Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me,
Saying that now you are not as you were
When you had changed from the one who was all to me,
But as at first, when our day was fair

Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then,
Standing as when I drew near to the town
Where you would wait for me: yes, as I knew you then,
Even to the original air-blue gown

Or is it only the breeze in it’s listlessness
Travelling across the wet mead to me here,
You being ever dissolved to wan wistlessness,
Heard no more again far or near?

Thus I, faltering around,
Leaves around me ,
Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward,
And the woman calling.

o The Voice By Thomas Hardy

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People wouldn’t believe I wrote a poem like that. Thomas Hardy read over his last book of poetry. He had been criticized for getting soft in his older years. People expected a harsh word from him, a sharp biting commentary on society, but he gave them this.

The last few years had been hard for him and his wife Emma, she had taken a brunt of the criticism brought against him. Because of it, they’d grown apart, even though they lived together. He knew she couldn’t understand the need for him to be on the outside of society, everything he had done had cost him something. At first it was jokes and commentary against them, she could handle that. Then his name turned into one that was synonymous with jokes and crudeness, that was a little harder to handle. People spoke her husbands name and the room would burst into laughter. Finally it was the threats, not just to his life and his career, but to his family’s way of life. Restaurants wouldn’t serve him, stores wouldn’t carry his literature. That was what had affected Emma so much.

I couldn’t do this without her

So he wrote a series of poems for her. She had stuck by him through everything and in his later years he felt a real love and appreciation for that. They had moved their primary residence out of the city of London and back to Max Gate in Dorchester. He had written most of his greatest novels here, but they needed to live the city life for years. The simpler life helped things between them. They fell back in love more and more each day.

Then the pleurisy came. It started off as a cough, but he was having more and more problems breathing. He hid from the public life and Emma stuck by him through it all. When he would have breathing issues, she was right there to make sure he calmed down and came through it. She made him tea constantly to clear the airways. She was a good woman. But he knew he was near the end, breathing had become so belaboured the doctors told him it was only a matter of time before he choked to death. His bed had been moved downstairs, and he’d stopped moving anywhere. People were now coming to pay their respects.

They say that at the end of your life, you get focus on what really mattered. This was what Hardy found fascinating. Instead of changing the world, all he could think about was her. He had it in him to write one last thing, would it be a chastisement of Victorian society once more for everyone to remember? No, it had to be for her.

He took out his pen, and wrote his last few words on a paper near his bedside

Dear Emma,
Thank you for this life.

The coughing came and took over, he could sit upright no longer. He would finish his letter tomorrow. He died the next day. At peace.

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Neville Sinclair walked around the South Transept of Westminster Abbey. This was known as Poet’s Corner. Many famous writers were buried here – Chaucer, Browning, Kipling, Dickens, the list could go on. But Neville was situated on the grave of one man – Thomas Hardy. It was incredible to be at the grave of one of the greatest, most controversial writers in history. Neville started wondering what the end of his life might look like. What would he value? How would he be remembered? He quickly caught himself, and started thinking on his match this week. Tommy Wish. How much does this match matter? Would he even remember it?

Tommy, I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Thomas Hardy this week. It really has been fun to take a rookie like yourself and try to impart a little knowledge into him. Of the entire roster here in the XWF you probably could use the teaching I’ve tried to give you the most. Isn’t it amazing what happens when we come to the end of something? You start putting everything into perspective and focusing on what really matters. Hardy went from a controversial hot-head to a sentimental patsy. But he got it right. He found the one thing that mattered and focused solely on that.

Neville glances up to Hardy memorial and smiles

I want the tone of what I say to you today to be a little different. I genuinely want to educate you because I know how far you need to come. You’re barely federation-worthy let alone championship-worthy Tommy. So I’m going to speak clearly and concisely. I’m going to use every word and make it matter. I want you to hear me because I know I can teach you something. What is it that really matters to me? That the moron I see shooting long-winded, annoying promos changes his ways and makes something interesting and unique. I don’t do this for myself, this federation needs it. If I can only change one person at a time, I’ll be doing my job here. And that's what I've come here to do

Neville could only imagine how much guts it took to present something to the world that he knew most people would hate. He thought of his time in the XWF, there were people there that hated him. They found him arrogant, they found him condescending. But Neville had to stick to the plan. He had to be the best there to prove to people what he was preaching. There was no chance he was going to lose the title this week. He’d never go down without a damn good fight.


Tommy, I think this is the most shocking thing about you is how you treat the people around you, especially your "fans". That poor girl Tiffany, is she alright? Everything that I’ve seen would seem to point to her being held against her will. You seem to take pride in taking away any shred any dignity she has and using it to make you look like a “badass”. What kind of man are you Tommy? It seems the only people you destroy are teenage girls with low self esteem. That makes me excited to get to take you on in the ring on Saturday. I can’t wait to be the one to destroy any sense of dignity you may have. Take the guy that parades poor girls around naked and whip his ass. Seriously though, the nudity in the promos you’ve filmed has less purpose than an explosion in a Michael Bay film. So why do it? I’d warn any female in the continent of North America about getting anywhere near you, Tommy. So keep it up, you’re really cementing a great legacy for yourself.

