“You finally sold the house, did yeah?”

Taken off guard, I turned to see my bodyguard of nearly a decade, Knux, pull up to the sidewalk in his black SUV. The bald headed, near seven foot, three hundred pound, tribal tattooed man took a sip from his flask as we both watched my realtor hammer a “SOLD” sign into the lawn of my home on Johnson Street in Key West, Florida.

I had been living in Key West for the past half a decade when OCW was in residency here. Now that I’m a member of the XWF roster and they are touring, I decided to sell the beautiful piece of property for a condo in downtown Toronto that would be easy to maintain while on tour with Savage.

“I’m going to miss this place,” I sighed, taking a long drag of my cigarette before flicking it into the storm drain.

“The home, or Key West?” Knux asked, stepping out of the vehicle.

“Honestly, both,” I nodded, “I’ve had some damn good memories here… some bad too… but for the most part, I’d say a pleasant experience.”

“Pleasant?” Knux scoffed, “you sound like my grandmother.”

“Hey,” I wagged my finger, “don’t be dissing on Grandma Knux, she makes the best oatmeal raisin cookies.”

“You ain’t lying,” Knux agreed.

The realtor came up to me, handed me the final papers for the sale before I turned over the master key. We both shook hands firmly.

“It’s been a pleasure, sir,” the realtor smiled.

“Thanks,” I said, letting go of the handshake as he briskly walked away to his piece of shit car, “I guess he’s a fan of your Grandma too.”

“Fuck off,” Knux laughed.

We both opened up the white picket fence and walked up the stone walkway for the last time, coming up onto the wrap around deck and sitting on a bench, looking to the horizon that illuminated the Key West sky. Hues of orange and pick dominated the sunset that made it worth it to be out in the high humidity. Knux offered his flask as I took a gentle sip before handing it back.

“I can’t believe this is my last night in the Keyes,” I flabbergasted, “I feel like I’ve been here for ages.”

“What do you want to do?” Knux said, “anything you want to do - we’ll do it - my treat.”

“I like that offer,” I laughed, “honestly, I don’t know. I have a big day of traveling tomorrow and might just retire early.”

“Oh,” Knux nodded, sounding disappointed.

“Fuck that!” I roared, shaking Knux, “let’s go for a fucking drive.”

We bolted off the deck and into Knux’s gas guzzling SUV, as he slammed onto the pedal and zoomed away from my home. Johnson Street was not too far from our first spot, as we passed many expensive homes in the area, palm trees and big leafy bushes before stopping at Rest Beach. With the Key West Beach Club to its left and the Edward B. Knight Pier to its right, the white sandy beach had many people swimming in its warm waters. I left the vehicle, took of my shoes and let the warm sand engulf my feet.

“That’s magic,” I inhaled and exhaled slowly, “you remember this beach?”

“Yeah,” Knux nodded, “we’ve swam here numerous times.”

“No shit,” I laughed, “I mean, this beach is where the greatest OCW PPV ever produced was. The Clash at the Coast. I beat Mia Stone and MJ Bell in a triple threat ladder match to become OCW Central Champion for a second time here.”

“Didn’t you also lose to Danny B and Amber Ryan earlier with Sean Fuller and get dumped in the ocean with the ring out in the waters?”

“Fuck you,” I spit close to him, for that reminder, “you see the pier?”

“Lots of shit went down there,” Knux said, taking a sip of his flask.

“You’re right,” I nodded in agreement, “but the biggest thing that went down there was in 2017 when I called CJ and Meyhu. It was at this pier when CJ and Meyhu came to Key West for the first time and we shook hands, forming the Aptitude, becoming one of the most dominant trios in the entire history of OCW. You remember, right?”

“Some would say I helped you guys win… a lot,” Knux emphasized, separating his hands as far apart as they could.”

“Fuck you again,” I laughed, “fuck… I just realised there are no beaches in Toronto… just a stinky harbour.”

“Ha!” Knux roared, “do you remember the Pub Crawl Brawl?”

“Yes!” I lit up, “where I fucking smashed Chad Vargas all over Duval Street where there was a massive radius of pubs and bars. OCW owed the city of Key West a shit ton of money for the amount of damage we did to the bars, vehicles, city property, man, I think it was twenty thousand dollars or something. Good times.”

