Scratched and Clawed.

My life has been wrestling. I was born into a family of wrestlers. My father wrestled, my mother booked. My grandfather wrestled, my grandmother designed ring gear. I’ve never known anything other than wrestling, I’ve never cared for anything more than I care for that ring.

I’ve been training since I was thirteen. My mother tried to convince me not to, she told me I was better off focussing on a different life, not one filled with the dangers of the squared circle. But I could not be persuaded. I chose the life of wrestling, and I have never regretted it.

I’ve never stopped focussing. Sure I’ve had my times of self doubt, and have taken time away from wrestling but I never took my eyes off of the goal. I never left with the intention of never coming back. I always knew I would return, and work towards my goal of creating the legacy I have worked so hard to earn. The legacy I deserve.

Hundreds of fans had gathered in a convention center today, it was a VoW fan meetup, arranged by a hardcore group of fans of the company. The events had been happening occasionally, at some of the company’s larger events, but this was the biggest event of all of them so far. Much like VoW’s attendance, the amount of people who showed up to the meetups growed every week.

Ace looked at a noticeboard while waiting in line at a store. That was when he saw the poster for the meet up. It was today. In fact, the initial meet up was two hours away. He figured other VoW wrestlers would be there, probably to go and keep up their fake “loving the fans” image they put on. They certainly would not expect Ace Watson to show up.

He paid for his groceries, which consisted of a few healthy snacks and some fruit juice, then ordered an Uber taxi to take him back to the hotel. Ace had already decided he was going to make an appearance, he knew he was going to when he saw the poster. He had things to say and he did not want to save them for Fate of the Gods. This was the perfect platform for him to speak his mind about his match and his opponents.

The Uber arrived five minutes later, Ace approached the car and the driver lowered the window.

“Watson?” the portly forty something balding man asked.

“Yeah, Rich?” Ace replied.

“Yeah that’s my name, definitely isn’t my money situation otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this.”

Ace chuckled and opened the back door, “Use that line a lot?”

“All the time.”

A dislike for the name “Ace” was growing inside him. It wasn’t a name he chose, but more one he had been given by the people he trained with when he first started out, one he felt he had outgrown. He was only just a teenager when the nickname spawned off of another nickname, and there was a part of him that wanted to return to using the name he was given at birth. He did not want to be remembered as “Ace.”

“You’re British right?” Rich asked, breaking the silence which had lasted roughly two minutes.

“Yeah, born in Norwich, about two hours from London.”

“Ah I see, what brings you here then?”

“I’m a wrestler with Visionaries of Wreslting. We’ve got a show coming up here on the-”

“Yeah I seen the posters.” Rich laughed, they were everywhere.

Ace didn’t really appreciate the interruption, but Rich seemed like a nice guy so he let it slide.

“You a fan?” Watson asked, though he had a feeling he knew the answer.

“Not really. My brothers were, not sure if they are now.”

Ace’s phone rang.  Bianca was calling. “Sorry, better get this. It’s my girlf-” He suddenly realised that he was not sure if they were “together” again or not. They had been seeing each other, regularly, but there was no confirmation really. “Erm, yeah. Gotta take this call.”

Rich smiled, keeping his focus to the road.

“Hi” Ace said after answering,

“Hey boo, just letting you know my flight is in an hour, so I’ll be in Minnesota at about six, where are you taking me to dinner?”

“It’s a surprise.” He didn’t know.

“If it’s somewhere good you know you’ll get treated too.” She teased,

What she said was very true, Ace had been staying in hotel nearby where Bianca lived in Malibu, though he spent most nights with her.

Ace laughed, “Yeah I know, you’ll like it, I’ve been told by a few people that it's one of the best places to eat in the city.”

“It better be. Though it is Minnesota so I’ve not got my hopes up, boo.” She paused, “Anyway I’ll see you later, they’ve finally finished cleaning out a room for me to relax in away from all these disgusting people. Bye.”

“Bye, B.” Ace pulled the phone away from his ear and hung up.

“Rich, I need to know where the best restaurant in the city is…” Ace said with a light laugh behind it.

“W. A. Frost. It’s on Selby Avenue. If it’s all booked out then you could try one of the others nearby, there’s four or five restaurants close.”

“Cheers, she wouldn’t be happy if I had nothing planned”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

The convention center was packed. Ace had not expected so many people to show up, though really he knew he should have done, given that it was the biggest VoW show of the year. He had arrived half an hour before anyone else did, it was only the organisers who were there. Watson organised it with them for him to have some time on stage in front of all the fans, who were likely to be high energy with the anticipation for Fate of the Gods.

The time for Ace to take the mic was near, the “host” for the event had thrown about a few jokes on stage, and got them worked up ready to be lively for Ace when he took over, which they had no idea was going to happen yet, as Watson was behind the curtain listening in and peaking through the side every now and then to see how many people had turned up. Ace was also impressed by the host’s ability to get the crowd going, and thought he must have been watching a bunch of wrestling promos in the build up to this talk.

