Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2016 4:21:40 GMT
*Declan Black is sitting down, but the camera only shows him from the waist up. He also fills the whole shot...no seeing where we are yet. What we can see is that Declan's in a gi, and about three gallons of sweat has accumulated on him. From what? No peeking yet, kiddies...
*
"December 1st, 2006. My 18th birthday. Coming up on ten years ago.
That's when I really entered this business, in a dingy ass gym in Brooklyn, before Brooklyn got sanitized. When Robbie Priest taught me to really wrestle. And not many people know this, but I had been in a ring before. I don't call it "wrestling", because all it was was some idiot kid in a mask doing moves he wasn't trained to do. One night...one of the veterans, he got pissed at me for being so damn useless. And he ripped off that mask, and he beat me until I was unrecognizable. Took a ton of surgery to sew me back up. Robbie was at that show, and he took me aside after...I was stumbling, but they weren't going to cart me out... he said I had something. A toughness, a fight that not many had. He told me he'd train me properly once I came of age, and he was true to his word.
Robbie made me a respectable wrestler...but I made myself a respectable man, and nobody else did. I was the guy who flew out at his own expense to get bookings in Japan and Mexico because I wanted the experience. I fought fans who questioned my toughness or ability or whatever. Over nearly ten years, I feel like I've worked very hard and earned a measure of respect within professional wrestling.
So that's why it offends me when I go, and I read everybody's Fan Access posts...and nobody's picking me to win a title. Nobody's saying I'm the one they don't want to come up against in the Lethal Lottery. Everybody seems to be getting talked up, but it seems like everybody's conveniently forgetting me. Or when they do remember to talk about me in passing, like Ash Scion did, it's to denigrate my talents.
Now, don't take this the wrong way. I respect everybody on Livewire, it's a hell of a brand, and whoever wins those titles will have earned it. But I didn't work this hard, for this long, to be some kind of 'dark horse'. So, evidently, I'm going to have to go to Livewire on Sunday night, and I'm going to have to make believers out of this roster.
Now, one would look at the stipulations to this tournament, and one might say that those stipulations benefit me, the technical/submission wrestler, the least of anyone. But hey, I'm happy about it. There's no denying it, no calling it luck, when I win matches I'm not "supposed" to be winning like a Ladder Match and a Steel Cage Match. Sure, I'm not quite so fast as Jeremiah Greyson or Ash or hell, almost anybody...but that's just a matter of finding out what advantage I do have on all those guys.
"
*The camera zooms out...and Declan Black is very clearly in a jiu-jitsu academy, and by the looks of the techniques that others in camera range are using, it's a world-class one. He smirks the smirk of a man who knows he has one up on his enemies. It's hard not to notice the belt...brown.*
"You know, I used to get beat up a lot as a kid. But me, I was a good one, never wanted to get into trouble. I got into BJJ. I figured, hey, better to choke a guy out than leave bruises that could screw me over. But then, I took to it. I got good. I've only gotten back into the dojo in the last few months after being out for years...but hell, I still think I can collect a few legs. See, my idea is...it'll be awfully hard to climb a ladder or a cage with a busted knee or ankle.
So, kiddies, break out the Rocktape, Icy Hot, and braces...because the lot of you are going to be needing them come September 12th, when you wake up with your legs busted up...and no title to show for it.
"
*He chuckles as a fellow fighter walks up, lays back...and takes an absolutely disgusting inverted kneebar within three seconds, tops.*
*
"December 1st, 2006. My 18th birthday. Coming up on ten years ago.
That's when I really entered this business, in a dingy ass gym in Brooklyn, before Brooklyn got sanitized. When Robbie Priest taught me to really wrestle. And not many people know this, but I had been in a ring before. I don't call it "wrestling", because all it was was some idiot kid in a mask doing moves he wasn't trained to do. One night...one of the veterans, he got pissed at me for being so damn useless. And he ripped off that mask, and he beat me until I was unrecognizable. Took a ton of surgery to sew me back up. Robbie was at that show, and he took me aside after...I was stumbling, but they weren't going to cart me out... he said I had something. A toughness, a fight that not many had. He told me he'd train me properly once I came of age, and he was true to his word.
Robbie made me a respectable wrestler...but I made myself a respectable man, and nobody else did. I was the guy who flew out at his own expense to get bookings in Japan and Mexico because I wanted the experience. I fought fans who questioned my toughness or ability or whatever. Over nearly ten years, I feel like I've worked very hard and earned a measure of respect within professional wrestling.
So that's why it offends me when I go, and I read everybody's Fan Access posts...and nobody's picking me to win a title. Nobody's saying I'm the one they don't want to come up against in the Lethal Lottery. Everybody seems to be getting talked up, but it seems like everybody's conveniently forgetting me. Or when they do remember to talk about me in passing, like Ash Scion did, it's to denigrate my talents.
Now, don't take this the wrong way. I respect everybody on Livewire, it's a hell of a brand, and whoever wins those titles will have earned it. But I didn't work this hard, for this long, to be some kind of 'dark horse'. So, evidently, I'm going to have to go to Livewire on Sunday night, and I'm going to have to make believers out of this roster.
Now, one would look at the stipulations to this tournament, and one might say that those stipulations benefit me, the technical/submission wrestler, the least of anyone. But hey, I'm happy about it. There's no denying it, no calling it luck, when I win matches I'm not "supposed" to be winning like a Ladder Match and a Steel Cage Match. Sure, I'm not quite so fast as Jeremiah Greyson or Ash or hell, almost anybody...but that's just a matter of finding out what advantage I do have on all those guys.
"
*The camera zooms out...and Declan Black is very clearly in a jiu-jitsu academy, and by the looks of the techniques that others in camera range are using, it's a world-class one. He smirks the smirk of a man who knows he has one up on his enemies. It's hard not to notice the belt...brown.*
"You know, I used to get beat up a lot as a kid. But me, I was a good one, never wanted to get into trouble. I got into BJJ. I figured, hey, better to choke a guy out than leave bruises that could screw me over. But then, I took to it. I got good. I've only gotten back into the dojo in the last few months after being out for years...but hell, I still think I can collect a few legs. See, my idea is...it'll be awfully hard to climb a ladder or a cage with a busted knee or ankle.
So, kiddies, break out the Rocktape, Icy Hot, and braces...because the lot of you are going to be needing them come September 12th, when you wake up with your legs busted up...and no title to show for it.
"
*He chuckles as a fellow fighter walks up, lays back...and takes an absolutely disgusting inverted kneebar within three seconds, tops.*
