Post by Arthur Kingsley on Sept 25, 2016 22:55:39 GMT -6
What a rush man...
AJ’s heart was still going a million miles a minute.. He did it, he had his first professional match in VOW, and while he did lose, he held his own against two of the elite members of VOW. Sadly his overzealousness cost not only him, but Tristan the match, something he knew his trainer wasn’t going to let pass. He felt bad..
Alexander was more accepting tho, he knew the pressure the kid had on his shoulders to impress not only Tristan, but VOW. Sitting on the Trainer’s table, Tristan slouched in the corner already ready to hit the road. He hadn’t said anything to him since the match, and AJ was hoping he wasn’t to mad.
He knew Tristan had invested a lot of time to make sure AJ knew what to do in the ring, granted they weren’t expecting his first match to be a tag match, let alone a match against the top of the Xcel division. But he jumped the gun, and he would be the first to admit it. The trainer came in and started to check his neck as The Killing Curse isn’t fun, and the tension he felt there was uncomfortable, being that he has never done this before.
“For what it’s worth kid, that wasn’t shitty.”
“Reall- ah!”
“Sorry, most people are tense after their first match, better get used to this feeling kid.”
“All the time?”
“This shit ain’t easy kid, better you learn that now.”
AJ nodded, knowing this is what he signed up for.. Peering his gaze to the side, he saw the envelope with a hundred dollars cash, thinking about his future, Alexander seemed to pick up on his hesitation, walking over and placing a hand on the young wrestler.
“Look kid, I know it’s not a lot, but Tristan is only making a bit shy of ten thousand a month. He’s a former champion, so you gotta give this time.”
“Despite the names in this company, We aren’t huge.. We are known.. And this is your first match.. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna have you paying for hotels, food.. None of that.”
“But I want to! I don’t want handouts, I wanna make a name for myself..”
“And you will... But you’re just starting kid, give it till the end of the year man, save some cash up.”
AJ nodded, he knew Tristan and Alex were right, so he would just go along with it. According to them, Tristan had next week off, but AJ had a match against Cali-Kate, Something Tristan was already planning for..
“Alright, so if I’m out there, I might distract you.”
“You won’t man, I could use you out there for support...”
“Nah, You’ll have Alexander out there, and I’m right there with you right up till you walk through the curtain..”
“You need to overcome the need to impress everyone... You are gonna overload yourself worrying about small shit like that.”
”But I do guys! I gotta impress VOW, I don’t wanna get fired.”
AJ hung his head, he didn’t wanna screw this opportunity up, his uncle worked his ass off to get Tristan to train him, to get him a contract here.. He... He just didn’t wanna let them all down..
“Kid, you have a contract, if they did end up letting you go they would have to pay the remainder of your contract, and there are other options.. But they aren’t going to fire you because you lost your debut. That would be stupid, trust me, you are going to be fine.”
AJ nodded, he was so new to this business that he didn’t know what the hell to expect. He knew he wasn’t going to get everything up front, he knew he would have to work his way up, but a hundred bucks?
“I was just expecting more ya know?”
“Everyone does, your time will come, trust me. But it will take time, be mindful, be patient.”
“All right, he should be good to go. Listen kid, take a dip in that hot tub when you get the hotel, It’ll help loosen the tension in your muscles.”
“Thanks doc.”
“Don’t mention it, It’s what they pay me for.”
Tristan nodded, picking up his bag, as AJ slipped on his jeans, pocketing the envelope. His first night as a member of VOW complete, he also picked up his bag, and made his way out of the room with Alexander and Tristan.
Day one... complete.
The trainer knew what he was talking about, after his dip in the hot tub, he slept like a champ. Being that he had his own room, which begrudgingly someone other than him paid for, He just lounged around his room, as despite all the work he did to prevent it, the soreness was intense. When people say the ring had no give, they were not joking. The tension hadn't change a bit after the temporary relief he had last night. Slowly he got up out of his bed, feeling his neck stiffen up as he did so.
