The rain poured down, so thick you couldn't see even a few feet in front of you. It was a loud rain, pounding like thunder. It sounded like a thousand volcanos all going off at once. You're three friends were there, and all 4 of you were smug. You weren't afraid of a little rain. Hell, you'd lived through hurricanes. You have all played sports and been outside your entire lives. Nothing scared you. You could take on the world, because you've done it before.

There was a bridge on the opposite side of town. It was an old, rickety bridge that nobody used anymore due to its age. It was easier to simply go around it then to deal with it.

This was a bridge that had claimed lives before, when people had tried to test it. You were confident you have seen and done all things, and this bridge couldn't hold you back. So the 4 of you stood, in the soaking rain, and looked at the bridge through the fog in the distance.

"So who is going first?" you said with a snicker. You guys were going to make a bet. Who could cross the bridge the fastest. Good idea? Probably not. But you didn't care because you've crossed dangerous situations before. What is one more new one? Surely it would be the same as all the others, right? Just because one thing worked for you, you think they all do.

That is how small minded people think.

So you decide that you want to go first.......

_+_

.........Chris stood there, looking at the bridge. He knew that at any time it could cave in, but he is a thrill seeker and always has been. Hell, he is a high schooler, which high schooler isn't? His friends hesitated. They wanted to proceed with caution. Chris waved them off and ran towards the bridge, something he had done several times before. He felt his feet leave the turf under him and hit the old wood, the soft ancient former trees beginning to buckle under his weight. The rain felt good on his face, and the wind created by his run felt good also.

He was about mid way through the bridge when he heard a snap. A pain shot through his leg. He suddenly felt himself drop. The bridge had given way a little, and his leg fell through. His friends all yelled to him from the safe side of the bridge. No, he wouldn't allow this to happen. He pulled himself up, using his upper body strength, and began to run again. Only a little longer. He had conquered all other thrills and obstacles. This bridge would be no different. He ran towards the finish line, and the end was in sight, when there was another loud snap. This time he felt himself plummeting. The bridge had given way completely. Why had he been so stubborn?

_+_

He awoke in a sweat with a yell. He could feel his heart racing. As he saw the comfort of his bedroom and the warmth of Jenny surround him, he began to calm down. She, being a relatively light sleeper, had heard his mild yell.

"What the hell? Its 4 am, Chris."

"I had a dream." His voice was a bit hurried, as if he was out of breath.

"Okay? Well, here, just hold me and go back to sleep." Her voice was quiet, she was awake, but barely.

Instead of following her command he shifted, sitting on the edge of the bed with his feet on the floor, looking at the carpeted floor. With a sigh he got up. She rolled over, looking at him exiting through the darkness.

He walked out to his 10th floor balcony and looked at the pavement below. It seemed impossible, but it also didn't. He was confident he would be okay, but was that enough?

Just as he was making up his mind, the slider door opened.

"What the FUCK are you doing?"

It was Jenny.

"What would you say if I said that I think I can make this jump?"

He looked down. It appeared to be the same distance as the bottom was in his dream. In his dream he was confident, no matter what lie below. He had done it all before.

"I would call you an idiot," she said.

"But what if I told you I fell from this distance, in my dream."

"I'd still call you an idiot. There is a difference between dreams and reality."

"I've done this before"

"You haven't. You have no idea what THIS fall is like. You can't generalize it with all the others in your past."

It was right then that he knew, Erik Black was wrong about everything. This leap to a new company won't be like the others. He will crash, burn, and splatter. He will try, but in the end, he will fail.

"Come back to bed."

She rubbed his back.

He sighed, looking one more time at the ground way below. Turning away, he knew what he had to do and what it was going to take.