Neville sneers at the camera, the whole thing with Tiffany really got him riled up. He could imagine Tommy being the kind of guy who kept women locked up in his basement and it disgusted him. Neville wasn’t the most likable guy at times, but he felt he needed to stand up and speak to this.

I’ve also felt bad for your other fans too, although I’m sure not too many of them would actually admit to being one now. What you’ve brought this week has been nothing short of pathetic. Nothing you’ve brought all week has made any sense or served any kind of purpose. Your promos have been like watching Crystal Meth drug trips, I wonder why… or like crazy dreams that you have to work to put together in your own mind. You’ve shown your fans that you like shitty bars, naked barely legal women, and having your ass handed to you by the champ. Do yourself a favour Tommy, give people something to cheer for. I really don’t want people having to cheer for me by default.

Neville had snuck a drink into Westminster Abbey, but things were a little different than usual. On any given day, Neville would be knocking back a Scotch and feeling good about life. But he’d found something special. Hanging around Dorchester for the week, he’d explained why he was there to a local in a pub. The man met him at the pub the next night with a special bottle – Thomas Hardy’s Ale. Known at the time of brewing as the strongest beer in all of Britain, now discontinued. This was brewed by a master brewer named Eldridge Pope. He glanced at the date on the bottle – 1968. This probably would taste like hell, but he’d knock it back in memory of Hardy. He took a drink. Not as bad as he thought.



Let’s take a look at some of your greatest hits from this week shall we?

Neville laughs as he looks over cards of things Tommy has said. This was too good.

“I am here standing on a million-dollar grass that makes my barefoot hurt” First of all, did you mean grass to be singular? Also are you only standing on one foot? Honestly Tommy, listening to you try and spit out this sentence makes me wonder if you have a side job as a script writer for Google Translate. But I’m glad you felt the need to make fun of me – by spending a million of your own cash to rent a mansion for a day. You really got me there Tommy. The joke is totally on me. I still can’t get over that one.

“It makes my brain wonder why the TV Champion would feel the need to drop a dead man’s poem on my head. But that’s fine, because it’s going to be the exact situation this coming Savage!” You’re going to read dead men’s poetry to me at Savage on Saturday? Is that what you’re trying to say here? If you are, I’m totally ok with that. That might be more entertaining than the squash match that’s coming against you. Here’s a tip. Start with Dylan Thomas, maybe Shakespeare’s love sonnets, definitely some Thomas Hardy. Does that help at all?

“I like to also shout out your lessons you needed to preach out to me…” You LIKE to shout them out? I’m so glad, maybe my lessons have actually taught you something then. I’m incredibly glad that you liked them, and I hope that you like the three I’m giving you today. Believe me Tommy, these are for your own good. It’s like taking the shit-tasting medicine that you know will cure your sickness.

Believe me, I could go on. Your promos are full of gibberish like this. If you want to call out someone like me Tommy, do your homework. Learn how to compose a speech that makes sense. Practice the English language. Go back to the high school you’ve obviously never graduated from and do night school if you need to. I guarantee you will have a lot of choice with the 18 year old girls there. That’s what you like right? The way you speak shows how you will wrestling Tommy, you came off as dumb, hot-headed and reactionary, and that’s how you’ll fight. Who was the one who seemed to initiate everything here Tommy? I’ll give you a hint – it wasn’t you.

Neville laughed as he had many more cards he could have gone through. He spared people the time and commentary, but he was sure it wouldn’t change things with Tommy. He wouldn’t get it anyway.


I still can’t get over the fact that you threatened me with a knife Tommy. Not because I’m scared of it, believe me you won’t get to use it. But because it showed how easy it was to get under your skin. The guys that end up in jail are the reactionary ones who use violence because they can’t use words. They make a bad decision and it costs them dearly in life. Everything about you points to that. You have no other personality other than someone who wishes to shock people with bad behaviour and gets really mad when people make fun of him. Is that really who Tommy Wish is? I bet if you asked 10 stars in XWF who you were you’d get 3 different answers and a whole lot of “Tommy Who?” You don’t have to be a good person Tommy, just be a better one. Be the type of guy that management wants to give opportunities to, because you’ve shit the bed with this one.

So I bring you back once more to looking at Thomas Hardy with me. Why do we focus on him? Because he was an original shit-stirrer who took the world by storm. Hardy wrote and said things that mattered and changed things. He used novels and poetry to change the world with words. You could be a man like that too Tommy, but I’m not sure you want to be. You don’t see the value in making “points”, you have no purpose to who you are. Your words sure won’t change anything, most time listening to you speak is like listening to a child learning to read. But wouldn’t things change if you were more like him? I hope you listen Tommy, I really do.

Neville looks over the grave one more time. Respect was not something he gave easy, but Hardy was a man to respect. When he was done with Tommy Wish this week, he’d read Jude the Obscure for the third time. That was his favourite. Wrestling seemed an odd choice, but he hoped he’d be as respected and influential as Hardy one day, but that was a long way away. And there were things that even Neville Sinclair had to learn.
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“That man’s silence is wonderful to listen to.” – Thomas Hardy

Educating the XWF since 06/08/17