Post by Cross Recoba on May 20, 2023 3:09:11 GMT
[18th May 2023]
[Cupertino, CA]
Looking out from his suite, Cross was greeted by a vista of the Castle Rock State Park that reached out and kissed the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. The panorama provided a peace that was well-needed in a month that was proving to be more exacting with every week that passed.
Taking up residence ahead of the match with MYŌJIN in this idyllic surrounding gave him distance from the Jack Diamond-sized headache that sat awaiting his return to Las Vegas. It also gave him a place he could prepare for what critics had called his biggest challenge of the year yet.
The preparation for MYŌJIN wasn’t just to spot holes in the World Champion’s game, though they did exist, but to maximise his own skills ahead of the match. The twice-daily runs through the Madrone, firs, and Redwood were as much about being able to solidify his game plan as they were about matching the seemingly unfaltering oxygen tank that the Champion possessed.
In an aid to boost his concentration he’d minimized the amount of technology available to him. No emails until he returned to Nevada, his cellphones in a drawer back at The Sands and in their place was a new iPhone, everyone needed a burner after all. Loaded onto it were MYŌJIN’s matches from his career, cut to ensure his focus remained. Alongside those were commentary-only files that accompanied him on his runs, hoping to find patterns or ways that moves telegraphed what followed them and then ‘Super Cuts’ as they’d been dubbed. These matches were spliced with critiques from Podcasts and Youtube, a bid to appraise his opponent from as many viewpoints as possible.
Cross took one last second to drink in the view before he turned his back on it and picked up a remote. With a couple of clicks the television on the wall became his camera, Recoba sat himself down on the Chaise Longue awaiting the countdown on-screen.
Red light.
“We’re just a few days out now, Starchild. Give or take, in a hundred hours or so we’ll find out whether the new season of Infinite Pro Wrestling is again led by yourself or if it gets the Champion it deserves in yours truly.” The Challenger shot a quick flicker of a smile at the last part of the sentence.
“I had the pleasure of watching that update from your training camp and couldn’t help but find the entertainment in it all. After all, how could I not be enthralled by the death of a star right before my eyes?”
Recoba reached forward to a table out of view and unscrewed a water bottle.
“The irony that you used the words cookie-cutter in a promo to describe me whilst pretty much delivering a mix-and-match sermon of your own wasn’t lost on me, I hope that was meant to entertain because the alternative is so much worse for your own chances. You called me boring but then you used that same dismissive wave of the hand when you faced C…”
Way to make a guy feel special.
“The difference is that unlike your last pay-per-view match, you’re facing someone who backs up what they say inside the ring. Unlike C you’re going to know that you’re in a fight for your title, you’re going to know from the time that bell rings that every moment that you seem to be on top is because you earned it, not because it was a given. You’re either running on auto-pilot or on fumes, which is it? Was it this overconfidence that cost you against Bloodied Fox or Evan Valentine or was it both? I’ll even give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you’re running on empty or you’re already focusing on that Four-Way match at the end of the month for NJFC. That you’ve mentally checked out of this place because, in your head, you’re so far ahead of everyone on the roster.”
What a fragile and heavily curated self-image you’re giving me to break.
“MYŌJIN, you’re claiming to be the King of IPW but you’re acting like the bride. New moves, old insults, blue entrance lights and as for something borrowed? Bloodied Fox already did the dig at the name of my finisher but then I can’t exactly blame you for stealing from him like he took that Junior Heavyweight title from you. At least it didn’t scream of laziness like the ‘side character’ dig, almost like you were playing Buzzword Bingo for the TikTok crowd. Or is it yet another sign that you’re already checked out?”
Better to succeed in imitation than fail in originality though, right?
Cross takes a sip from the water bottle before placing it down and standing up. He paces round to the window as he talks.
“But then, you’re MYŌJIN and you are the man without a need for a narrative. It wasn’t like you pulled me up on excuses against Touchdown after you’d hand-waved your own failings was it? That wasn’t a spin in any discernible fashion but I’ll give you an out, they were irrelevant…that’s why you addressed them.”
Somewhere in Moscow they look up to you for your ability to claim the moral high ground.
“As for my reminder about the glass in your back? How was it you reacted when you became aware you were bleeding? When you felt that warm, metallic taste as the blood dripped down your face and the sudden horror that your hands were covered in glass. How many legends inside that squared circle can’t cope with blood? Just you but then your legend only really exists in your own lunchtime, doesn’t it? What happened when I got busted open in Infinite Pro? I got on with winning the match without freaking out.”