"There really isn't much more to say. Erik Black is a little punk who needs to experience what a true bully is. He thinks that he is the biggest and meanest dog in the yard, but is hasn't been to the entire neighborhood yet. He hasn't seen all the yards. He obviously doesn't do much homework, either, or he would be keen to the atrocities I have committed inside that squared circle. He obviously doesn't know who it is he is stepping into the ring with. He just knows he wants to be me. He wants to be me so much he even went on craigslist and found a secretary named Jennifer. He is pathetic. Steve Sayors even told you that I am a hall of famer..........Steve Sayors, a man whose career had to take a break because I threw him through a plate glass window. A man who has been beaten worse than that bitch from 50 Shades of Grey at the hands of yours truly, and even HE knows whats up. What did you do? End the interview early like a diva and ask him to leave. Be a man, Erik, and take what you want. That is what makes ME so dangerous, my chaotic nature. You don't have that unpredictability because you bring the same thing to the table every time.......the same unmitigated, pretentious horseshit. What did you do? You cried. All I took out of that interview was blah blah I think I'm tough, blah blah I'm going to cry because of some nonsense. You aren't hard, Erik, you're a facade. You always have been and always will be nothing but a facade. You are also distracted now, too. This little rape case. Well, not only does that make you a fake tough guy but it makes you a total scumbag. Couldn't get enough pussy on your own accord? You had to rape someone? You are the lowest kind of filth. The man who talks like he is a god but assaults women. You are probably some nerd who lived in your parent's basement, fumbling through Kimbo Slice Youtube videos and thought to yourself that maybe you could do that too. You have anger issues, there is no denying that, but the skill to beat someone of my caliber.........I just don't think you've got the stones. You seem to think I don't understand the concept of anger. Erik, I don't need you to explain it to me. The goddamn Incredible Hulk over here. Bad things happen when you get angry? I wouldn't like you when you're angry? I am over here shaking in my designer shoes, Erik. You're just an angry kid who got picked on in high school and didn't get laid until you had enough money to pay for it. You're the type of kid who shoots up a school, Erik, not one who becomes a legendary wrestler. It takes patience to be a wrestler, and the smallest thing makes you fly off the handle. Like I said before though, I truly do understand. I used to be just like you. I have adapted and now I am better than I've ever been. I have been there. I have been so angry I felt like I could take on the world with zero fucks given. I have been so angry I could swear I was going to die from heart failure. Anger goes away, Erik, chaos does not. I've always been the type to get even, not get mad. When I got mad I made damn sure I got my revenge. When you get mad, you whine and bitch. There is a difference. 'The XWF will know my thoughts, they always do.' Yeah, that's the fucking problem. If you think nearly as much as you talk, holy jumping fucking shit balls. I just hope you fight me as well as you talk about fighting me, because if you don't I am going to tear you limb from limb in that ring. I am going to break bones and make you suffer. If you don't fight me as well as your mouth runs, it could be you who finds your career remarkably short.

You think that destroying half my lackluster War Games team is destroying me? You were also one of those kids who ate crayons, huh Erik? Did you take me out, no. I was put on a team at the Pay Per View solely by way of being drafted. Because you "destroyed" arguably the shittiest team in the tournament, you think you deserve a pat on the back? You're as delusional as you are arrogant. You have made a toeprint in this business. If you think you have made any more than that you're simply wrong.

Don't tell me about anger. I pulled the plug on the love of my life. I watched her go comotose due to a heroine overdose because I didn't like what she had done with her life. Don't tell me about pain. Don't tell me you've seen it all. I am a funhouse of surprises. You're barely a shed. Don't tell me about anger.........because I have felt more anger in my life than you even knew has existed. The difference is, I can manage mine.......you let yours explode. I burned my ex's parents house down, with them inside it, because they wouldn't let me see her. I am certifiably insane, Erik. I belong in a padded room, not a wrestling ring. But until the orderlies come to take me to my 15X10, I am going to continue to run roughshod over the people in this business who oppose me. I have burned every bridge I have had in my life, and this business is all I have left. I have passion for it, you just enjoy it. There is a difference. You seem to think that everyone is going to back down to you because you have venom in your words. You've ingested more paint chips than carbs, it appears. This isn't like any other company you've ever been in and I am not like any other competitor you've faced. I am not concerned about just beating you. I actually want to hurt you. I want to make you never want to wrestle again. I want to make sure that you check your words before you utter them in the future. I want you to come out of this as a better fighter, a better wrestler, and overall a better person. I want to make you see the light. Unlike your empty, shallow threats, I have the ability to do that. I have the ability to make you piss and shit yourself at the same time, then rub your nose in it. You've doubted me this long, with really not merit behind doing so. You've slept on me like a craftmatic and not it is time for Chaos to awaken..........

It is time for the Erik Black fairytale to end.

It is time for the bridge to burn, one final time, with no hope of return. Tomorrow night separates the men from the boys. Are you ready?