Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

Shawn Warstein · (02-21-2021)

“Guess who’s back.”

A sly smile across my face as I sat at my desk in my home in Dallas. Purchased for the sole reason of being in the GCWA and not wanting to travel constantly. I’ve spent more time away from it recently and it’s starting to look like a bum investment. Inside of the office are bookcases overflowing with books. Haphazardly tossed on the shelves and seemingly in no order. Which is out of place seeing as how I usually have everything in order alphabetically.

I pull out a bottle of bourbon and a glass from the bottom drawer of my large dark oak desk. Now if this was someone worthy of my time, there would be scouting papers scattered across the desk, an iPad playing my opponents greatest matches, and just a water to drink, but not for round one.

Not for someone that we all know is well below me in every aspect of this industry. This is going to be one of the easiest layups of my career, yet to some of the most ill informed people they have assumed that I retired. I walked off into the sunset with Atara and was resting on a beach in Maui, well allow me to tell you all exactly what I’ve been doing since Sarah and Kenzi finished one chapter and I began writing the next.

“It has been a minute since y’all have seen me right? Sure I made the occasional appearance here and there with the dodgeball fight and Raven’s match against Theo, but otherwise…. Kinda just not around.”[//b] I take a sip from my glass and end up swirling the amber liquid in the glass.[b] “ I was fresh off my loss in GCWA’s Warriors of the Ring and being blindsided by Kenzi and I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

“I sulked. I pitied myself. I just couldn’t bear to deal with the fact that one got pulled on me. ME OF ALL PEOPLE! The man that plans everything down to even the most miniscule detail. So I walked away. I left everyone and began that search for something with meaning.”

“You know what I found Bearded War Pig? Oh you didn’t think this wasn’t a promo? Guess again. I found a reason. I found something to fight for.” I drum my fingers across the top of the desk. “I take that back. I didn’t find anything. Something found me, better yet someone.”

“You could say that I found my family. For the entirety of my career I never had anyone stand behind me and push me forward the way Legacy does. What’s that Bearded Dragon? Who or what is Legacy? It’s myself. It’s Jackson Hart. It’s Noah Jackson. It’s Betsy Granger. It’s Atara Themis. It’s James Raven. Simply put it’s everything I needed to bring myself out of my despair.” I take the bottle of bourbon and pour a bit more into the glass. With a quick sip I set the glass down. “Each one of them bolstered my confidence. Built me up. And I returned the favor over and over again. Everyone fails to see Legacy for what we truly are…”

“We are more than just a group of individuals with common goals. We are a family. And what has family gotten me? Well I’m glad you asked Sloth from the Goonies.” I reach down under the desk and pull out the GCWA North American title and stand it on the top of the desk. “Now I know what all of you are thinking…. who gives a shit about a title from a different company? You’d be right. No one cares about the GCWA, well except for Vinnie. Who constantly brags about the influx of talent over there and how they were once associated with the XWF, and look at how well they are doing. So at least one person cares… then there’s who I beat for it…. another one of those influxes of talent over there… Gravy. So to say that talent there is lackluster is acceptable, but even I still had to beat an XWF reject to get it. That and I’m the longest reigning North American champion they’ve ever had, but what do I know right?”

“What else is there? What else has Legacy led me to? Ahh yes.” I once again dig around under the desk and place the Project Honor Tag Team title and stand it up next to the other title. “This bad boy right here was won, and just like the other title, still resides around my waist. James and I laid waste to an entire company’s division and never looked back. See Bearded Lady, yes I know that one’s not my best but it’ll do for now. Anyways once again I, along with Raven, put the XWF out there whether knowingly or unknowingly and showed the world that maybe the XWF isn’t as much of a joke as I make it out to be. Like it’s okay for me to make fun of the XWF as a whole, but anyone else gets the shit slapped out of them for even thinking about it. And there’s one more thing too.” I spin the chair around turning it to the back, and slowly place something a top my head. As I spin around the golden crown, emblazoned with jewels sparkles in the light.

“I got this bad boy from Project Honor as well. This makes me the Tyrant of the place. I had to outlast fifteen other people to claim this prize. The thing is… over in Project Honor and GCWA they are realizing the same thing the XWF found out so many years ago.” I adjust the crown on top of my head and smirk towards the camera. “I’m simply better than everyone that isn’t in Legacy. Let that sink in for a second. Every single wrestler on the planet and I only consider five of them in the same category as myself. Is that my ego talking? To the ill informed sure, but the results speak for themselves. Since that fateful night that Kenzi punched me in the back of my head, and her betrothed took my title I’ve lost just TWICE in singles matches. I have yet to taste defeat in tag team matches and I came in third in a Rumble that was destined for Legacy to win.” I get a confused look on my face. “Okay I lied, everyone. I’m sorry. I was here before now.”

“I entered High Stakes. I was Witness. I had a sweet mask and even without the name power of Shawn Warstein, I managed to end up in the final four, and if it wasn’t for that shit head Corey none of this would be happening right now.” I shake my head. “I was fine with Duke winning. Fine, sure, whatever. The fact that Chris Page is running around with the Universal title makes me fucking sick. Not quite as bad as when the imbeciles were running the place, but damn close. I can’t allow Page to run around unimpeded. It’s really the only reason I’m back. Staking my claim at his title, but I’m not ignorant enough to just jump to the front of the line, even if I could. I will work my way there through this tournament. Round by round, week by week.”

