I’ve finally sacrificed everything, what more can I give?

Gideon Mantell sat in his laboratory looking over the fossils he had found another time. Since his discovery of what he believed was the Iguanadon, everything had gone down hill. The scientific community laughed at him. The religious community saw him as a threat. Finally, his dear wife, the love of his life for 18 years had decided this was too tough on her, and she left. Mantell sat sadly in a state of drunkenness. He hadn’t been sober for close to two weeks now.

He looked over at a small drawing of the Iguanadon

I hate you

He hated everything about this terrible lizard. An animal that seemed to exist only in his imagination. He wasn’t sure he believed it had ever existed. Why would God create something and then take it away? This question filled him with sadness as he once again thought on his wife. He wasn’t sure He even believed God existed anymore. The tears came again and he poured himself another shot.

He heard a thud near his door and got up to get the daily newspaper. He looked over some of the bad news. Someone was murdering people in London. There was more war in Europe. Why did he ever read these things? Finally, something caught his attention near the end of the paper. He saw a drawing that resembled his with a picture of a French man.

His name was Georges Cuvier, and he had founded the Museum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris. Much like Mantell, he had discovered some bones that appeared to point to the existence of giant lizards at one point in history.

Quickly, the buzz of the alcohol wore off. He had to get a hold of him. Someone else in this world believed the same thing he did. This could validate everything.

He hustled as fast as he could to get to the train station, he would have to get to Dover and take a boat across immediately. Short on cash, this was his last hope in validation.

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August 4, 2017

Neville appears at home in his study, it’s been awhile since he’s spent a good time in here, but he finally got a night at home and he was grateful for it. He’s wearing his night clothes and reading a book about Mantell with only dim lights on in the room. Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 plays quietly in the background. His eyelids can barely stay open, but something’s just caught his attention. He looks at his watch and begins to speak.


Ah, Finn, nice to finally hear from you at 9:30 the night before our Championship match and you finally take the time to speak directly to me. Days ago, I got kind of excited that you decided to tape a promo and present it. But then I realized there was nothing directed at me in there. Sure, my name was mentioned once or twice, but there was absolutely nothing for me to go off of. I’ve spent so much time trying to teach you things that it’s taken me some time to figure out what I’ve learned. The only thing I could come up with is that I, as well as the rest of the XWF, have learned how much of a piece of shit you are. Do you seriously expect to be considered a champion in this federation when you wait until 9:30 the night before a championship match to even address the person you’re facing? Look, I know you had a match with Peter this week, but that counted for nothing except pride, and it seems you put a hell of a lot more effort into that than you did your television title shot. Then you wait until I’m almost in bed, beak me off, and expect everyone to bow at how great “the young lion” really is? Seriously Finn, this goes to show your work ethic is as shitty as your character persona is. We don’t care that you were in the hospital, again. We don’t care that you’ve called upon some old wrestler to come help you train. What good does that do people watching to get excited about your first main event match? Play the game Finn, play the game. You want to hype this match? Call me out, watch me call you out and then get on with things. Don’t wait until the night before and call me out as a side idea. The reason this pisses me off so much is that I take pride in what I do. I called you out on Wednesday, gave you some things to chew on and you completely ignored it. I take pride as the television champion Finn, this has just shown me that you wouldn’t show the same thing. Way to prove that to the rest of the federation.

Neville thought of Mantell and the way he sacrificed everything to prove something. He knew the man had regrets, and he was sure Finn was going to have some this week as well

What I want to teach you this week boils down to things you’ll regret. I know you’re going to regret messing up the shot you were given this week Finn, and that’s exactly what this is, a missed opportunity. It was never going to be an opportunity for you to win the match, unless you REALLY overachieved, this was a chance for the two of us to put on a show and be noticed. Instead all people are going to remember this for is the week where Finn’s real work ethic came out. He put in the bare minimum for preparation when this was a TITLE match. Here’s the thing about regret Finn, you don’t regret when you lose honestly, you regret when it’s a poor decision that costs you everything. I hope the next time you’re given a title opportunity, you’ll actually step up to the plate. But first, listen to me about a couple of things.

Neville checks his watch, it’s late, and he wants to go to bed. But these lessons are too important to pass up.


Honestly Finn, it disrespects myself and the federation when you spend so much time in your own world that you completely ignore the match at hand. Barely any of us care about you finding an ex-wrestler to coach you this week. You’re not fighting him, you’re fighting me. So why spend more time talking about him than you do calling me out? Even after I acknowledge you and try to make a show out of this, you seem less than interested. Why is that Finn? Could it be that you already know you’re going to lose and have completely checked out of the match? Or are you that stupid that you don’t actually listen or study the opponents before you get in the ring with them?

