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Thomas Nixon · (05-24-2017)

“You would be getting a well-liked XWF Superstar that wrestles during the main event on prime time television every Saturday night! I think we can do an amazing 30 or 60 second spot and really sell our audience on your products. I just want your brand to sponsor me in return-“

The voice on the other line cuts Nixon off. Thomas paces around the dining room of his row home, one hand holding his cell phone to his ear, while the other hand rubs the back of his neck. His face ranges from excited to annoyed, as the static voice continues on.

“Okay, okay. I understand. If you come around or change your mind, reach me on this number. Put some thought into it over the next couple weeks, maybe tune into Saturday night’s show and you’ll see how I can help. Thanks for your time, good bye.”

Thomas Nixon hangs up the phone. Despite his polite manner, he felt frustrated and completely dejected. He sets his phone down on the dining room table and lets out a huge sigh. Putting his head against the wall, Nixon closes his eyes, and thinks out loud.

“I should’ve saw this coming, I really should have. I’m doing everything I can. I’m reaching out to companies and I’m offering to put my name on their products. And I want them to simply sponsor me in return. But I’m finding myself in a predicament. It’s like my name and my revolution are toxic. News outlets and podcasts are reaching out to me. They want to hear what I have to say and that draws listeners.

But nobody will stand behind me; there isn’t a business out there that has taken me up on my offer. There isn’t a corporation that will sponsor me. Do they think I’m crazy? I talk to them like any other athlete negotiating a deal. I’ve proven that I’m not some sort of lunatic, but my words don’t ring true to them, and I don’t know how in the hell I can change that. People just don’t believe what I’m saying. The only way I could get air time is if I spin this like it’s a joke. But wait, that defeats the whole purpose of getting on TV and spreading my message in the first place.

God dammit. What the fuck do I do?”

Nixon sits down at the dining room table, and he leans back putting his hands together behind his head. He’s deep in contemplation, wondering what his next step should be. Is there a professional change that needs to be made? Should he reexamine the way he talks about the lizard people? How can he earn the respect from the world while standing by his seemingly ridiculous beliefs?

Thomas Nixon’s phone buzzes. His eyes glance down and he reads the name of the caller. It’s Richard Singer, Nixon’s friend and one of the many lizard people. After a long moment of hesitation, Nixon answers the phone.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, Thomas! It’s great to get a word with you. Do you have a couple minutes, I’m on my way to a meeting, but I want to get a word in!”

“Sure, Singer. Go ahead.”

“Here’s two thoughts I had. First, I was looking into what’s going on in the XWF, and I think you need to do something big. I think that you should get involved with Ax3! They’re getting all the attention right now, and if you pick a fight with those guys, you’ll be getting a ton of air time, and everyone will be talking about you!”

“Rich, I don’t-“

“If you don’t want to fight Ax3, there’s a couple more people I’ve been hearing a ton about! Even though the Kings have been featured less than Ax3, they are still the talk of the town due to their ownership stake. You can try to take them out, and I’m sure everyone will love it!”

“Rich, I don’t-“

“How about that Michael Graves guy? Everyone, and I mean everyone, seems to hate his guts. Fans will be all over you if you’re the man to put him in his place! That might even land you some serious interviews!”

“I know, I know.”

“Real quick, my other thought before I head into this meeting, I heard that you’re going to be on pay per view. This is your big shot, Tommy. If you get the win in the main event, that will be the biggest moment of your career! Think about the reaction! Think about the buzz! That’s what you need, you need a buzz around your name! This could be your big break!”

“Okay, Rich, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, Tom.”

Nixon clicks off the fun and lets out another big sigh.

“Jesus Christ. That’s why I told Rich and myself that I won’t answer to him anymore. I fully believe in fighting the good fight, but this guy doesn’t understand anything. He doesn’t understand the world of wrestling and how hard it really is to accomplish anything tangible. The way he brings up ideas is so naïve, like I can just trot out to a ring, do a little dance, and then walk out as the number one contender to the universal championship. That’s silly; that’s why I pick my own fights and take care of them myself.

He really believes that winning at High Stakes would be my big break. For fucks sake, I’ve main evented several episodes of television, I’ve won multiple championships, I’ve been one of the newest people to prove myself as a true threat within this company. That accolade won’t be my big break; it won’t make or break my whole career, but that is how Singer feels about my career. He doesn’t know a god damn thing, and that is the trouble of alliances in the world of wrestling.

