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B.O.B. D · (04-15-2019)

Wha...... what happened?"

It's over, all over. I could tell from the medic standing over me, the fact I was lying on the pavement next to a car in my own blood, the match I had been partaking in did not have the result I needed.

The doctor patched me up and made sure I wasn't too concussed before leaving me there, alone in the parking lot. I didn't want to get up, didn't feel like going on anymore.

Life in XWF had been nothing but a roller coaster, but the past week has been what really took a toll. It wasn't just my body that was fed up with everything that had been happening, my mind was where the real pain existed. It had become unbearable to think that my conquest for regaining the glory I once had was all for naught.

I sat there until the blood on the ground had stained my pants, and turned a dirty brown on the ground below me. There was no more need to continue the charade, Lacklan was right when she took my Federweight Championship: I'm a fucking has-been. Hell, to people like her and the rest of the XWF lockeroom I'm a never was. It was time to accept that fact, pack my bags, and head home.

I walked from that parking lot, reviewing my short XWF career. It wasn't ALL for nothing, I won a couple Championships and etched my name in the history of XWF for all to see. Sure, they'd see how short those reigns were and just think of me as another faceless name who got lucky a few times, but at this point it's all I can salvage from my failed return.

As I walked down the hallways of the Smoothie King Center, people around me stared at me, whispering about how horrible I was. If it was any other day, I'd go intimidate them to shut their mouths, or straight up just kick their asses; but I didn't have it in me now. Various wrestlers shook their heads at the sight of me, wondering why I was even allowed to share a lockeroom with them. They had their right to feel that way, what the hell had I done to prove myself?

As I walked into the lockeroom area, I could see a few more wrestlers judging me and my performance. They had no fear of letting me know what they thought of me, not a care that I was there to hear them bad mouth me before they left to go enjoy their success. There was no reason for me to let any of that bother me anymore.

I sat down on the bench and took in the moment. Last time I quit, I didn't realize I was done until I had already wrestled my last match and been away too long to have any kind of realization my career was over.

"Hey, man........"

I heard a voice behind me interrupt my self wallowing, most likely a member of the roster wondering why I'm taking up space in their lockeroom. I turned around and standing before me was the two jobbers who snuck out of the lockeroom when I freaked out after my loss to Genie Tate, one of them holding a beer in their outstretched hand.

"It gets easier," the one with the beer exclaims, insisting I take it.

"What does?" I respond, taking what I figure will be my retirement beer.

"Losing," the other jobber says with a smile. His word hits me like a brick. These guys think I'm one of them, that I'm the newest member of their jobber fraternity. I'd been doing my best to keep my cool, to let everything go nice and easy to alleviate the pain of my failure. And then this guy stuck his nose in MY business.

"Oh, really? Does it get easier, John?" I snap out at him, my face growing red with the rage of everything: from the starting point of my XWF career to the moment I became a fucking jobber.
"I know what losing feels like, and it DOESN'T get easier. I lost 9 matches in a row when I first started, and they all sucked WORSE than the previous. But you know what I did? I stepped up my game and won the X-Division Title. THAT made everything better. Being a winner is what makes losing better......."

"I...... I didn't mean........."

"Take your fucking jobber Natty Ice, put your losin' asses in drive, and get the fuck out of my face!" I yelled while chucking the can against a locker, causing it to spray out all over the two of them. They throw their arms in the air and storm out like the losers they are. I couldn't help but grin a little bit.

I'm the former Federweight Champion. I may have lost that belt to that bitch Lacklan, but I was in her way. It may have only been for a moment, but I had something she wanted and she HAD to bring ME down to claim it. She may have succeeded, but one day she'll get what's coming to her.

EDWARD may have beaten me, but as has been the case with EVERY single 'loss' I've had, it wasn't without its controversy. I had him down for the count, had he not fallen through the roof of that car, it would've been me with my hand raised and HIM being the one needing medical treatment. I blame the ref, their counts have been questionable for me ever since I stepped foot in the XWF. If it isn't them not counting fast enough like for that and when I won the Federweight Championship; it's them calling things too quick without me having a chance to defend myself, like when I LOST the Federweight Championship.

