen to the ref’s instructions he keeps his piercing gaze on me and tries to convince me he’s not afraid. But he already made that mistake when he looked down for that one tenth of a second. I know I have him. He’ll fight hard and he’ll try hard but I’m in control and I own his ass. 

This is my ring and I’m allowing him to compete in there with me. But that is my ring. I own it. I’m the king, God, the champion! You don’t enter my ring empty handed and you leave the same way.

It’s that simple. 

—————————————————————————————————————————

Hey…amigo..You’re wrestling me! So why don’t you leave Adam and your Daddy issues out of this, huh? The fuck you trying to achieve? Hm? I’m confused, compadre. You trying to turn Adam against me? Walk out on me? Drop me as his mentor? Alright. Just one question though.

How the fuck is that going to help you beat me? 

You’ve talked so much shit that I think you’re beginning to run out of things to say, hermano. All this trash about how you’re going to hurt me. Demoralise me. EMBARRASS me? Mother-fucker, the only person you’re embarassing? Is yourself. 

You say you’re going to exterminate me. You make me sound like I’m some sort of cock-a-roach. The only thing that you should be exterminating are your fucking vocal chords because I would rather have an infestation of crabs than listen to any more of your horse shit. 

You got yourself all kinds of excited for this match don’t you? Getting yourself all psyched up to mutilate me. End my reign. End the career of John Sektor. Because I’m over the hill right? There’s no way I can beat you because I’m just..how did you put it? Some kind of worn-ass rug analogy or something. But I got the point. I hear ya. You’re in the mindset that you’re a young ass pro who’s ready to dust an old man with a bum knee and take his place. 

I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention kid, but I haven’t lost a match since War Games. The match where you fucked off afterwards. In your mind it was to gain experience, but we all know you caught a bad case of butt-hurt and had to sit on a ring of bitterness until your ego was strong enough to come back and try and intimidate a fucking killer like me. 

Undefeated for EIGHT months..number eight. Eight months. 

You? Apparently you don’t even know how to use a basic hold to hyper-extend a knee joint? You decided to leave it until a week before your LSD title exam to cram that shit into your arsenal so that you can take advantage of a bad case of osteoarthritis. There’s no secret to it, man, you just grab the mother fucker and bend in the direction it’s not meant to bend. If you like, you can come join my academy with the rest of the beginners and learn the basics of professional wrestling. 

Of course, you gave up pretty quickly on trying to learn how to do a basic wrestling hold. Seems to be a pattern with you…giving up. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that you have had a whole week to train and prepare for the biggest match of your life. If you had done your research you would have known that I am one of the most difficult people to beat in the history of this business. From what I’ve seen? You’ve wasted your time. 

I know as you listen to this you probably think I’m just burying you. And I am. Because you showed me, a legend, a hall of famer and THE LSD champion literally ZERO respect so why should I waste my breath pretending that I respect you. 

I am not done. Not by a long shot. My knee is another challenge for me to overcome, and right now it’s the single biggest threat I have to holding onto the LSD championship. But you? You aren’t ready to be a champion. You’re like a dog chasing a car. If you ever caught it you wouldn’t know what to do with it. 

You think that if you take the LSD championship away from me? That, that makes you a champion. But you’re wrong. That’s not what a champion is. 

Champions are not ones who always win races. Champions are the ones who get out there and try. And try harder next time. Being a champion is a state of mind, not a piece of gold around your waist, that’s just a symbol of success. Champions are devoted. They compete to best themselves if not more than to compete with others. 

Adam Ellis is a champion. He doesn’t need a title around his waist to make him a champion. That’s why I chose him. He could lose ten matches straight but he would keep trying and learning and improving. That’s the difference between you and him. 

I fight through pain on a daily basis. I have a damn near crippled knee but I refuse to let that stop me, not only compete? But to get better. I’ve dragged myself up from rock bottom more times than you could even stomach thinking about. No matter where a John Sektor run ends, it always has a point in it where I’m at the top. I always get there. It’s not just about experience. My gifts. My skill. 

It’s all about my mind. 

Because I am a champion.

You? 

You are not a champion.

There is nothing about you that someone else hasn’t done better. The definition of mediocre. A bland pudding of a man. You won’t be remembered when you’re gone. Shit, I didn’t even know you’d quit and come back, until I text’d Mike to ask him who the fuck you even are. 

I’m the single greatest LSD champion of all time. The best pure wrestler in the sport, and one of the most Iconic members of the HOW roster…EVER! And you’re just..

..some guy.

A year from now you’ll be calling HOW a pyramid scheme. Another faceless, card carrying member of the “NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HOW” club, recruiting for whatever company Lindsay Troy is using to pretend she’s still a star.

Get fucked!