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Thomas Nixon · (01-15-2017)

Thomas Nixon is finally back in Philadelphia. He flew in from Green Bay a couple nights back, but it wasn’t till this night when he got the news of his next title defense. On the next edition of Savage Saturday Night, Thomas Nixon will defend the XWF Television once again, this time against Jim Caedus.

Thomas is sitting up in his bed. He was planning on finally going to sleep around, it is around one in the morning, but he sat up and grabbed the Television Championship off his nightstand. With the belt resting on his lap, he admires the championship, running his hand over the main plate.

{All the hype and energy in XWF isn’t around this belt. The buzz is around the main event scene. The three way bout between Reno, Chaos, and myself is dominating the headlines, but I have another match to worry about a few days before Wednesday Night Warfare. It’s easy to look over this match. I’m wrestling a newcomer that goes by the name ‘Jim Caedus’.

I don’t have any bad blood against Jim. We’ve never met face to face, and I don’t have personal judgements against him, unlike my feelings on my two Warfare opponents. Unlike my match on Wednesday, there is an expectation that I win this bout. I’m the reigning champion, the fighting champion, with four successful defenses under my belt. So why should I worry about a new face in the XWF that only has had one match?

And that’s why I’m lying awake in bed. Because this match is more than an easy win. It would be easy for me to walk into this match blind to Jim Caedus. It would be easy to look ahead a week to my Warfare main event match. I just came off a big win; I decisively put Moore away in our rematch. It was intense, violent, and brutal. Fuck, I’m still a little bruised up from that bout. This match against Jim is sandwiched between two marquee match ups, so it’s flying under the radar despite this bout being the main event of Savage and for a championship.

When I laid down in my bed, I was thinking about what’s in store for me on Saturday, and I felt nervous for the first time. I’m nervous because this match has a parallel, a very concerning parallel.

I went on a rant about why I shouldn’t be seen as an underdog on Warfare. All the signs are there, and if you look at the facts, people shouldn’t be very surprised if I pin the Universal champion in the center of the ring. I explained that in heavy detail to the XWF audience the other day.

Now, the more I find out about my opponent on Saturday, the more concerned I get because there are red flags left and right surrounding Jim Caedus. It’s easy to look at his inexperience in XWF and dismiss him, but that ignores a list of facts that prove he is a threat and needs to be treated as such.

Jim Caedus has been around the wrestling world for twenty years, that’s twenty years longer than I have. He has experience on his side, and I’m not ignorant enough to believe that my brief XWF stint outweighs his veteran career. He knows the tricks that get wrestlers ahead. He knows the little things that the fans don’t even notice. Caedus knows how to leverage his weight and make his opponent’s work in the ring. He understands the psychology of a wrestling match.

All of that was very clear when he battled my ally, Benito Angelo, in his XWF debut. Benito put up one hell of a fight, but it wasn’t enough to beat Caedus. It didn’t help that Caedus played it smart. At the end of the match, Caedus did something impressive. After he cracked Benito over the skull with a chair, he didn’t go for the cover. Jim hit Benito with that chair six more times. He didn’t give Benito the chance to stall for time and regain himself; Jim sealed the match. That was a veteran move, and most wrestlers in the XWF would not make a decision like that.

Caedus looked like a monster in that match, and he fought like an animal. He busted Benito open and he showed no mercy. But he wasn’t just a twisted, sick fuck. It’s unsettling how level headed Jim seems, despite his cutthroat brutality. Broken Hart isn’t the kind of man. Brandon Moore isn’t that kind of man. Gabe Reno isn’t that kind of man. That’s not the type of opponent I have wrestled before.

Luckily, I have the rules on my side. To some extent, I benefit from a straight wrestling match. Jim can’t simply scramble my brains with a chair. He also can’t stomp my throat in if I’m knocked down in the corner. Some holds are not allowed in our title match. That doesn’t save me from the strength of Jim, but it gives me a level of safety. I’ll have those brief rope breaks to catch my breath, and it will give me the chance to catch Caedus off guard. Even a veteran has holes in their game, I just have to find Jim’s.

Jim isn’t the first wrestler to confidently say that he’ll beat me, but he wasn’t arrogant about it. Hell, he has a resume to back his words up. He even gave me credit. He understands how rare my accomplishments are in a company like XWF. He knows that it’s not easy to defend a championship week after week. But Jim doesn’t understand how much I care about this belt.

