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Thaddeus Duke · (01-08-2021)

Backstage at High Stakes || Tombstone, Arizona || 10:24 PM

For the entirety of my life, I’ve lived for me. When I was the head of my fathers Illuminatus? I did what I wanted. When I debuted in the XWF? I did what I wanted. When fans started admiring my work and began cheering me, I did something heinous in order for them to resume their hatred of me. Respect was sought after, adulation not so much. No matter how many wins I racked up, no matter how many titles and other accolades I earned, they never meant anything to me at the time. Now? I can look back on my career with a bit of pride knowing that I was at one time or another considered one of the best in the business. I can line my resume up with anyone in the business and despite only being an active competitor for four years, it beats most that have stayed beyond their expiration date.

I did things my way.

I’m not ashamed of what I’ve accomplished or the things I did in order to accomplish the goals I had.

He does things his way too.

Certainly he’s a better person than I ever was or ever will be for that matter, and he soaks up the love and adulation from the XWF crowds and he enjoys doing it. As his father, I love that they love him. He has his warts and personal demons like anyone does, but regardless of any of that, he’s a good and decent man. Whatever mistakes he makes as a human being whether in front of the cameras or behind them, he owns those mistakes.

He was a bit of a head case in his past and that’s not a secret. I know for certain he said and did things he regrets and while he may not talk about specifics publicly, my hope for him is that when his past is discussed with relevant parties, that they take his current day words, as his genuine feelings. That they take his apologies and his desire to repair his image and his reputation as seriously as he does. It’s been hard at times, being his father. There’s been moments and periods of time where he’s been an absolute shit and those moments are well documented at this point. Watching him sabotage himself was difficult but there was no way I was going to intervene. The Thaddeus Duke of 2019 isn’t the same Thaddeus Duke of years before and after. Maybe that’s difficult for some people to believe and he understands that. As the saying goes, actions have consequences.

It’s hard enough earning your way and feeling like you earned it while wearing an already famous last name. I’m not boasting or being an egotist, but the name he wears because I exist equates to greatness and there were certain expectations placed upon him by others and even himself and it’s difficult to free yourself of the shadows. No one though, has been harder on him for his own mistakes than he has been. Starting in this business as a teenager and trying to carve your own path had to have been extremely difficult for him. It’s just the nature of the beast. Watching him grow as a man over the last year, watching him return to what he loves, watching him attempt to repair the damage he inflicted upon himself… I’ll admit, makes me proud to be his father. No matter how often he’s victorious and no matter how quickly his resume grows, just watching him do what he does fills me with a sense of pride. Because that’s my boy.

”Sebastian,” Jim says as he re-enters the skybox. ”Just a few minutes away,” he says, causing my heart to nearly beat out of my chest with anticipation.

”You see him?” turning my head toward him as I ask.

”Yeah mate.”

”He alright?”

”Sore and in some pain,” he replies as he sits in the chair next to me. ”Kind of expected though, in a match such as that.”

”See Doc?” I ask, referring to Thad’s partner. For a long time, Doc D’Ville and I had discussed on numerous occasions taking a run at the tag team division. It never really came to fruition like we’d hoped but to watch my boy fulfill that destiny that never was and reign supreme in the tag team division with Doc by his side makes me smile on the inside.

”Nah mate, didn’t see him.”

The bell rings down at ringside and the ring announcer calls for the main event. Without much hesitation, nineteen of the best men and women in the business file out from backstage. I’d be lying if I said a small part of me didn’t wish I was going out there too. One, to be in the ring together with my son and two, to remind them all of what greatness looks like. A much larger part of me, knows my time has passed. The world in which I live now belongs to him and I made peace with that a long time ago.

”Pap, you think he’s gonna win?” Frankie asks of me as he and Elizabeth enter the skybox.

”I don’t know kid,” I answer him honestly. ”These things are unpredictable.”

”What happens to him if he wins?” Liz asks and the question kind of throws me and she can tell as much by the expressions on my face. ”I mean, will he be busier? He has a lot on his plate already with the war and me and Frankie. If he wins the title, is that going to force him out into public more often? And away from us?”

