Second Impressions

Second Impressions

As the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. The artist formerly known as Mia would do well to remember that. I guess you could say that she took exception to some of the things I had said. You could, but you’d be wrong. See, she’s like every other kid around here that grew up with participation trophies being handed like candy at a parade. I knew by the look in her eyes, that she knew she was already beaten. There was nothing she could do, so she took the low road. I think the fact that she took the low road made her even angrier. That’s what caused the second shot at the ol baby maker. So, because dumbass decided to get herself disqualified, she’s now trying to figure out if she can win the battle royal. Me? My opponents that are left in the tournament are trying to figure out if they can stop me. The easy answer? Nope, not a fucking chance. I fell short the first time, not this time. Sorry Eli, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to overcome that last obstacle.

{In-flight - between BWI and DFW}

I sat in coach, feeling like my knees were up in my chest. My only thought at the moment was at least I no longer needed the ice pack for my nuts. The stewardess who’s name I had come to find out was Jan approached. “Mr. Bane, your scotch.”, she said as she handed my drink to me. “Thank you Jan.”, I replied as I handed her my cash. “It’s a long flight to Dallas, are you sure you don’t want to upgrade your seat? You look extremely uncomfortable.” I smile in response to her and decline, “No, I’m good, it’s really not that bad.”. She smiles in response and continues to make her rounds with the drink cart. I sat next to the window, I always did enjoy looking out the window as the plane flew, there was a certain majesty to watching it go by. As I stared out the window I felt a tug on my shirt.

“Mr. Bane?”, I hear a voice so light that it’s almost a whisper. I look over at the young passenger, a boy really, who’s been sitting next to me the whole time. “Yes sir?” I reply with a smile. “It really is you…”, he says looking back and forth between me and the “Pro Wrestling Observer” magazine he’s staring at. I smile, “Yes sir it is really me.”. “You’re a really big guy” he says in awe, his flare for the obvious makes a passenger in front of us laugh. The gentlemen in question stands up and comes back to where we are. “I’m sorry Mr. Bane, my son is a huge wrestling fan, he’s usually a little more articulate than this.”. I wave him off, “no apologies necessary. I like wrestling fans whether they are fans of mine or not.”. I look down at the young man wearing the Paragon Eli Goode shirt and smile.

“Yall are going to Dallas or is it just a connecting flight?” I asked his dad. The older gentlemen extends his hand and I shake it. “Dan Ross, and yes we have a connecting flight to Oklahoma City after that. My son's name is Joshua and he’s a huge Eli Goode fan.”. He gestures at the young man's t-shirt, “As you may have guessed.”. I nod still smiling, “Nothing wrong with that, Eli is a good man, no pun intended.”. They both laugh and roll their eyes at the “Dad joke” and we continue to talk throughout the flight. Joshua was very excited about mine and Eli’s match and the arrival of my son Jimmy. He thought that Jimmy was going to be the next big thing. I reminded Joshua that it’s hard to be the next big thing when you’re only six feet tall. He again rolled his eyes at my brand of humor.

After the initial excitement had started to fade, so did Joshua, he leaned back and the next thing I know he’s snoozing away. I smile at Dan, “he’s a good kid.”. Dan smiles down at his son, “I think you made his day. It’s been a tough year for Joshua. We lost his mom back around halloween.”. I cringe, “I’m so sorry Dan.” He stops for a moment, doing his best to compose himself. “She had a long battle with cancer, over a year, I’m almost ashamed that I found it a relief when she passed.” Being a widower myself, this hit home hard for me, “Don’t ever be ashamed of that Dan. I went through the same thing and it still haunts me sometimes but at the end of the day, we have to remember that their pain is gone.”.

Jan stops by just then as two grown men have tears streaming down their faces. “Is everything okay?”, she asks. I smile and wipe my tears away, “Yes ma’am, I think we just formed our own support group.”. Dan doing the same smiles at her and nods, he then returns to his seat, the only thing I can hope is that I helped him. Even if it’s just a little bit, I hope like hell he feels better and that the guilt will subside in time.