“Even if that means I have to take out blood, like Noah. Or Stable mates like Betsy. Or loved ones like Atara. The vacuum at the top needs to be filled, and I’m here for it.” I stand up from the desk and gently raise the crown off of my head and place it in between the two titles. Slowly I begin to walk towards the door but I stop myself and walk back into the frame.

“All of that, I said all of that just to make one simple point in all of this Bearded War PTSD….”

“What the fuck have you done?”

I give the camera a quick shrug™ and walk out of the office where I was met by my son Jacob running up to me holding a blue gem case in his hands.

“Dad… have you seen this before?” Admittedly I had, the sharpie marker on it, clearly in Noah’s handwriting was all the details I needed.

“Yeah, where’d you find this?” I asked while grabbing the case from him and inspecting it closer. “I haven’t seen this since two days after it came out and Noah got his hands on it.”

“Yeah I didn’t know Atara was into video games.” A smile beamed from his face as we began walking down the hallway and down the stairs.

“I wouldn’t say she’s INTO them, more of she can see some of them as art. You know something with a deeper meaning.” We reach the kitchen and I begin to scour through the fridge. I come out of the fridge with an apple and while taking a bite I continue. “She likes things that have deeper meaning. Things that radiate true beauty, and don't rely strictly on surface value.”

“Is that why she’s with you?”

“Listen here you little shit….” I almost choke on the apple bite. “There’s a few things you need to understand about my relationship with Atty.”

“Why do you call her that?” Jacob asked surely with no other ulterior motives. “It’s like you have this affinity to not calling people by their name. Like Atara you call Atty. Mom you call her Jules.”

“I do it because it’s easier.” He doesn’t need to know that it's a defense mechanism. “Your mom always hated it when I called her Julie, and Atara knows here we stand based on how I address her. It’s like when I use your full name, you know you’re in some shit, same concept.” A lie to spare a child the long story.

“Fine, but why does mom hate her?”

“Good question kiddo. I don’t know. It’s not like Atty isn’t personable. Hell she hung out with Graves… and this was before whatever the hell happened. I just don’t think your mom likes it when people encroach on what she thinks is hers.”

“But you and mom…”

“I know.” I interrupted him. “We are done. We try our best to be cordial for you, but sometimes we forget that it’s not about us.”

Jacob begins to tap his foot on the floor. Clearly he has a question he wants to ask but the look on his face is one that portrays hesitation.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask.

“It’s just.” He pauses for a moment.

“Come on kid, what’s up?”

“It’s just Noah.”

“Okay what about him?”

“Well he calls Atara ‘Step-Mum’, and that has me thinking.”

“Don’t hurt yourself now.”

“I was thinking…. would you marry her?”

“I mean…” The question flummoxed me. I knew deep down what the answer was. I knew on the surface what the answer was, but hearing it from him gave me a slight pause. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s a subject that her and I have only had minimal conversations about.”

“Okay. Well if I shouldn’t worry about it, you can have this back then.” Jacob pulls out a small sky blue box and hands it to me. “Some lady dropped it off while you were in your office. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Thanks.”

“Where’s the diamond?” He asks while raising an eyebrow.

“She already has that. I gave it to her a long time ago. It’s the main Diamond from my Hall of Legends ring.” I said while opening the box and inspecting the contents. “I dunno I guess I was just being romantic about the whole thing, and then things got put on pause for a while. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever be back so I guess I’ve got to strike while the iron is hot.”

“So this isn’t something that you’ve just done on the fly?”

“Nope. I thought long and hard about it.” I close the box and place a hand on his shoulder. “I told myself I would never do it again…. but there’s just something special about her. The way I am when I am with her is something that even your mom didn’t bring out of me. When I’m with her, I want to be a better person. Not just for her, but for Noah, for you. Hell for myself.”

“Listen kid.” With a deep breath I stop and close my eyes. When I do all I can see is her. I can see all of the good with the bad that comes with it, and I smile. “In life you have to just go out and take what you want. That’s something I’ve always taught you.” Jacob nods in agreement. “I feel as if I need to fix that. It’s not entirely wrong, but maybe an addendum needs to be added. Just know that as great as everything is when you’re on your own… everything is better when you have someone to share it with. Someone to celebrate with. Someone you can elevate. Take what is yours, yes, but also give to those who deserve as well.”

“You should also know…” It’s not often I get to talk to Jacob like this one on one and I’m taking advantage of it. “I can ask her a million times, it doesn’t mean she’s going to say yes. You know that one of my flaws is everything needs to be planned out. Something like this can’t be planned. You can’t control the uncontrollable. That’s a whole lot, for me to just say… maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Ultimately it’s not up to me.”

“For what it’s worth dad.” Jacob looks up at me with a smile. “She wouldn’t be the worst Step-Mom I could ask for. I mean do you remember the First Lady you dated after mom?” He shivers his shoulders.

“Thanks kid.” I smile down at him. “It was the video game wasn’t it?”

Jacob just nods his head as the camera fades to black.

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode Welcome Back
Author	Message