”Probably,” I answer her. Being Universal champion is a huge responsibility. You’re suddenly the face of the franchise and as such, you’re out a lot more than you’d probably like to be, doing press, meeting fans and special guests, and just being an all around ambassador to the brand itself. ”It’s not like you can’t go with him. He’s got private jets.”

”Why does Alias keep calling Thad a monster?” Frankie asks.

Admittedly the question makes me laugh a little. I like Alias. He’s a bit off, but he’s entertaining.

”I don’t really know. Maybe people being good at what they do is evil to Alias,” I answer him. ”Or maybe because him and that Smith kid are fuck buddies and Alias has a crush on him, I don’t really know.”

Liz shoots me a glare. The glare, which causes me great discomfort. Reminds me a lot of Thaddeus’s mother.

”They’re not fucking, mate,” Jim says, saving my ass from Liz’s oncoming rage. ”They’re just close friends and it’s how they act.”

”Final ten!” Frankie shouts as he nervously approaches the glass. Soon after, Page is beat down by Thad and the rest of the field. Page can take lessons from Thad’s playbook of defiance, but that only works when you still have friends. Page doesn’t.

”Typical Page,” I say as he eats Thad’s superkick and bails out of the ring. ”His favorite color is yellow.”

”What’s that mean?” Frankie asks as he leans on my knee.

”Means he’s a god damn coward.”

”Shit, Thad!” Jim shouts out, reacting to James Evans hoisting him up. Rather than tossing him over the top, like an idiot, Evans drives Thad to the mat with a death valley driver. ”Evans is a proper dumbass. He might’ve tossed Thad right there.”

”Is he hurt!?”

”Most moves hurt to some degree Liz, he’s just regaining his wind,” I inform the novice fan. Meanwhile, Evans has lifted Thaddeus from the mat and looks to finish the job he started moments ago only for Thad to reverse and send Evans over the top.

”Get him Thad!” Frankie shouts excitedly as he jumps from my knee and starts pounding on the glass.

”Get his ass!” I yell out as I join Frankie next to the glass.

SMACK!

Thad hits Evans with that big kick of his right to the jaw and flies off the apron for the elimination garnering some applause from those of us in the room. Just then, the door opens and Paul Heyman enters the room to join us.

”How’s our boy doin’?” he asks as he approaches my side.

”Six left,” I answer quietly as my anticipation and anxiety begin to bubble. I want this for him more than anything right now. No matter what I accomplished in the business, all of it pales to what I accomplished by sitting on the sidelines and cheering him on. Like him, love him or hate him… that kid is my grandest achievement and no one and nothing can ever take that away from me.

Thad gets back to his feet and notices Corey Smith in trouble. He hightails it across the ring to bail out his friend. ”Mother FUCK!” I shout out, letting out my frustration.

”Language!” Liz yells at me. Looking in her direction, part of me wants to tell her off, but a much larger part of me doesn’t want to do that at all. Like Thad’s mother was, she too is strong willed and I always backed down from her.

”He keeps trying to help that god damn kid, Liz. He’s gonna fuck himself right out of the Universal title.”

Page dumps D’Ville and Alias over the top simultaneously.

”Final four,” Jim says with an anxious sigh.

”If he pulls this out,” I say as I turn my head toward Paul. ”Do you get a big fat bonus?”

Paul looks at me but says nothing immediately.

”Even if I did, I wouldn’t accept it,” he says as he calmly watches on. ”All I’ve done for your son, Sebastian, is get him focused. Everything else, the feud with Page, the winning, the titles… that’s all him.”

”You’re uncharacteristically humble tonight,” I say, almost but not quite jokingly.

”That young man has the most natural ring ability and charisma of anyone I have ever managed. He moves with grace and flies without effort. He has unrivaled body control…

“Sebastian, you’ve been in the ring with a lot of different competitors. You ever face someone that can fly, flip while in the air, and land with pinpoint accuracy the way he can?” he asks of me. I shake my head in response. His ring work pretty much speaks for itself.

