ITI [a blog, posted on Feb 23, 2019]
Jun 19, 2019 19:05:06 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Jun 19, 2019 19:05:06 GMT -5
The screen comes to life, showing a guy a little on the smaller side sitting in a chair in the middle of what looks like an empty room. The chair is old, this beat up and scratched black steel thing that's missing paint up and down the legs. He leans forward, pushing the sleeves of his red hoodie up before slowly removing the glasses he's wearing. He blinks, and if it wasn't for the beard on his cheeks and chin, he might look like he's barely out of puberty. The silver hairs that stand out against the darker blond tell a different story, though. One that's far less kind. He fidgets slightly, clasping his left hand over his right as though he wants to hide it before letting out a soft sigh. He lifts his left hand up and scratches idly at his cheek before finally breaking the silence.
"Hi. My name is Max. I know that may seem ironic, given my overly PASSIONATE approach to life, might even seem a little contrived but that's my actual name – shortened, of course. My mother wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack. She couldn't spell to save her life and the real version of my name is a bit of an abomination – she got the first name from a soap opera character, of all things. The middle name came from a Harlequin romance novel. I spent most of my life hating it but now it's just another thing, another part of the past that got me where I am today."
When he smiles, it lights up his blue eyes, making them sparkle.
"I know I'm still a relative newcomer here, nobody special and I don't actually expect any sort of reputation to precede me. I mean, I did have a pretty spectacular feud against Aidan Carlisle where she actually tapped out but..." he trails off, shaking his head.
"That's not important here, really. I didn't win. I'm not sure she's even wrestling anywhere anymore and that was almost two years ago now. Things have changed. Tides have turned, companies that mattered have closed their doors and been largely forgotten and here I am, trying to mimic one of those YouTube stars with a frank confession."
He looks down at his lap where his right hand is curled up, unnaturally rigid like a claw.
"I've been chasing glory for a really long time." His smile dims and fades slowly.
"I'm not actually trying to inspire anyone with my victories here. Not really. My personal victory, my struggle to even make it into the ring – into living rooms across the world – is more what this journey is about. That was what it always amounted to. I wanted to be out there with my heroes, doing something I love with all my heart. Heroes and villains alike, we all have our own origin stories. I never really saw myself as handicapped even though I was born with cerebral palsy. I... uh... I never really knew what was wrong with me until I was older. I thought it was because my mother did drugs when she was pregnant with me, didn't really stop until she was showing. Maybe that's part of it. Maybe that's why it's not as bad as it could be. I'm still capable. I'm not as limited as some of the special needs kids I've worked with over the years. I don't need a wheelchair to get around. I'm in control of most of my body. You have to count the blessings, find the good in the things that surround you."
He's still looking down at his hand.
"For me, the moniker of 'One-Armed and Dangerous' isn't just a clever little thing I tacked on to put asses in seats – it was me owning it before you could turn it into a mockery. It's not some intimidation tactic. It's truth in advertising – WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get. This is me. My right arm, this damned hand sometimes does its own thing and I've had to adapt every little thing. My training is different. And I've never looked at it as a limitation. I can't swing a sledgehammer with two hands. It is what it is. I always just adapted. I'm left-handed and that's just how it's always been. I mean, I never expected special attention. That was the way I tied my shoes, opened a bag of chips, flossed my teeth, you know? You compensate long enough, and it just becomes habit. We all do it naturally. If you hear better with your right ear, you'll answer the phone on that side, turn that way towards someone you're talking to. Same thing, really – we all do it to varying degrees in our lives. Adaptation is part of the human experience. I'm not special in that approach. Not really."
He looks up, a grim smile on his lips.
"What matters here is heart, passion. What matters is having the drive to stick with it even though things don't go your way. Like I said earlier, I've been chasing glory for a good ten years now. I've finally broken into the bigger leagues in the last three and while I've had my fair share of setbacks, I haven't let it drive me away. I haven't pulled an Aidan Collins and just walked away after falling short of a title shot – I could never do that. I tried four times to unseat Miss Carlisle in Defiant. You learn things when you lose. Every wrestler worth their season knows that, salty or spicy. It's something we are taught as kids even though the public school system in America is a failure in so many ways. They teach us to try, to strive to do better through competition with our peers. But... I digress. Everything happens for a reason and damned if I'm not going to reach up with my good hand and seize that brass ring, finally take what I've been fighting for this whole time. I don't care if I'm fighting in a pool of seventeen-year-old dead fish guts and snapping turtles... I don't care if it's in some biased tournament in some company that's going to re-brand twice before vanishing off the face of the earth – I'm going out there to give everything I've got in the tank! Leave me off the booking sheet and I will find a way, I will enter myself into this open invitational for a title I never knew existed until now. Do I want the gold? Absolutely! But it's not just about that. It's about the challenge, about going out there prove I'm just as good as any other able-bodied wrestler in this business... even with one arm... even if I'm not as jacked or tall or whatever else you want to see as a 'handicap'. We all have our obstacles in this business. We've all been there where someone is bigger or faster or smarter or even a different gender. I don't see why my hand is any different than a woman going up against a man twice her size. Ask Dazi how that works out. Ask HellRaven or Andrea or any of the other talented women on this roster who are happy to face all comers. You think I'm a joke? You think I don't belong in this company, in this business? Step up. I'll be happy to show you how wrong you are!"