If blood isn’t your thing then maybe wrestling’s not your thing? No amount of talent takes away the fact that it’s a part of the sport.
“So, MYŌJIN, enjoy what time you have left of being Champion in Infinite Pro. I’ll even go so far as to say that when I dethrone you, you’ll go into the sunset and not look back. You’ve spent so much time running down the entire roster that really, what’s left for you here without the title? What’s left for you to achieve? Or, to be more accurate, what happens to the Starchild when that aura of being unbeaten in Infinite Pro isn’t there anymore?”
Once more Cross smiled but this time it stayed. He picked up the HKW Heavyweight title before he spoke again.
“You’ve spent so long making being champion your whole identity here that if it isn’t the blood that destroys you, it’ll be the loss of your belt that does the mental damage. If those were the stakes I had to face going into a match, MYŌJIN, I’d probably be a little less casual because whilst I’m sure you’ve improved since you beat Danni Anderson in Tap Out, I used the hiatus to remember what it was like being a Champion.”
Recoba’s hand touched his title as if on instinct.
“In your head, you’ve already won and because of that you don’t need to put in any work once that bell goes. In your head, only you can evolve and improve because what is the world outside of MYŌJIN if not just a swathe of people to praise them? We all just stand still in your worldview…”
Cross leaned over the top of the Chaise Longue.
“You’re the poker player who doesn’t look outside his own hand, never focusing on what other people might have or develop because the only cards they care about are in their hand. You know what happens to them in the long-run? They get knocked out and leave the table with their tail between their legs. I’m looking over the footage of your matches, listening to how you even try to make people care about Infinite Pro and that fire that once burnt bright is now entering its dying embers as it flickers to a death. In comparison, you’re looking at the Infinite Pro Box Office Smash. I like the personal touch when it comes to denigrating my opponent’s as opposed to your ‘broad strokes for the little people’ approach. I’m entering this match knowing that between those bells I’m going to make you wish you’d faced me before the break. Any time you start to put some momentum together, I’m going to spoil it and watch the Infinite Pro World Champion facade give way to your true self, a petulant and over-indulged brat.”
There’s far better ways to bend the rules than running up the five-count.
“I’m not coming to IPW Discovery to become another statistic in your win column, MYŌJIN, I’m here for your title and I’ll leave it all in that ring to get it. Ask yourself: though there in spirit, where will your mind be?”
[Cupertino, CA]
Looking out from his suite, Cross was greeted by a vista of the Castle Rock State Park that reached out and kissed the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. The panorama provided a peace that was well-needed in a month that was proving to be more exacting with every week that passed.
Taking up residence ahead of the match with MYŌJIN in this idyllic surrounding gave him distance from the Jack Diamond-sized headache that sat awaiting his return to Las Vegas. It also gave him a place he could prepare for what critics had called his biggest challenge of the year yet.
The preparation for MYŌJIN wasn’t just to spot holes in the World Champion’s game, though they did exist, but to maximise his own skills ahead of the match. The twice-daily runs through the Madrone, firs, and Redwood were as much about being able to solidify his game plan as they were about matching the seemingly unfaltering oxygen tank that the Champion possessed.
In an aid to boost his concentration he’d minimized the amount of technology available to him. No emails until he returned to Nevada, his cellphones in a drawer back at The Sands and in their place was a new iPhone, everyone needed a burner after all. Loaded onto it were MYŌJIN’s matches from his career, cut to ensure his focus remained. Alongside those were commentary-only files that accompanied him on his runs, hoping to find patterns or ways that moves telegraphed what followed them and then ‘Super Cuts’ as they’d been dubbed. These matches were spliced with critiques from Podcasts and Youtube, a bid to appraise his opponent from as many viewpoints as possible.
Cross took one last second to drink in the view before he turned his back on it and picked up a remote. With a couple of clicks the television on the wall became his camera, Recoba sat himself down on the Chaise Longue awaiting the countdown on-screen.
Red light.
“We’re just a few days out now, Starchild. Give or take, in a hundred hours or so we’ll find out whether the new season of Infinite Pro Wrestling is again led by yourself or if it gets the Champion it deserves in yours truly.” The Challenger shot a quick flicker of a smile at the last part of the sentence.
“I had the pleasure of watching that update from your training camp and couldn’t help but find the entertainment in it all. After all, how could I not be enthralled by the death of a star right before my eyes?”
Recoba reached forward to a table out of view and unscrewed a water bottle.