I may not have proven myself to anyone, even myself, since I've returned to the ring, but that in no way means that I won't. I'm not some jobber who goes out there and gets my ass handed to me in a 2 minute squash, I'm a competitor who goes blow for blow with the best of them and barely comes up short. That can change, that WILL change. But I can't leave for it to happen.......

"Big D, may I have a word?"

Just what I needed, more people to bother me. As I turned around, my annoyance went up ten fold when I saw who it was: Steve Sayors.

"You always turn up at the worse possible time........" I mumble to the intimidated interviewer, who shakes with fear from our previous encounter.

"You're n-not gonna bbeat me up are you?" he stutters, hesitant to poke his microphone in my face.

"No, you're good," I chuckle. "I suppose you want to ask me about my loss to EDWARD?"

Steve gives a nod, slowly bringing his left arm out for me to speak into the mic. I look into the camera with confidence, ready to pick myself out of the gutter EDWARD left me to die in.

"EDWARD did what any warrior would do, he beat me until I couldn't stand anymore," I begin. "Congrats to him, he took advantage of the situation and made the most of it."

"I assume you mean him falling through the sunroof of that car when you seemingly had him pinned?" Sayors asks, and I respond with a nod. "Do you plan to seek any revenge?"

"EDWARD is the least of my worries now, Steve,"

"So you're focused on Mingermind next week?" Steve asks, revealing my opponent to me. As with most of my previous opponents, it's another name I don't know.

"Everyone I've faced, I've never heard of until they're across the ring from me," I begin, at first staying calm, but getting more hyped as I speak. "But you know what? That's been the case FOR my opponents, as well. I could discredit Mingermind because I know nothing of his career, but then I would just be doing what everyone does to me. For all I know, he's a former World Champion someplace else, looking to make his name here, too. I don't feel like getting my ass kicked anymore because I'm underestimating people. It's not fair of me to assume he's no good until after I've pinned him. Then I'll know he's no good, and then maybe HE can hang out with the jobbers and local talent, drinking brewskies while talking about how much they've failed in life."

"Big D, some people might say you talk a big game for someone who has the record you have in XWF."

"I don't care what people say anymore, Steve," I mutter with a shake of my head. "Yes, it'd be nice to get respect, but I don't care anymore. The only thing that matters to me is how I perceive myself. If everyone wants to think I'm a no good loser, they can go right on ahead. As I said after my loss to Genie Tate, or how Lacklan got handed the benefit of a quick pin, I keep everything close and that means all I have to do is make smarter choices by learning from my mistakes. Pinning EDWARD on a car with an open roof wasn't smart and it cost me. Giving Lacklan a chance to cover me at all so she could get handed the belt was an error in judgment on my part..."

I look down at my now clenched fist, envisioning myself in the ring with Mingermind. Every punch, possible kick he can throw at me I see in my mind. The potential slams, possible holds he could put me in, it's all as clear as a bright sunny day.

"There's only so many mistakes a person can make," I spit out with the enthusiasm I thought I'd lost after my latest heart breaking defeat. "I'm not the type of person who repeats my same failures over and over, I take those mistakes, flip 'em around, and use them to. my advantage. Mingermind, you're gonna be the one who I prove this to, the first victim to see that my losses don't define me, it's how I come back from them. It's the fact that every time someone HAS beaten me, whether they'd admit it or not, they've been taken to their limits. They've been brought to the brink of extinction and had a miracle put them over the edge. Well miracles don't happen every day and, Mingermind, you're not getting one come Saturday. You're gonna get brought to the edge against me, but unlike everyone else so far, I'm throwing you over! You're gonna get Dan Slammed and it ain't gonna be on a roof, there isn't gonna be no looking under the ring, and if the ref decides to count THIS pin slow, I'll kick HIS ass, too! Because no-one, whether it be management, Mingermind, or any other superstar who's laughed at Big D, will keep me from getting to where I belong....... the top. And that, Steve Sayors, ain't no story, it's the Cold Big D truth!"

As I turn around from Steve Sayors and the cameraman who recorded my interview, I feel new life. There's no need to give up, no reason to run other than maybe to the store to grab some REAL beer, a winner's brew. Because even if nobody knows it yet, Big D is destined to be a winner in XWF........

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