The conversation went dead for several moments. Teenagers walked by, eyeing me and smirking because they knew who I was but they didn’t dare come up to me for an autograph. I grab a cigarette and light it up, taking a puff before looking out the ocean.

“Why didn’t you just get a condo here?” Knux asked honestly, “you could still come to the beach and be around your fans.”

“You know why,” I answered bluntly, taking another quick drag of the cig.

“Leslie and Jenna--”

“You had to bring them up, didn’t you?” I snapped, eyeing Knux ferociously, “I may have the memories but that’s all it is Knux - memories. I physically have nothing here in Key West.”

“Wait,” Knux stopped, examining me before asking, “do you still blame yourself?”

“I’m always going to blame myself until the fucking day I die,” I said, kicking the sand off me and putting my shoes back on, heading for the SUV.

“You didn’t give your wife and your daughter cancer,” Knux barked at me, grabbing my arm.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I whipped my arm back before turning around red in the face, though this didn’t intimidate Knux, “they came to me, and then I brought them into my toxic life! I tried to be the nice guy, Knux! I tried to be the family man with good morals! What happened? THEY BOTH FUCKING DIED! You’re right, I didn’t physically put the cancer cells into their bodies but I put them through a tough life that maybe not everyone is ready and able to conduct. My daughter didn’t even make it to the age of TWENTY!”

I collapsed onto the side of the SUV, tears running down my face.

“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Knux said quietly, “I thought you were at peace with it.”

“I’ll never be at peace with it,” I sniffed, wiping the tears away, “the death of my wife and daughter will haunt me to my grave… this is why I’m in XWF. I need this. I need to tour again, and that’s why my home needs to be back in Canada. I need to hit the reset button with my life. I need to start fresh.”

Knux simply nodded, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“I’ll be there with you,” Knux said.

“Actually, about that,” I again sniffed, grabbing a piece of paper out of my pocket and handing it to Knux.

“What is this?” Knux unfolded the small rectangular piece of paper, revealing it to be a cheque, “what is this money for?”

“It’s for you, dumbass,” I explained, “it’s half the sale of my house.”

“But it’s not my house,” Knux said, confused.

“I’m not dumb, I know,” I yapped, “but I’m giving this to you… think of it as a bonus for all the work you’ve done for me.”

“What do you mean?” Knux said, almost ripping the cheque.

“I said I need to hit the reset button,” I explained again, “and that means with you too… at least for a little bit. I need to write a new chapter in my life and in order to do that, I have to explore everything anew with just me, myself and I.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Knux jawed, “this is a lot of money… I’m kind of speechless.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” I nodded, “this is a thank you, for everything you’ve done for me and my career. There’d be no me without you, without making this all mushy and gross.”

“Too late,” Knux said, as he approached me.

“No, fuck off--”

It was too late as I found myself in the middle of a big Knux bear hug. I wiggled my way out before too long as I brushed myself. I looked at him, shrugged my shoulders and we shared a handshake and I pulled him in this time for a quick hug and pat on the back.

“What are you gonna do in XWF without me?” Knux asked, as he got back into the car.

“Uh, win, duh,” I roared, getting into the passenger seat.

“That’s my man!” Knux said, smashing the steering wheel with his palm, as the horn sounded for a good five seconds. “Let’s go have a smashing last meal together.”

“Anywhere but Whataburger,” I breathed as Knux roared with laughter.

Knux started the SUV and put the station on with the cringiest gangster rap before speeding away from the beach and into the heart of downtown Key West for one last time, ending this chapter of my life on a great note.

All there is is pitch blackness, and nothing else. That is, until a single spotlight suddenly illuminates part of what appears to be a large abandoned warehouse. The rafters above are level with this spotlight and the silhouette of an individual appears from the very little light there is. The individual grabs the chain the spotlight is attached to and drags it horizontally until the individual lets go, making the spotlight sway back and forth. The swaying showcases different parts of this warehouse; decaying manufacturing equipment and rusted walls. The center of this warehouse is bare of anything; an open space. This open space is soon filled by me; wearing my ring attire and a leather jacket without any shirt on. I lift my head to reveal who I am; the newest member of the XWF roster… the Incredible One. I stare into the camera that has been left in front of me, fixed onto a tripod. The footage will no doubt show my presence going in and out, in thanks to the moving light, as I open my mouth to speak.