Neville shakes his head, this match actually made him mad, it was as if Finn was so lost in his world he wasn’t sure what was happening with the rest of the federation

My favourite part of this all is that you accuse me of being “ ” and that I’m the one who doesn’t pay attention because I called you out for getting help. Finn, even if it was Jon who called you were still the recipient of help. You’re responsible for that half-wit that follows you around since it’s you who gets to show what actually goes on in your promos. If you don’t control what gets shown when a camera’s on you, than you’re lazier than I thought. YOU received help from someone for your match, not Jon. I don’t care if Jon was the one who called things, this was your match and your responsibility and you’ve spent so much time showing other people and relying on some dumb-ass storyline we don’t care about. It’s almost refreshing when you actually take the time to call me out on things. Look, you seem to take real offense when I point out your immaturity, but you don’t seem to take any responsibility for any of your actions. Do you know the difference between a grown man and a child? A man actually takes responsibility for his actions.

Neville pounds a fist on the table, it wasn’t because he was overly angry, it was more an emphasis to what he had just said. Neville still marvelled at the lack of maturity he saw in Finn. He wanted to fight someone who acted like a man, not bitched around like a little boy.


While there’s much of your stuff that makes me roll my eyes in frustration, the thing that actually made me laugh out loud this week was your bit on trash-talking. Finn, you’re one who filmed an entire promo with absolutely no trash-talking in it. Again, I repeat that you saved all your trash-talking for 9:30 the night before. Did you think I was in bed and hoped I wouldn’t hear any of it? Your version of what trash-talking truly is was calling me a 5 times in like a minute of speech. You could have used any word, expanded your vocabulary, called me any name you want, but “ ” was what you went with. Over and over and over again. Then you tried to attack what I said in some of the most hilariously bad ways I’ve ever seen.

Neville is clearly drunk, it is a Friday Night after all, Neville had already gone out, come back and then saw that Finn finally acknowledged him. He had waited all week for this, but it only came after his night out drinking.

Finn, at least I tried to trash-talk this week. You waited and waited, and then dropped two promos that you expect me to respond to really close together, and this is for a championship match? Who the fuck do you think you are? Honestly, this goes to show that Finn the person is even shittier than Finn the wrestler. I’ll tell you where I’ve got you. Everything I’ve done has been the attacker this week. I didn’t sit back and wait for you, and I’m glad I didn’t because I would be waiting until right now. I went out there, I stirred shit up, I called you out for everything. You wait until you think I can’t hear you and then drop your shit. You probably are sitting there, giggling watching yourself on tv, thinking you’ve pulled a fast one over on me. That’s the type of asshole you are. As far as I’m concerned, I would be just as happy to never talk, never see, never be anywhere near you again you immature piece of shit. I’ve tried to play it cool all week, but I won’t rest until the masses of audience are shouting “fuck you Finn” because they’re realized what kind of shitty fighter you really are. As far as I’m concerned, you belong in the XWF as a mid-card wrestler who gets schooled over by far more successful and original people. Even the conversation after Warfare that gets brought up, I was the one who initiated conversation. I started the insults to which you respond “Oh, I’m the cool one, you were the one who reacted?” WHAT. THE. FUCK? You want to talk about real “flukes” and the whole idea of how you’ve managed to survive life so far comes up. You limp-dicked, small-minded, lazy-ass piece of shit. That’s how you fucking trash-talk, but go ahead and call me a again.

Neville knows this isn’t the usual him. He’s mad because he knows Finn has done the bare minimum to even try to fight this week. He knows that Finn’s promos were tried to be squeaked in so he’d have no chance to respond to them. He knows Finn is trying to weasel a win with something he cares about. Neville takes a shot of Scotch as a Nightcap.


Honestly, I just saw what you’ve put on tv, and it doesn’t surprise me that you can’t count to the number three. You stop at two because you couldn’t think of a third thing to teach me, that just about sums up everything about you Finn Kuhn. I’ve just spent a lot of time telling you what I think you are, but here’s one thing you’re not – championship-caliber worthy. Nothing about the way you’ve presented yourself, the effort given, the way you’ve talked about things has been that of a champion. I’m proud to represent this fed as the TV title and I think I’ve done a lot more for this belt than you’ve shown this week. I think the belt and this fed would be embarrassed if a little weasel like you represented them as champion.

Neville thinks about Mantell losing everything. This was what he wanted for Finn. He hopes that people would see the way he conducts himself and lose all respect for the guy. His lack of preparation was obvious, he couldn’t believe people would still cheer for Finn after this.

I hope you regret everything about this week. I hope you regret being a pussy in calling me out. I hope you regret half the shit you’ve said that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I hope that you regret the way you went about things. I hope you lose everything because people in the XWF realize how big of an asshole you are and stop giving you opportunities. This is what needs to happen. Now stop looking at my belt and go fuck yourself.

This was a lot more swearing than Neville was used to, but Neville was tired, pissed off and drunk. Besides, sometimes there’s only a few words that can really speak to what he was feeling, this was one of those nights. Neville smiles as he thinks on how badly he wants to beat Finn up tomorrow, this was going to feel really good.

Educating the XWF since 06/08/17