The video does the cheesy 80's star-wipe and fades out on Max waving to the camera with his good hand.
"Hi. My name is Max. I know that may seem ironic, given my overly PASSIONATE approach to life, might even seem a little contrived but that's my actual name – shortened, of course. My mother wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack. She couldn't spell to save her life and the real version of my name is a bit of an abomination – she got the first name from a soap opera character, of all things. The middle name came from a Harlequin romance novel. I spent most of my life hating it but now it's just another thing, another part of the past that got me where I am today."
When he smiles, it lights up his blue eyes, making them sparkle.
"I know I'm still a relative newcomer here, nobody special and I don't actually expect any sort of reputation to precede me. I mean, I did have a pretty spectacular feud against Aidan Carlisle where she actually tapped out but..." he trails off, shaking his head.
"That's not important here, really. I didn't win. I'm not sure she's even wrestling anywhere anymore and that was almost two years ago now. Things have changed. Tides have turned, companies that mattered have closed their doors and been largely forgotten and here I am, trying to mimic one of those YouTube stars with a frank confession."
He looks down at his lap where his right hand is curled up, unnaturally rigid like a claw.
"I've been chasing glory for a really long time." His smile dims and fades slowly.
"I'm not actually trying to inspire anyone with my victories here. Not really. My personal victory, my struggle to even make it into the ring – into living rooms across the world – is more what this journey is about. That was what it always amounted to. I wanted to be out there with my heroes, doing something I love with all my heart. Heroes and villains alike, we all have our own origin stories. I never really saw myself as handicapped even though I was born with cerebral palsy. I... uh... I never really knew what was wrong with me until I was older. I thought it was because my mother did drugs when she was pregnant with me, didn't really stop until she was showing. Maybe that's part of it. Maybe that's why it's not as bad as it could be. I'm still capable. I'm not as limited as some of the special needs kids I've worked with over the years. I don't need a wheelchair to get around. I'm in control of most of my body. You have to count the blessings, find the good in the things that surround you."
He's still looking down at his hand.
"For me, the moniker of 'One-Armed and Dangerous' isn't just a clever little thing I tacked on to put asses in seats – it was me owning it before you could turn it into a mockery. It's not some intimidation tactic. It's truth in advertising – WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get. This is me. My right arm, this damned hand sometimes does its own thing and I've had to adapt every little thing. My training is different. And I've never looked at it as a limitation. I can't swing a sledgehammer with two hands. It is what it is. I always just adapted. I'm left-handed and that's just how it's always been. I mean, I never expected special attention. That was the way I tied my shoes, opened a bag of chips, flossed my teeth, you know? You compensate long enough, and it just becomes habit. We all do it naturally. If you hear better with your right ear, you'll answer the phone on that side, turn that way towards someone you're talking to. Same thing, really – we all do it to varying degrees in our lives. Adaptation is part of the human experience. I'm not special in that approach. Not really."
He looks up, a grim smile on his lips.
"What matters here is heart, passion. What matters is having the drive to stick with it even though things don't go your way. Like I said earlier, I've been chasing glory for a good ten years now. I've finally broken into the bigger leagues in the last three and while I've had my fair share of setbacks, I haven't let it drive me away. I haven't pulled an Aidan Collins and just walked away after falling short of a title shot – I could never do that. I tried four times to unseat Miss Carlisle in Defiant. You learn things when you lose. Every wrestler worth their season knows that, salty or spicy. It's something we are taught as kids even though the public school system in America is a failure in so many ways. They teach us to try, to strive to do better through competition with our peers. But... I digress. Everything happens for a reason and damned if I'm not going to reach up with my good hand and seize that brass ring, finally take what I've been fighting for this whole time. I don't care if I'm fighting in a pool of seventeen-year-old dead fish guts and snapping turtles... I don't care if it's in some biased tournament in some company that's going to re-brand twice before vanishing off the face of the earth – I'm going out there to give everything I've got in the tank! Leave me off the booking sheet and I will find a way, I will enter myself into this open invitational for a title I never knew existed until now. Do I want the gold? Absolutely! But it's not just about that. It's about the challenge, about going out there prove I'm just as good as any other able-bodied wrestler in this business... even with one arm... even if I'm not as jacked or tall or whatever else you want to see as a 'handicap'. We all have our obstacles in this business. We've all been there where someone is bigger or faster or smarter or even a different gender. I don't see why my hand is any different than a woman going up against a man twice her size. Ask Dazi how that works out. Ask HellRaven or Andrea or any of the other talented women on this roster who are happy to face all comers. You think I'm a joke? You think I don't belong in this company, in this business? Step up. I'll be happy to show you how wrong you are!"
The video does the cheesy 80's star-wipe and fades out on Max waving to the camera with his good hand.