Grabbing his phone, he saw he had a few notifications, one from his uncle Ethan, and another from Ella Oliver, someone who he recently started interacting with on Twitter, and well.. apparently she was being trained for VOW, something he wouldn't mind. She was a beautiful woman around his age, and she liked wrestling! Not a trait that was common. He would be a fool, or not in his right mind if he didn't consider her a catch, but.. like he stood a chance. Like he stood a chance at wrestling, He could win a few lower matches, but just like his trainer, he was doomed to drift at the bottom of the card... Plus he was announced for this Third Eye Open Tournament, teaming with people who Tristan has pissed off, making AJ wonder how his partners truly felt about him... Did they hate him? Slowly he got up and slipped on some shorts and a gray tanktop before slipping out of his room, heading for the gym area. Breaking into a slight jog to the area, slowly slightly when he spotted Tristan running the treadmill. He had his headphones on, so AJ's presence went unnoticed as he picked up some of the gym's dumbbells, shutting his eyes, he started doing some reps hoping Tristan didn't come and chew him out for screwing up the match last night. He should have tagged out, he should have let Tristan lead them to victory.. But his youth and inexperience made him believe that he could do it all.
He was wrong..
And now it seemed like Tristan was giving him the cold shoulder...
After a few minutes, his senses picked up someone beside him, opening his eyes, he saw Tristan picking up bigger weights than he was using, wanting to impress Tristan, he quickly put back his weights and went to grab the same weight Tristan was using, which Tristan quickly stopped. Setting his weights down on the rack, he took his beats off his head, looking down at his young protege with confusion..
"What are you doing?"
"I uhm.. I'm working out?"
"With those weights?"
"Well you use 'em."
"You ain't me, you showed that last night. I would have won that match, because I wouldn't have gotten caught, and now you wanna use the same weights as me? Why? You aren't Tristan Ambrose kid, You are Arthur Kingsley, a rookie, a kid who still hasn't learned one of the most valuable lessons that you could learn here."
Arthur just stayed quiet, taking the lecture in stride, he deserved this.
"You are only as good as you think you are. Fuck what everyone else thinks of you, if you have to cut corners, do it the easy way.. You gotta do what you have to do to win in this business man."
"But I don't wanna be like that man, I wanna do everything the right way, I wanna obey the-"
"No! That gets you nowhere.. Yo-"
"Hasn't gotten you anywhere....."
.
..
...
"What?"
Tristan stared him down, as AJ slowly stepped back from him, not wanting to anger Tristan. He knew Tristan wouldn't hit him, but this man would go hard during Training, hell he almost hit him in the head with a chair during their last training session... But he wanted to get his point across, Tristan only started losing when he abandoned all the rules..
"You beat Ace, and you did it clean with no bullcrap.. Now you are on this tyrant and you haven't won a big match sense.. As much as Katie turned into a sad mess after Fate of the Gods, you turned into a man who lets his anger lash out without thinking. I think if you just, I don't know... thought things out more before you did them, you might have a better chance at winning matches."
Tristan stared at him, the expression remained the same, AJ couldn't read it. Tristan slightly nodded, before turning and walking out of the gym, leaving AJ behind. AJ waited, silently cursing himself for possibly ruining this chance, all Tristan had to do was say screw it and he didn't have a trainer. He took a few minutes before he quickly ran out to follow Tristan, but was cut off by Alexander.
"What the hell did you do?"
"I uhh..."
"You uhh? He left he's on his way to Villanova!"
"Well he isn't gone yet, can I just apologize?"
"Whatever you said, It pissed him off."
"Gah I... I didn't mean to man, I just... I tried to get through to him."
He was freaking out, He did it, he screwed it up royally. After everything that he did, after all the work that he had put into this, it was over, he was on his own on this roster full of wolves.
"Alex man.. I.. I fucked this up man."
Alex just stared at him, placing a hand on his shoulder, he lead him to his room. He looked at AJ the whole time, and saw the sadness in this kids eyes, he felt like he ruined the chance to train under Ambrose, and without that, who was going to train him, who was gonna teach him how to survive in this business.. The arrived at the door to Alex's room, stopping as they arrived.
"No kid.. you didn't.."
Opening the door, there sat Tristan, smile on his face looking at Alex, on the table behind him, there were three glasses and a bottle of whiskey behind him. Alex quickly put his hands on AJ's shoulders and brought him into the room as he broke out laughing..
"Did he buy it? Please tell me he bought it."