My career isn’t about sprinting into the Universal Championship picture. My career has been about making the most out of every single opportunity I’ve been given. Right now, several men are vying for Chris Chaos’ belt, and many of them hardly have a claim to be a contender. I’m not like them. I have something to show for my efforts. This belt represents all my victories here in the company.

Jim said that I’m either an idiot for settling for a lesser championship or I’m lying when I say that I’m happy being Television Champion. Well, I’m not settling for a midcard belt. I’m raising this belt’s prestige because I’m a champion that can win matches. Scully couldn’t defend the Universal championship once. Then Peter Gilmour couldn’t defend his gold in the elimination chamber match. I’m a champion that puts on great matches, while I’ve consistently shown that I can beat people under pressure. I’m five for five when gold is on the line, and that can’t be said by anyone else in this company.

I’m not settling for anything. I’m building a reputation for myself and the championship belt that I proudly hold. Everyone can say that the Universal Championship is the most important piece of gold in the XWF, but my title reign is going to convince people otherwise. If Jim falls into the arbitrary belief that this gold isn’t as important as the Universal title, he needs to watch my battles with Brandon Moore. We fought tooth and nail over this belt, just like six men brawled over the Universal Title at Wild Card Weekend. This Television Championship isn’t about drama and complaining about title shots. This belt is about proving yourself as an athlete inside the ring. That’s what I’ve done and Jim will have to do the same if he wants to beat me.

This match won’t be about personal vendettas. No drama, no rivalry. We’re two men that both have our eyes set on the same goal. I may have other opportunities on the horizon, but Gabe Reno and Chris Chaos can stay on hold for a bit. The XWF Television Championship trumps their petty insults. On Savage, we are going to have a no bullshit fight. Two men fighting till one can get the decisive edge. That’s what wrestling is about.

Jim Caedus isn’t a joke. He isn’t like Drezdin or the Crimson Dong. He isn’t here for a laugh. He wants to make a statement. And that’s exactly what I’ve tried to do with this belt. This belt is what I have to show for; it’s my resume in the XWF.

That’s why losing this gold is unfathomable. When I realized that I’m up against a real challenge, a monster, I thought about the implications of losing this gold. This sense of concern made me feel selfish.

This belt has given me a lot of ways to make life better for the people I’m fighting for. Since I’ve won the gold, I’ve landed more high profile interviews that reached a wider range of people than just the XWF audience. I’ve gotten my message out to the world. A revolution will happen and lizard people will win the rights that they deserve! They shouldn’t have to hide their true forms from the world because of our discriminatory biases. With the gold over my shoulder, people know that I’m not just a nutcase. I’m a champion that can give a fight to anybody around here. And that’s what makes my message so sincere. That’s why people know that I’m not fibbing about the oppression of thousands of beings.

Those are some impactful ways that this belt affects people other than me, but I didn’t think of those things when I thought about this trap match.

I imagined the feeling that I had last week, when the belt was suspended. Everything felt off, things felt wrong. Without the gold over my shoulder or around my waist, I felt naked. It was like an integral part of me was missing. Deep down, I knew that the belt was technically mine and Vincent’s ruling was just a formality, but if I suffer my first defeat against Jim, that will become reality. I won’t have the belt that I’ve been accustomed to showing off and holding high. Not just that, this belt has been on the line in every big match of my career. From when I dominated the four way bout on pay per view to my most recent bloody battle with Brandon Moore.

Does that make me selfish?

In the end, this belt has lent itself to my cause. But now, I don’t want it simply for those pragmatic reasons. I’m not worried about being knocked down a peg if I lose the gold. I just want to hold onto this belt because deep down, I’m like everyone else. I want the validation that comes with being a champion. I want a belt around my waist that signals to the crowd and all the wrestlers in the back that I’m a top tier competitor. It’s a symbol that actions speak louder than words because it’s the proof that I live by that mantra. Without the gold, if I say I’m the best, I’m going to come off like Thaddeus Duke or Gabe Reno. Guys that can point to some past accomplishments, but they don’t have anything tangible to show for it right now.

I don’t want to become another name, another voice. I’m not another person yelling at Chaos, begging for a title match. But if I lose my belt, that might be what I become.

So I’m not falling for this trap. I’m not throwing this match to the back of my mind and I won’t be phoning it in on Saturday night. For the next few days, my mind is focused on one thing, and that’s making sure this belt stays with me.}

Thomas Nixon lifts the championship belt from his lap, and he places it onto his nightstand. He wasn’t tired, but he was done thinking. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body, but he knew that it would pass soon. Nixon laid down on his side, looking at the belt through the darkness, as the scene fades to black.

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