“The irony that you used the words cookie-cutter in a promo to describe me whilst pretty much delivering a mix-and-match sermon of your own wasn’t lost on me, I hope that was meant to entertain because the alternative is so much worse for your own chances. You called me boring but then you used that same dismissive wave of the hand when you faced C…”
Way to make a guy feel special.
“The difference is that unlike your last pay-per-view match, you’re facing someone who backs up what they say inside the ring. Unlike C you’re going to know that you’re in a fight for your title, you’re going to know from the time that bell rings that every moment that you seem to be on top is because you earned it, not because it was a given. You’re either running on auto-pilot or on fumes, which is it? Was it this overconfidence that cost you against Bloodied Fox or Evan Valentine or was it both? I’ll even give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you’re running on empty or you’re already focusing on that Four-Way match at the end of the month for NJFC. That you’ve mentally checked out of this place because, in your head, you’re so far ahead of everyone on the roster.”
What a fragile and heavily curated self-image you’re giving me to break.
“MYŌJIN, you’re claiming to be the King of IPW but you’re acting like the bride. New moves, old insults, blue entrance lights and as for something borrowed? Bloodied Fox already did the dig at the name of my finisher but then I can’t exactly blame you for stealing from him like he took that Junior Heavyweight title from you. At least it didn’t scream of laziness like the ‘side character’ dig, almost like you were playing Buzzword Bingo for the TikTok crowd. Or is it yet another sign that you’re already checked out?”
Better to succeed in imitation than fail in originality though, right?
Cross takes a sip from the water bottle before placing it down and standing up. He paces round to the window as he talks.
“But then, you’re MYŌJIN and you are the man without a need for a narrative. It wasn’t like you pulled me up on excuses against Touchdown after you’d hand-waved your own failings was it? That wasn’t a spin in any discernible fashion but I’ll give you an out, they were irrelevant…that’s why you addressed them.”
Somewhere in Moscow they look up to you for your ability to claim the moral high ground.
“As for my reminder about the glass in your back? How was it you reacted when you became aware you were bleeding? When you felt that warm, metallic taste as the blood dripped down your face and the sudden horror that your hands were covered in glass. How many legends inside that squared circle can’t cope with blood? Just you but then your legend only really exists in your own lunchtime, doesn’t it? What happened when I got busted open in Infinite Pro? I got on with winning the match without freaking out.”
If blood isn’t your thing then maybe wrestling’s not your thing? No amount of talent takes away the fact that it’s a part of the sport.
“So, MYŌJIN, enjoy what time you have left of being Champion in Infinite Pro. I’ll even go so far as to say that when I dethrone you, you’ll go into the sunset and not look back. You’ve spent so much time running down the entire roster that really, what’s left for you here without the title? What’s left for you to achieve? Or, to be more accurate, what happens to the Starchild when that aura of being unbeaten in Infinite Pro isn’t there anymore?”
Once more Cross smiled but this time it stayed. He picked up the HKW Heavyweight title before he spoke again.
“You’ve spent so long making being champion your whole identity here that if it isn’t the blood that destroys you, it’ll be the loss of your belt that does the mental damage. If those were the stakes I had to face going into a match, MYŌJIN, I’d probably be a little less casual because whilst I’m sure you’ve improved since you beat Danni Anderson in Tap Out, I used the hiatus to remember what it was like being a Champion.”
Recoba’s hand touched his title as if on instinct.
“In your head, you’ve already won and because of that you don’t need to put in any work once that bell goes. In your head, only you can evolve and improve because what is the world outside of MYŌJIN if not just a swathe of people to praise them? We all just stand still in your worldview…”
Cross leaned over the top of the Chaise Longue.
“You’re the poker player who doesn’t look outside his own hand, never focusing on what other people might have or develop because the only cards they care about are in their hand. You know what happens to them in the long-run? They get knocked out and leave the table with their tail between their legs. I’m looking over the footage of your matches, listening to how you even try to make people care about Infinite Pro and that fire that once burnt bright is now entering its dying embers as it flickers to a death. In comparison, you’re looking at the Infinite Pro Box Office Smash. I like the personal touch when it comes to denigrating my opponent’s as opposed to your ‘broad strokes for the little people’ approach. I’m entering this match knowing that between those bells I’m going to make you wish you’d faced me before the break. Any time you start to put some momentum together, I’m going to spoil it and watch the Infinite Pro World Champion facade give way to your true self, a petulant and over-indulged brat.”
There’s far better ways to bend the rules than running up the five-count.
“I’m not coming to IPW Discovery to become another statistic in your win column, MYŌJIN, I’m here for your title and I’ll leave it all in that ring to get it. Ask yourself: though there in spirit, where will your mind be?”
