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Thaddeus Duke · (08-19-2020)

Mount Sinai Hospital || New York City

I can count on one hand how many friends I have in this business. In fact, I can count all my friends and still have a finger left. James Raven, who has unfortunately moved on to greener pastures. Dolly Waters, who is off doing god knows what and I haven’t heard from her in a year. At this point, you can probably sub in Atara Themis for Dolly. She’s great and actually talks to me. Graham Baker, a guy unknown in XWF circles that I signed to a contract when I was a talent head in another company for a cup of coffee or two.

And Corey Smith.

Corey Smith was and is a good friend to me. Sadly, I can not say the same thing. Or at least, I haven’t been. Not in the way I should have been. But I’m here now, fully intent on rectifying my wrongs. That’s been a recurring theme the last few years, righting my own wrongs. Doing even more wrongs then trying to rectify them, too. The thing about Corey though, is he’s not exactly offended by my absence. He knows the life I live, the life I wanted to escape from and knows I’m a busy fucking guy. He was in the business too. He gets it.

When I showed up in his room a few days ago, we didn’t get to really catch up. Just as we were starting, he had to go to physical therapy and I was summoned back to Connecticut. As you’re aware, his recovery from his stroke has plateaued.

I can’t allow that. Not without exhausting all available resources and options first. So the first thing I did once I boarded my plane was to arrange to have him moved to the best hospital I could find: Mount Sinai. And he’s now under the care of the foremost stroke specialist in the nation: Doctor Kim. I can neither pronounce nor spell his first name so here we are.

”Thanks man,” Corey says before finishing off his Crunchwrap.

”Anything for you bro,” I say with a smile. ”I got this ladder match coming up with...”

Corey sighs. ”Are there any napkins left? I got a little sour cream here,” he says, pointing to the corner of his mouth. I toss him the Taco Bell bag foolishly on his left side and the bag hits him in the face.

”Shit. I’m sorry man.”

”It’s fine.”

It’s not fine, I think to myself as he cleans himself up. Badly.

”Give me that,” I say as I approach his side. Taking the napkin from him I clean off the sour cream smear on his cheek.

”Dammit.”

”What?” I say, returning to my seat and tossing the crumpled up Taco Bell bag into the trash can across the room. ”KOBE!”

”It’s nothing.”

I get it. I mean, I don’t get it, but I understand. Corey’s a young man that’s been through a lot and probably feels like an invalid, unable to do so much on his own.

”So yeah, I went back to the XWF and won another...”

”Look bro, I don’t mean to be rude or anything but I just...” his voice trails off for a second. ”I don’t really want to talk about that stuff right now.”

I was just trying to find a common thread, ya know? He and I met through wrestling. I figured it was an easy conversation starter but while I was away, some pretty horrible things happened to him and its easy for me to lose sight of that because I wasn’t there to see it.

”It’s cool. What do you want to talk about?”

”Well for starters, where’s my attack helicopter you promised me?” he asks with a crooked grin. No promise ever existed, but its funny and made me laugh.

”It’s being commissioned as we speak.” Again, a joke. A little lightheartedness between friends trying to reconnect.

”What’s been going on with you?”

”Well I got a woman,” I say with a grin, knowing precisely what he’s thinking. ”Her name’s Elizabeth.” I notice the ever widening grin on his face. ”Fuck you, just say it,” I say as his chest heaves, while he’s containing his laughter.

”I thought you liked dudes!” he says with a hearty laugh. It’s good to hear him laugh again.

”I do,” I say smiling. ”Love is love, Corey.”

”Yeah, yeah. I know.”

”Liz is beautiful. Strong as hell. She’s been my rock through this whole Frankie thing...”

”Who’s Frankie?”

Oh right. He doesn’t know about Frankie.

”Frankie is my foster kid.”

”What the fuck? What the hell did I miss?”

”It’s a long, sad story man.”

Corey looks around the room, up down and all around then back at me.

”In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly going anywhere.”

”I was doing some debt collecting work for my grandfather and went to this apartment in Brooklyn to do the deed...”

”I thought your grandfather was dead?”

”He is, but not that one.

“Anyway, Alister, my grandfather wanted the mark dead. I was fully prepared to do it, but his kid was there and you know me and kids bro...”

”Yup. Full on sucker for the little tykes.”

”Yeah well, he wasn’t supposed to be there and he was. So we struck up a little conversation and the boy just broke down all these walls I built for myself. Obviously I couldn’t end the guy with his kid home, so I paid off his debts and let him live.

“Every now and then, I’d spend time with him while his dad was off at his recovery meetings.

“Anyway, Frankie’s dad ended up killing his mom...”

”Jesus.”

”He doesn’t have any family left so he had them call me.”

”Who’s them?”

”Child services.”

”What’s he like?”

”He’s nine. Funny. Really small, like maybe the size of a six year old. Such a sweet kid and I love him to death.”

”Thad?”

I look at him.

”How are you gonna raise a nine year old?”

”Honestly?”

He nods.