“Welcome back to the show that never ends. Which show? The Incredible One. Only this time it isn’t OCW, and it isn’t GCWA… it’s XWF. I find myself in territory that I’m not normally familiar with. When I joined OCW, and GCWA, they were veteran feds… but they were both reopening in their respective times and I helped their resurgences. The XWF has been going strong for years and I walk in, a wolf among helpless sheep… sheep that think they are wolves. They assume they’re the apex predators of this organization but in reality they’ve done nothing that is actually impressive, at least in my eyes. And at the end of the day, my eyes are what matters.

I said a lot on my first showing on Savage but to those who fall on deaf ears or refuse to listen I am more than willing to reiterate the truth. You see, that is what I do, I speak the truth. Take what I say as scripture, chiseled onto a piece of rock, for all to see because I speak wrestling doctrine. There are two types of wrestlers in this industry: those that don’t get it. They may win a few matches here and there, maybe one championship, have their fifteen minutes of fame until falling into obscurity, loss after loss, until they finally fade out of existence and die before your very eyes. To put it bluntly, this describes about ninety percent of the XWF roster. The second type of wrestler are the ones who get it. These beautiful specimens are those that have it in their blood, the ones that perform to perfection every single night, win multiple championships and awards, enter hall of fames and stand above the first type as god amongst men. Very few ever reach this upper echelon and by god - you are looking at one of them.

You’d think the speech I gave on Savage would’ve woken up the sleeping idiots in the back and book me properly, which is the main event, but no, I have to go through the test. Basically, I have to prove that I can put my money where my mouth is. Trust me, I can, and I’m worth a lot of fucking money. Instead of placing in a match against say Sarah Lacklan, Robert Main or Thaddeus Duke - I have to embarrass a young man named Njal. How the fuck do you even pronounce such a fucked up name? Let me give you some immediate feedback: if someone as intelligent as myself has no idea how to pronounce your name - you won’t make it. How the hell will the crowd chant your name? Perhaps if you’re lucky and someone in the crowd has a speech impediment they’ll get it right but that’s about it.
Enough of the cheap jabs though, let’s get to the effects that truly matter. For one, I have nearly ten years on you boy, that’s all you are - a boy. Already I have the experience that you don’t. You may be taller, and you may weigh more, but that hasn’t stopped from suplexing big fucking idiots like you around. That hasn’t stopped me from knocking big guys like you to the ground. Honestly, now that I think about it, I’m actually thankful I got booked against you Njal, because I can show XWF and the world that even if I’m four inches smaller than you and you got close to hundred pounds of viking fat on you I will still be able to beat your ass around the ring and send you packing back to Boothby, wherever the fuck that is.

Oh, and let’s talk for a minute about you being a viking, okay? Sure, maybe you do have a bloodline that eventually would show you are a direct descendent of vikings. That is possible! My last name, which you’ll never know, could’ve come from England or Germany. I could be a direct descendent to kings and queens too… or maybe Nazi’s? I don’t fucking know nor do I fucking care! All that matters is here and now, not the past where you must think you live in with your grunts “oh me viking, me slay and rape, and then take big nap where I shit self”. If you really think you’re some viking god then you’re mentally fucking unstable in my eyes and belong in a fucking insitution you Nordic piece of garbage with the cosplayers Mastermind and the Wizard!

I dare you Njal - bring your witches, your trolls, and sure, pretend like you’re going to be good at this. Reality is going to sink in real quickly though that you’re nothing more than a thrall… oh, you don’t know what that means? It means slave in your tongue, bowing down to a master. That’s exactly what is going to happen on Savage, when I pick your fat ass up, slam your head down with the “This Damn Incredible”, pin you, and you’ll be forced, just like that rest of the clowns here in XWF to bow down to the wrestling master.”

The swaying of the spotlight suddenly stops as I laugh methodically. I leave the presence of the light and head towards the exit of the building but before doing so, peek my head back into the spotlight with a large grin on my face.

“The Incredible era is beginning.”

XWF Record: 1-0-0