The Masks We Wear

Jatt Starr, the Ruler of Jattlan–zzz…sorry, I nearly dozed off just drudging that old routine up. For all the years you’ve been in this business, you have managed to do one thing very, very well…talk about yourself.

Whether it’s all these Jattisms, your Simon Sparrow era, or that time you decided to talk about the burden of being a woman…it’s all been about you and the many personalities you’ve displayed. This is something I can relate to, Starr…I was a man of many personas myself, once upon a time. A man of many masks.

Because that’s what those personalities are to guys like you and me, Jatt…they are the masks we wear, when we try to hide our true self. I’ve tried to take on this idea that I’m a fighter, a warrior ready for the heat of battle…but even that has become a mask, one slipping through my fingers. Underneath that mask is a man in a very dark place, ready to drag any hapless soul down into hell with him…and you’re just the man for the job.

You, who would make a mockery of everyone and everything that stands before you…even the things you do not fully comprehend. For this match may be but a speck of dust for you, but it means all the world to me.

After all, this Fighter is scratching and clawing his way back up from the bottom of the barrel going into this match. He is a man with little to his name than a promise that the best is yet to come…and the fighting spirit to make good on that promise.

And at some point, I have to stop talking about it and start being about it. This is the new order of things, and this is the mission I intend to carry out.

But I am struggling, something fierce. I am far from perfect.

I am a man burdened, cursed with vivid memories of his past, trying to rise above his low points…such as the defeat you handed me back at Bottomline in 2021. I’m not a man who forgets easily, Jatt, try as I might…but with that burden comes the blessing of getting my revenge. I can take down the man who made a fool of me so long ago, and tear through one-half of the PWA Tag Team Champions on route to destroying Steve Solex in GOD’s House.

Before I can get to Miami I must go through Tampa…I must go through YOU, Jatt Starr. I must avenge my loss, regain my honor, and affix that mask of Fighter back upon my face before the darkness truly sets in…because if that happens, no one is safe from what’s to come.

They’ve been aching to get their release, but I must not relent to those forces clawing inside me. I cannot give up my sanity for their sake.

I will not submit to the darkness, Jatt.

If I do, that mask falls down forever, as I sink into a much darker place. A place I’ve tried to avoid since my resurgence in this business in 2021, one that will only bring out the absolute worst in Xander Azula.

And that will be bad news for you, Solex, and everyone else who has been trying to take their swings at me…because I will get to swinging back, and when that happens I cannot guarantee that I’ll stop when the referee tells me to.

It’s a risk I’m willing to take, to take what is rightfully mine…a few slots up the rankings, an old vendetta settled, and some respect.

I will embrace the chaos once more this Sunday, dwell in it, so that I may be free from the darkness…and I will use that to take you down once and for all, Jatt Starr.

I want this to be a teachable moment for every bit of buffoonery you’ve caused, every morsel of malaise you’ve mustered over the years. Having faced a Hall in Famer in Shane Reynolds last week, I will seek to finally put one down for the count in one of the most decorated men in this company…and all for the sake of proving myself once again.

The feast is bountiful, and the Fighter is hungry.

See you in Tampa, Jatt.

We’ll be waiting.