“Now, something I don’t think any of us were expecting to happen today, we have a Visionarie right here, today, behind this curtain and he is eager to speak to you all!”

The fans make some noise, most likely expecting someone like Tyler Storm to appear.

“And he is... Ace Watson!”

The crowd let out a joint sound of disappointment, and boo Ace as he steps out from behind the curtain. Booing him more for the fact he was not who they hoped it would be than for the fact they did not like him. Ace takes the mic from the host who jumps off the stage and stands next to a group of people wearing matching VoW t-shirts.

“Oh I’m sorry, were you expecting someone nicer?” Ace says sarcastically, clearly not affected by the reaction.

“I’m not here to please you, I’m here because I have a few things I want to say regarding my match at Fate of the Gods versus Katie Moicelle and Tristan Ambrose.”

They boo, clearly not happy Watson had been put in that match.

“Thanks for that, booing the fact I’m in the match fits my narrative. Because you all, and many others, feel I don’t deserve this shot. You think I should be shoved in another random meaningless multi-man match, away from any title picture. In my last two matches alone I have defeated five opponents. Five. Yes, I was beaten by Ambrose the match before those, but we all know he won by incredibly questionable ways. A low blow victory is not a respectable one.”

“Some of you will argue that it was not an intentional low blow, but I know what I felt, I know what he was trying to do. Lucky enough for him it worked.”

“And back to me being “not worthy,” are you all really forgetting the fact I’ve been at VoW for over a year now? Are we all forgetting how I was an inch away from winning the Quest for the Case? Are we all forgetting I almost took the I4NI title off of Tyler Storm? Are we forgetting I stood toe to toe with Seth Iser? I beat Owen Gonsalves not too long ago as well.”

“I’ve lost a lot of matches. I’m not going to ignore that. I’ve been “this” close a hell of a lot of times. But I keep fighting. I keep working to become better. I’ve done that ever since I was thirteen years old. That’s fourteen years. And I’ll keep doing it for another fourteen years if I have to.”

The fans weren’t sure how to react. They seemed to be appreciating the love he had for wrestling. It was clear in his voice how much he cared about what he was saying. There was a fiery passion behind his words.  

“And Katie, yes you Katie, I can see about seven people pointing their phones at me recording so I know you’ll see this. Katie you can just forget it when you say I’m only in the match because you wanted me there. Because I do deserve to be there. And honestly me using the fact I beat you all those months ago was just a way to get your attention. I knew I deserved another shot, another chance at something big. The Zero Gravity title is the only thing I felt I could get a go at. I already talked my way into that I4NI Title match last year as well, there was no way I was going to talk myself into another.”

“See Katie that’s what you are to me. You’re an easy target. You’re someone who can be provoked easily. You’re a mess. How can you possibly go from being so in love with one person to adoring someone else in less than a week if you weren’t?”

The crowd are suddenly reminded why they don’t like Ace Watson.

“Yours and Stacy Jones’ drama got boring very quickly. Even your friends were bored by the end of it, I’m sure they considered it a chore by the time they talked either of you out of doing something dumb. It was ridiculous. And it showed how meaningless it all was when you got with someone else straight away and was head over heels in love with her too in no time. Your distractions will be your downfall. And this time you will really be able to blame yourself.”

There was a quiet mumble from the fans this time.

“On an unrelated note, where did all the straight women disappear to while I was gone? It seems every woman that is a part of this company is either lesbian or very open to experiments. Strange.”

“Anyway… Tristan Ambrose, I know you’ll see this too. Or maybe your “advocate” will see it, speak for you, and then pass on the details later. Seriously, why is it that you have to have someone else speak for you? Are you a man, or a child? I bet even your tweets acknowledging the match were written by Cappotelli.”

“I have no respect for you Ambrose. You can’t talk for yourself and you win matches with low-blows and try to pass yourself off as a worthy number one contender after doing so. Actually you know what I think I know why it is you have him talk for you, you doubt your abilities. That’s why you need someone to “big you up.” To make you seem better than you really are. That’s why you need your hype man. That’s why you hide behind his words and let him speak whatever crap it is he says. It’s the only reason it could be. You aren’t mute, you know how to speak English so why else would you, a grown man, have another grown man speak for you? It’s because you’re not good enough.”

There were more murmurs from the crowd. Ace looked down at the ground, and spoke down into the microphone rather than into it now.

“I have scratched and clawed my way to get where I am today. I have worked and worked and worked to the point where I feel like it’s all or nothing. If I can’t win this match then I’m not sure what else there is for me. I can try to come back from it, but it could be useless. There’s no telling now.”

He looked up, focussed again.

“But I know I will do everything in my power to make sure I come out on top. I’ve not been wrestling this long to miss all these oppourtunities, I’ve not been training this hard to lose once again. I know I can beat Katie and Tristan. I know I have what it takes to be a champion. I know I can capitalise on any situation, I know I’m an opportunist, I know I can pull wins out of thin air and I know I can handle myself in matches against multiple competitors. I know I can win. I just need to prove it…”

Ace’s words trailed off at the end, his head dropped again then he rushed off stage. The crowd were left speechless.