”Now this is what the people wanted to see,” Jim thinks aloud as Thad and Chris Page start throwing down in the middle of the ring. Moments later, Corey and Thad are teaming up to try and take out Witness when Page, opportunistic as always, dumps Corey and Thad both over the top rope.

”SHIT!” I shout out, nearly sending my fist through the glass.

”His feet didn’t touch!” Paul exclaims with relief as both Thad and his friend roll back in the ring under the ropes.

Together, the five of us watch the four of them in the ring. Witness and Chris Page, Corey Smith and my pride and joy, all vying to be the top dog of the industry. The four of them fighting so valiantly to not fail, to not make a mistake and get dumped. To not have to go to the back and wash off defeat, only to try again another time.

Thad has his back to the ropes. His arms hooked over the top as Witness and Chris Page try to free his death grip, trying so hard to silence one of the loudest mouths in all of wrestling. Cocky, he is. Talented, he also is. Corey Smith gets to his feet on the far side and the five of us can’t breathe, can’t speak. We wait and watch helplessly as Thaddeus nearly gets dumped a couple of times only for D’Ville to emerge from backstage.

Smith charges across the ring.

D’Ville grabs my sons leg.

”What the hell is he doin!?”
”What the hell is he doin!?”
”What the hell is he doin!?”
”What the hell is he doin!?”
”What the hell is he doin!?”

The five of us ask incredulously at exactly the same time.

Smith leaps onto Page and Witness.

The three of them tumble over the top rope.

The bell rings and Thaddeus remains in the ring.

If there was a roof, it no longer would exist because this segment of the XWF Universe would have just blown it off with their response. They love him. They’re here for him. They’re living this moment right along with him.

From up in the skybox, looking out over the Arizona crowd, I watch as the timekeeper hands the Universal title to him. With tears rolling down my cheeks that I’m unable to hold back, and a smile I can not contain, I just watched my son win the biggest prize in our sport. In the center of the ring, Thaddeus looks down at the Universal title and hits his knees. The XWF Universe continues to cheer him on and celebrate his victory, even breaking out into a “you deserve it” chant. Thad lays the title on the mat and leans forward, resting his head against the title and weeping openly as celebration pyro explodes over the Southwestern sky.

Without a word, I exit the skybox leaving the four of them behind, and make my way downstairs to the backstage area to wait for Thad. When I get there, I’m taken aback a little by the amount of professional wrestlers, in many ways sworn enemies, waiting behind the curtain to greet him. Corey Smith, Ned Kaye, that fuzzy, sweaty, out of shape sellout known as Thunder Knuckles, a dozen or so others. As he steps through the curtain with tears in his eyes and the title draped over his shoulder, Corey Smith is the first to greet him… with a hug. He makes his way further into the back as the guys and gals of the XWF pat him on his shoulder and give him their words of congratulations before they depart to make their own exits from the festivities. He and I stand alone, a few paces apart.

”Dad,” he says with tears in his eyes. ”I did it.”

”Thaddeus,” I say back, and like him, no other words follow. Taking a few steps toward him, I place my right hand on the side of his face and debate in my head quickly what I want to say to him. Maybe its my age or maturity as a man, maybe I’m getting softer as I grow older, or maybe its just him and his willingness to wear his heart on his sleeve that’s bringing it out of me. Whatever the reason, I now find what used to come to me so easily, burying emotion, to be damn near entirely impossible. Allowing the tears to flow, I place my forehead against his.

”I’m so fucking proud of you,” I say to him and the result of that admission is him throwing his arms around me. Returning the gesture for a few seconds, the rest of the family, Paul and Jim included, show up to join in on the celebratory hug. What the hell is this? The Brady Bunch?