The rest of the flight to Dallas went as uneventful as you might imagine, I remembered at the last moment that I had tickets to the next show. Joshua stood up first after we landed, I looked up to see Dan coming back to where his son stood. I handed them the tickets. Dan smiled, “I don’t think we’ll be able to make the next show.”. I handed him my business card, “yes you can, call me tomorrow and we’ll work out the details. I can’t have Josh miss a chance to see his favorite wrestler face off against me. Call me tomorrow and my daughter Jules will set up everything.”. He shakes his head, “We’re not a charity case Mr. Bane.”. I respond immediately, “No sir, you’re not, you’re wrestling fans and I consider it an honor to have you at ringside to watch the matches. You never know, Joshua might even get to meet a few of the folks.”. He smiled and we shook hands again. I left Joshua and Dan smiling so hard I thought their collective faces might break.

Fade…

When I first arrived in Carnage, I guess I didn’t really give a good first impression. Not to the fans and certainly not to anyone in the back. If you look at what was going within the company at the time, I don’t consider my actions to be out of bounds. Hell, even if you had the magic decoder ring you couldn’t tell who was fighting for the fans and who didn’t give a damn about them. I took Joe and Lucy’s side, their fight made sense to me at the time. Sadly there were few people involved in that argument who had the right intentions. It wasn’t until just before the pay per view that the legos clicked into place for Jack and he realized that what he had been doing was wrong. It was bad for his reputation and bad for the company. As much as I respect Joe, it never clicked into place for him. Not before or after war games did it slide into place. Since that time, no one as far as I know has even heard from him.

I think had Joe and I met earlier in our careers, we would have either been friends or mortal enemies. Who the hell knows really. We all hit speed bumps in our lives, I hope that Joe gets past his so he and Lucy can be together again. Speed bumps...right, that’s what you had called Raab wasn’t it Eli? A speed bump on your way to being world champion? I’m sure you view me in the same way, just another bump in the road. Like Mitaxia, I really don’t give a damn of what you think of me or my way of doing things. I’ll say this little man, you may be undersized but I still have a ton of respect for what you do in the ring. The last time we faced each other was in war games. This time though, it’s no outside help, just me and you, one on one. You’ve held every singles title in Carnage, except for the world title.

Why do you suppose that is? You’ve certainly got talent, no one will ever argue that Eli. You act as though you’ve never had a chance to earn a shot at Jack. I find that hard to believe personally, I think it’s more along the lines that you were afraid to face Jack. I’ve noticed you like to put on this facade if you will. You talk a big game, but when it comes down to walking the walk, you fall short. It’s Amber that carries the weight for your team. She’s the reason you’re still tag team champions. So, why is it that you’ve never had a world title shot? What is it that you lack?

What I think you lack is authenticity. I don’t buy what you’re selling Eli and if Jack and Amber are smart, they won’t either. I listened to what you had to say about Raab, you looked passed him like he’s never held a title in his career. He’s not been a world champion here but if memory serves he has been a world champion elsewhere. You also spoke about legacies prior to that match. Kid, let me tell you something, you’re twenty four fucking years old. You don’t have a legacy yet. Realism seems to be another thing that you lack. If you look past me to Amber or Ken, they’ll be wheeling you out of the arena on a stretcher again.

Unlike others, that’s not a threat kid, that’s a fucking fact. Now, I did watch your promotional for our match and that was cute comparing me to the cartoon character “Bane”. So, I guess I’m just a joke to you then? The name Bane is not some stage name that I made up. My last name is older than this country is kid. My family has been in Texas for seven generations. When you look across that ring at me, what you’ll see is a second generation wrestler. See, I didn’t ever lie about who trained me. I was trained by my father, Elisha Bane and his friend who went by the name “The Punisher”. They were old school brawlers, I’ve never felt the need to prop myself up to seem more important than I really am, or to appear as anything other than what I am.

So, little man, and you are a little man with a big mouth. My right leg weighs more than you do kid. I’m going to make this really simple for you, since you seem to need to have things spelled out for you. You walk around saying that you are really that damn good. That’s funny, the year two thousand called and they want their catchphrase back. You’re not good enough Eli, you couldn’t even beat Amber and you think you can challenge Jack? Okay, good for you, enjoy your stay on fantasy island Kid. The real world will come calling at Carnage, you’re not going to enjoy the experience.

Fin