Everyone has their own goals and their own obstacles. Richard wants me to liberate the lizard people, but he doesn’t see the difficulties in front of me. He bosses me around blindly, and there is no fucking reason I should answer to that. Then there are people like Benito and Jervis. They wanted a taste of trios gold, and they wanted the paycheck that comes with the titles. Their hearts weren’t with the mission statement of PATROL, they weren’t trying to end the oppression that continues every day. And that’s why they walked away with the cash in their hand and haven’t been seen since.

Then we have Ax3. You have Michael Graves who wants to beat Dolly Waters over the head and then take her to bed the same night. Robert Main wants to hold onto the Hart Championship and keep his spot in the Universal title hunt. Jim Caedus that wants to be remembered as a dominant long reigning champion. Then there’s Duke and Chaos that are squabbling over leadership status and eyeing Jim’s title. All of them have different and even potentially conflicting goals. That is a recipe for disaster, poor leadership mixed with a conflict of interest.

And last but not least, we have the Kings. They are on the same page in some ways, they look like their watching out for each other, and they have yet to show blatant rifts in their stable. Well, with one exception. There’s one person that doesn’t seem to fit into the mix, the jester to the kings, Cadryn Tiberius. There may not be contradicting goals between Tiberius and the Kings, but they have a problematic relationship. You see, Cadryn is insanely loyal to the kings. He thinks highly of them, and he likes to imagine them as great friends. But this feeling isn’t reciprocal, they don’t care about him, they treat him as an autistic child. The only reason they keep him around is because they feel bad for him, and they have some common rivals. It’s kind of sad.

That’s why I’m on my own. I’m not going to make arbitrary, one sided alliances. That doesn’t help me, and that won’t help me reach my goals. I’ll get it done, and I don’t need someone else to tell me what to do and pat me on the back. That’s for sure.”

* * *

“Cadryn, I was ready to get in front of the camera and say purely great things about you. All of my thoughts the came to mind when I saw our names together on the match card were rather positive. You aren’t a smug douchebag. You don’t walk around with a superiority complex. You don’t think that you’re the best wrestler that ever walked on God’s green Earth. And I like that about you because you’re honest with yourself. You aren’t arrogant, and that’s a virtue.

But then you belittled me and you belittled my intentions. First, you wrongly labeled me as a nice guy, but then you told me that I’m an angry man that’s got a lot of anger bottled up. So I want to correct the record and make the facts clear to everyone because Cadryn was half right. I’m not a nice guy and I am fucking angry.

The problem is, Cadryn doesn’t understand why I’m angry. He doesn’t believe me when I talk about my lizard friends and my lizard kin. Every day, I wake up in a world where my friends and family can’t walk around the city in their true form. They have to live a lie and they have to live in their own small tight knit communities. They can’t form meaningful relationships with humans in most cases, so they don’t get the opportunities in the world that they deserve. So you know what, that does piss me off Cadryn.

Every week when I walk out to the ring, I prove that I’m not a nice guy. That’s why I’m in the ring fighting; I’m pissed off and I have a passion. You, like many others, confuse my common decency with kindness. I’m not arrogant, and I don’t start shit backstage for no reason. I call things how I see it, and I act accordingly. I don’t do things because I’m nice, I just act fairly. That’s why I’m so passionate about ending the arbitrary social norms that make lizard people ‘scary’ or ‘monsters’. They aren’t fair to a species that is equally as intelligent of our own.

One of the biggest contributors to this social problem is ignorance. People refuse to believe the truth. People don’t want to accept that lizard people are more than a fairy tale. They’re a marginalized group that is being held down. And when we look back at the liberation of the lizards fifty years from now, it will be one of the most important social phenomenons in history.

So, Cadryn, you can think that my fight isn’t worth fighting. You can believe that only family men should compete. You can call me a false prophet. Say whatever the hell you want. Even if you think that, it doesn’t change the simple facts. I’m your opponent on Saturday, and you have to put me away in fifteen minutes. I don’t care if you’re fighting for yourself, your ego, the Kings, or your family. I don’t care if you believe in my lizard friends or not. Either way, you have to beat me if you want this title. Your disbelief doesn’t make me any less passionate or motivated to make my point. If anything, I want to make a statement. I want to fight through everything you throw at me. I want to pin you in the center of the ring.

By the time our match is over, I don’t expect you to offer your hand or shake mine. But you’ll realize my heart. You’ll realize that I’m shooting straight with you. This isn’t bullshit. I care about my people more than everything, and that’s why I’ll walk out of Savage Saturday Night as XWF Television Champion.”

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