”I have no fucking clue man. I know I’m in way over my head but...”

”I get it.”

”...I couldn’t let him just go into the system, ya know?”

”You should bring him by sometime. I’d love to meet him. Liz too.”

”Yeah, I will. Once things settle down a little and things get back to normal.”

”Thad,” he says and I look over at him. ”I don’t know how to tell you this but, things won’t ever be normal for him again.

“I can relate.”

”Maybe not, but… I gotta try right?”

He nods.

”And so do you.”

He looks at me this time.

”You’re plateauing because you’re giving up. You want to be Corey again. I want you to be Corey again. It fucking sucks what happened to you. It isn’t your fault. But it’s you that can fix it and only you.

“When your body is telling you no more, you gotta get your mind to tell it to shut the fuck up and push just a little harder. Every day. Every session.

“You know I love you man, but that’s the only way you’re ever getting your life back.

“Keep. Pushing. Forward.”

I can’t tell just now if he’s put off by my impromptu… I guess you could call it tough love or not. I mean, it’s easy for me to say. I have full use of all my faculties. It’s easy to have everything and tell others to work for it. But I’m here for it. I’m here to push him when he can’t push himself because that’s what friends do.

”Listen I gotta run though. Meetings and shit. I just wanted to come by and...”

”Yeah I know. Your life is hectic as hell.”

”I’ll be back in a few days,” I say as we clap hands together. I start to turn away toward the door but Corey keeps my hand in his so I turn back.

”Thanks man.

“For everything.”

I lean down and give him a hug.

”No thanks needed. I love you bro. This is what friends do.”

One thing is for sure, I think to myself as I make my way from the hospital, my affection for Corey Smith and his for me is genuine. Authentic. You stay in this business for ten minutes and you can clearly tell the differences between the snakes and the roses. Corey is a rose, and I’m happy to call him my friend.

Atticus White: you might want to pay attention to the segments unfolding on your own god damn show. I already told the world before Savage went off the air that I was defending in a ladder match. You go and book another? Fucking idiot. I feel sorry for the other ladder match because Chris and I are about to raise the bar for XWF ladder matches.

Why?

Because we can.

Chris Page, let me let you in on a little secret: I fell into no trap. See, I’ve known people like you my entire life and I knew exactly what I was getting into when I decided to make both you and your boy toy Robert Main look like complete fucking idiots on Savage. Bring Main, bring Barker. Bring Slater, bring

. Bring your mom, your dad, your wife or girlfriend, husband or boyfriend. Bring them all man. I have no fucking problem rattling the teeth of innocents when they’re aligned with people like you.

Don’t get me wrong bro. I don’t hate you. I don’t like you either, so don’t get a boner. I look at you Chris and I see a hell of a competitor. I don’t twist my words and I say what I mean. I don’t undercut other peoples accomplishments in this business to make myself feel better or to create soundbites...

Here’s winkin’ at you Robbie.

You’re in the Hall of Legends and that means something. That means that in your prime and even still today that you’re one of the finest competitors to ever lace up a pair of boots. I know it. I won’t deny it. I won’t call you overrated. I won’t call you a nothing and I certainly won’t take pages out of Robbie Bourbon’s playbook and say no one respects you when that’s clearly not the case.

I know I’m in for a fight, but Chris, you better know that you are too. I know I face long odds with your cronies hanging around but I’m here for it. You haven’t really got a lick in on me yet, but one thing you’re gonna find out is that I love getting my ass kicked. Yeah I enjoy winning like anyone else but nothing satisfies me quite like tasting my own blood. Look back in the archives, if I’m bloody, I’m having one hell of a great time. I don’t back down from a fight. I never have and I never will.

Call it stupid, call it foolish, call it whatever you like. Just bring everything and everyone you got Chris because it’s going to take exactly that to beat me and take MY title.

It’s Chris Page.

It’s Thaddeus Duke.

It’s tear the house down, blow the roof off type of stuff and the world will be watching. The stadium will be full. The crowd will be loud. Deep down Chris, while you publicly admit your disdain for me…you fucking live for this shit just like I do. Remove the frills. Remove the cheers for me and the boos for you for a minute. Take all the scenery away: Main, your other friends, my dad. It’s just you and me and we’re more alike than different. Different attitudes and different mindsets to be sure, but at the end of the day all it boils down to is putting asses in seats, eyes glued to the TV screen and millions of asses on the edges of those seats. This is what it’s all about. Putting on a show like no one else, because we can. Making the fans pop or boo, because we can. Exciting that reaction and living and dying by the adrenaline flow, because we fucking love it. If the fans don’t go home utterly fucking exhausted from the emotional roller coaster that we put them through, we haven’t done our job and you and I? Sure we win and we lose sometimes but you know what? We never fail to exhaust the XWF Universe. The fans man… you love to hate them and they love to hate you meanwhile I love to love them and they love to love me back...but we give them every red cent they spend to come see us do what we do better than anyone else.

Why?

Because there’s no one better.

Because we fuckin’ can.

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