"Hook, line and sinker."
"Alright ahahah!"
"Wha.. What's going on."
A million different things were going through his head, what the hell was going on? What big joke did he just go through, he wasn't joking when he told Tristan those things, and now here they were laughing with each other because he felt terrible about speaking out against his trainer? He didn't understand...
"Listen kid, I understand your frustration with how I do things, and well, you aggravate me with how you handle certain situations. But here's the thing, You spoke for yourself! You told me straight up that you didn't like how I do shit, what I'm suppose to be pissed off that you did that? Kick you to the curb because you wanna be a good guy? No."
AJ felt a massive relief overcome him, Tristan wasn't pissed or mad that he said what he said, In fact he said he was happy that he did it.
"There will come a day where you have to choose what you wanna do, for you. Until then, you gotta follow the path that we set you on, you gotta make sure there is nothing you won't do, to make sure you get as far ahead as you can get in this business as you can. I'm proud that you stood up to me, ya got balls kid, I'll give you that."
Tristan poured three drinks, handing one to each of them. He saw the younger's hesitation to drink the alcohol, he understood it, he was only twenty, not legal yet, but he figured that it wouldn't hurt anyone if he had one shot of whiskey. He raised his glass and clinked it with Alex, looking over at AJ, who thought for a moment, before clinking his drink and downing it with the other two...
He instantly started coughing as the whiskey started to burn at his throat, Both of the older gentlemen laughing as Alex smacked him on the back, trying to hold in some of his laughter. AJ attempted to contain his coughing, quickly shaking his head as if to regain his senses.
"Shit burns.."
"Yeah, Put some hair on your chest."
Tristan twisted the cap on the bottle, collecting the glasses and setting them back on the table. He walked over and had AJ sit on the bed, looking over at him, it was clear that Tristan had had more than one shot of whiskey, but AJ didn't pick up on it because of his youth and inexperience with alcohol. Placing a hand on his shoulder, which seemed to be there way to get through to him..
"You, have nothing to prove to me.. got it? Nothing to prove to the fans, or Alex.. not even your uncle. I was hard on you last night, consider this my apology. You are bummed about last night, I get it. Not everyone wins their debut, and that's okay. If you wanna prove something to someone, prove it to yourself."
"What do you mean..."
"What he means is, you think you don't belong. Because you lost last night you think it's over.. It isn't. So go into this match with the fire that you have shown in training, and prove to yourself that you DO belong here, and you will get over this feeling of disappointment that you have, that's all you have to do kid. Tristan has business that night, so I'll be out there, but you need to know, on your request, I'm not gonna help you win, it's all you kid."
AJ smiled, it's all he really wanted from them.. The faith that he could this on his own.
"Thanks guys..."
He wasn't going to let them down....
===
"Alright.. so for the first time, I'm gonna be on my own.. Oh, we're going? Okay.. Cali-Kate.. Is that her name? My second match ever, and it's against a girl.. My mother always said to never hit a woman, but.. this is different, mother, if you are looking down on me, forgive me. I've been thinking all week about this match, since I kinda screwed up the debut and everything... But that is beside the point, I need this to prove to myself that I can thrive here.
You think just because I lost one match, I was going to quit? That isn't me, I will not give up.. not after everything that I've done to get here. Everyone thinks that just because I'm just a young kid, that I can't do this, I can't tell you how many of my friends, even my family have told me that I can't do this.. I'm gonna prove them wrong.
I'm gonna do this...
I'm sorry if this screws up your plans Kate.. Cali, alright seriously what kinda name is that...
I'm just want you to know that this isn't personal, I just wanna show the world that I'm not some dumb kid that can't hang... Because at Breakthrough, you are going to find out what I can do, what I can TRULY do.. I'm gonna win, not because it's do or die, or because I need this more than anything... It's just because, well..
I have something to prove."
I'm sorry if this screws up your plans Kate.. Cali, alright seriously what kinda name is that...
I'm just want you to know that this isn't personal, I just wanna show the world that I'm not some dumb kid that can't hang... Because at Breakthrough, you are going to find out what I can do, what I can TRULY do.. I'm gonna win, not because it's do or die, or because I need this more than anything... It's just because, well..
I have something to prove."