In one day, Barney Green learns what Duke’s are made of. In one day, Barney Green learns that the man standing across from him isn’t just a pretty face that sells merch, or to put on pay per view posters. In one day, Barney Green gets beaten like he hasn’t been beaten in a long, long time. In one day, Barney Green learns what being the ‘Lionheart’ really means. In one day, Barney Green comes to the Mall of America and enters Lethal Lockdown with yours truly. In one day, Barney Green goes toe to toe with me and my Universal title is on the line.

One day.

Your road to glory begins and ends in a single day, Barney and I hope when its all said and done that you can live with the fact that you’ve never been anything more than an overachiever. You were simply a benefactor of a thin roster just like Chris Chaos was. You’ve reached the pinnacle of the business in your past but Barney, what does that matter? When the bell rings and its just you and me with a steel cage surrounding us and weapons at both of our disposal, what you’ve done ceases to matter. All that matters Barney, is you and me. All that matters, is that I’m going to take pleasure in beating you like a pinata simply because I can.

It no longer matters what you did in years gone by. It no longer matters what names you faced, what names you beat, what names you lost to. It no longer matters what grueling matches, what death defying stunts you pulled off. It no longer matters, Barney Green, what hardcore match types you participated in. It no longer matters what your weapon of choice is, because all that does matter, is that you get to face off for the very first time ever a man named Duke. And I promise you, Barney, it is not something you’ll want to do again anytime soon.

You look at me and see an undersized, at least by wrestling standards, 22 year old kid from Connecticut. Muscular, but lean. You think to yourself, nah man, no way he got what it takes to withstand a beating from the Daddy of Violence. Don’t let my physical size fool you. Don’t let the smiling face fool you. Don’t let the head of great hair fool you. Fact is Barney, I’m tougher than a steak in the frozen section of a Dollar Tree.

I know you know how good I am in the ring. You’ve said it before and I know you’ll say it again. The thing is, with these special hardcore brutal match types, everyone underestimates me. Everyone thinks that I’m out of my element and that my specialty is a good old fashioned five star clinic in the art of professional wrestling. While that is my forte and my claim to fame, do not underestimate my abilities in a brutal environment. As good as I am in traditional wrestling, I’m every bit as good in harsh environments.

I was seeded by a warrior.

I was raised by a warrior.

I was trained by a warrior.

I am a warrior.

I have fought, lived through, and come out victorious in matches just as brutal if not more so, in my short career so if you think that this environment somehow benefits you and not me, you’re sadly mistaken.

Barney Green, you know I love you man. But don’t think even for a second that my personal love for you is somehow going to pull a cloud down over me and fog up what’s at stake here. Don’t think that my love for you is somehow gonna make me go easy on you. I’ve battle a lot of demons, many of them my own fucking creation, to get to where I am. I started from the bottom of the trash heap, climbed my way out and just as I was reaching for the brass ring, I fell down the mountain of self sabotage and had to start all over again.

And I’ve done it more than once.

I am not a perfect person and I know it. The demons I have fought inside my own mind are worse than anything I have ever faced inside a wrestling ring here in the XWF, in Union Battleground, in the CWF… and that’s why I’ll win this match Barney.

No matter what you throw at me, I’ve put myself through worse.

I’ve worked extremely hard to get where I am. I worked extremely hard to overcome my past. I worked extremely hard to once again climb to the top of the XWF mountain and when I had the brass ring in sight, there was no way I was going to let my fans down again. There was no way I was going to let myself down again. There was no way I was going to let the company I work for, the people I work for down again.

Maybe you shouldn’t have torched the trash building. Maybe you should have kept that as an option to run back to after I leave you a broken fucking mess in the middle of the god damn ring. It really is a job befitting a man of your… caliber. Somewhere below average.

See you’re coming after the title I worked so fucking hard to win. This was years of hard work and dedication. This was years of trying and repeatedly failing to overcome those aforementioned demons. I have no problem with you coming for me. I have no problem with you asking for this title match. But when the bell rings and the smile fades from my face, just know that I give you a very warm welcome to the Thaddeus Duke Show.

Violence is normal.

Blood is expected.

Pain is inevitable.

Victory is mine.

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