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Thomas Nixon · (01-18-2017)

After pulling into a parking spot, Thomas Nixon slams his fist into the top of the steering wheel. He can feel heat in the pit of his stomach, an uncomfortable feeling of rising anger. He looks forward, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. His title loss didn’t truly kick in till Sunday morning, and now he is looking to have a last interview with Steve Sayors before he embarks on the cruise ship that will host this week’s Wednesday night event.

Nixon regains his composure, feeling his heart rate return to his resting rate. His eyes slowly open, and he exits his vehicle. Nixon cracks his neck side to side, but he still feels stiffness and discomfot.

As Nixon enters the back door of the building, he is promptly greeted by XWF’s lead interviewer, Steve Sayors. At this moment, Nixon felt like he was missing something. Nixon’s typical attire of blue jeans and a gray v neck were still the same, but the weight of a championship belt is missing from his waist or shoulder. Realizing the cause of his empty feeling, a grimace briefly crosses Nixon’s face.

“Hey, Tom! Are you excited for another interview?” Steve asks with a smile stretching wide across his face. Steve is rightfully giddy, he’s had numerous interviews with Nixon and they have all gone very well. Thomas always treated him with respect, unlike most of the competitors in XWF that regularly beat Steve to a pulp.

“Just stick to the questions, Steve. I’m not planning on hurting you, but I’m not feeling particularly polite.” Nixon responds with little emotion in his voice, like he is holding back the anger that he felt only moments before in his car.

Steve walks with Nixon to the XWF backdrop and he gestures at the camera man to begin recording.

“Hello XWF fans! I am here with Thomas Nixon! Later today, we will be embarking on a cruise ship, but now he wanted to get a few words in!

As you know, Nixon lost the XWF Television Championship to Jim Caedus last night. Thomas, what was your reaction to the match? How are you feeling now that the dust has settled?”

Sayors pauses, leaning the microphone towards Nixon. After a deep breath and a derisive facial expression, Nixon begins.

“Last night was a new experience for me. I walked into the match as the champion, and I proudly held gold around my waist. Less than fifteen minutes later, I didn’t have a special moniker. People couldn’t refer to me as “the champ” anymore. I lost my championship, and I lost my title. This was also the first time I came out on the losing end in XWF, and it shook me up.

Jim Caedus beat me. He dropped me on my head and neck, and I think that most people would agree that his finishing maneuver looked disturbing. He smashed me on the neck that Moore nearly destroyed, and now I can hardly look from side to side. It goes without saying that this isn’t a good feeling. Besides the pain, it’s an empty feeling. But it’s not something to just ignore.

I can’t lie to my fans and I can’t lie to myself. I’m not going to say that I was beaten unfairly. I don’t need to protect myself from the truth. Last night, Jim was the better man, and that’s why he walked out with the gold and I didn’t. I’m not happy, but that doesn’t change the outcome. Now, I have to make the smartest decisions I can based on that result.”

Nixon pauses, frustration in his eyes.

“Can you air your thoughts on the sentiments that Gabe Reno and Chris Chaos expressed after Savage Saturday Night?” Steve politely askes with a bit of fear in his voice, trying not infuriate the former TV Champion.

“You know, Steve, I got a lot of shit right after the match. When I was lying on my back in my hotel room with an ice pack on my neck, I was at my most vulnerable. To nobody’s surprise, it didn’t take long for Chaos and Reno to go right on the attack.

In Chaos’ defense, his footage seemed like it was taped before I lost the gold. Regardless, that doesn’t change how ridiculous some of his thoughts were. And when you’re in pain and awake all night, you have a lot of time to listen and think. Two things that would be very valuable to my opponents. Chaos said something stupid. Something so idiotic that I was a bit shocked it came from his mouth.

He disparaged my title reign because I am humble, and he bragged about his arrogance as Universal Champion.

Chaos is right about one thing, I’m not one to brag. I like seeing things how they truly are. It’s better to over prepare than to underprepare, so arrogance invariably leads to so many shortcomings. I avoid that. I’m smart enough to acknowledge my flaws.

You see, you can say things over and over again, but that doesn’t make them true. That’s not how logic and reason works. Even though Gabe repeats that I’m some sort of man that anally raped dinosaurs into extinction, his

musings simply are untrue. A lot of people succumb to this fallacy, and it’s prominent in the arrogant wrestlers in XWF. Brandon Moore wouldn’t stop saying that he’s “just plain better”, but that didn’t mean shit once I beat him clean in the middle of the ring. That’s why I’m not arrogant like Chaos because touting your own success doesn’t mean anything unless you back it up.

And now, Chaos can say that he’s held his championship longer than I held mine, but he can call me up once he gets four solid title defenses under his belt because that’s what I was able to do as a humble champion. I doubt that I would have beat Jim Caedus if I acted like a cocky motherfucker in the build up to the match. My loss has nothing to do with my demeanor, and it has everything to do with the match in the ring. Just saying “I’m better than you” doesn’t make the words ring true, that’s not the name of the game, so I’m utterly shocked that Chaos thinks he’s a better champion because of this attitude, when he hasn’t been a fighting champion.

While Chaos was critiquing the way I carry myself, Gabe took part in his typical buffoonery. Somewhere amidst the gibberish and mindless antics, he caught my attention. Not from what he said, but from what he didn’t say.

Among all of the names Gabe Reno’s called me, he found himself stopping short of calling me a crook. I sat in my hotel room, and I laughed. Gabe is truly afraid of facts, and he is so used to them being contrary to insults, that he didn’t call me the one name in the book that is actually applicable. I am a fucking criminal. I am a crook.”

A smile flashes across Nixon’s face, and a brief look of concern is on Steve’s. Steve leans back a bit, but he further extends the microphone to the interviewee. Nixon looks straight into the camera, as if he could see into the eyes of the fans or his opponents.

“Gabe, you know I’ve done some nasty stuff.” A grin shows off Nixon’s white teeth, he’s almost laughing. “It wasn’t fucking dinosaurs, and it wasn’t throwing some goddamn magical rock. No, no, no. Gabe, I’ve fucking killed people, and you know that. I’ve said that. I’ve watched blood pour out of people’s necks as their eyes deteriorated into a dull, gray color.

So why can’t you just say that? Why can’t you just call me a fucking crook? Is it tough to imagine that a man that you’re stepping foot in the ring with isn’t all talk?

I’m not throwing around empty language, Gabe. I have watched blood flow from deep wounds, and I have felt absolutely nothing. Sure, I feel bad about that. It’s kind of sick to think so little of taking a human life, but when it boils down to it, I do what I have to do. Every now and then, I look at the bright side. I look at the positives aspects of it, and I distance myself from my actions. But in the end, it takes a special kind of person to regularly maim another human beings.”

Nixon finally commands a straight face.

“Trust me, I wasn’t laughing at the pain and suffering I’ve caused. I’m laughing at the blatant delusion that poor Gabe Reno is suffering from, and nobody is kind enough to get him mental health treatment.

Gabe’s little slip of the tongue feeds into the true narrative of this three way match. The two men that I’m wrestling are afraid of the facts, and they pad themselves by endlessly praising their own ability. They try their best to write me off as a joke or as a competitor that isn’t on their level. Gabe and Chaos incorrectly depict my actions and my personality; they either are actively trying to create a false narrative or they must think they’re wrestling a different guy.

That’s the difference between myself and my opponent’s. I learned something Saturday night. I learned that I’m mortal, and I have my follies. I can’t expect the best case scenario every time, and reality has to kick me in the ass every now and then. Chaos and Reno are trying outrun the truth, but it will trip them up very soon.

After my loss, my two adversaries made a tremendous mistake. They shouldn’t be happy I lost the gold. They should be upset; they should be scared. That loss gave me perspective, and it kept me from becoming complacent like Chaos and Reno. I won’t become stuck in false, shortsighted beliefs that are only self-serving.

Now more than I ever, I need this win. Right now, things can go a lot of directions for me. If I come out on top of this match, I could find myself on a path to the Universal Championship. Now, I’m a threat and a priority to Chaos. Now, I have a fire lit under my ass because this match decides my fate in the company.

They’re in for an unpleasant turn of events. They shouldn’t have been celebrating on Saturday Night because my loss against Jim makes me a much more dangerous opponent. Once they get in the ring, they’ll find out that what they convinced themselves was a three-week-old puppy was really a venomous snake the whole time. At that point, it’ll be too late. They’ll already be comatose. Not from a poisonous bite, but from a chilling knee to the skull.”

The scene fades away, as Nixon turns from Steve and exits the scene, leaving his interviewer in a stunned silence.

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