Post by Chris Shields on Mar 23, 2015 19:14:06 GMT -5
7:28 AM
Those were the bright blue numbers that greeted me as I woke up this morning. Similar numbers had been greeting me for the last two weeks, just one or two minutes difference. No matter how hard I tried, I was always awake by seven thirty. The routine had subsided for a little bit during my recovery period after the brutal battles I had been through in Phoenix Wrestling, but come back after a few weeks. I pushed myself to go back to sleep for awhile, especially while on the honeymoon with my gorgeous new wife, but the recovery was done, the honeymoon was over, and I was feeling the old familiar itch once more. I looked over my shoulder and smiled, Lenora was still fast asleep and even with no makeup, hair a mess, and her face half buried in a pillow, she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. I leaned back, kissed her forehead and got up from the bed.
I found a simple pair of black track pants, a simple black t-shirt with the distressed style batman logo, and my running shoes. I grabbed my ipod, slipped on the wounded warrior dog tags, and got a bottle of water on the way out. Down the stairs, out the front door, and time to explore a new area of my neighborhood. Lenora wasn't completely thrilled when we moved from a massive Malibu beach house to a large three story condo in Dallas, but the city was always home to me, and even though she'd helped me fill the other house with good memories, there were plenty of bad ones. I ran, and ran and ran, my cardio finally really coming back to where it had been before I'd retired from the ring. I hadn't gotten fat or out of shape or anything like that, but I'd been out for a few months. I started making my way back towards the condo, stopping at the small bakery I had found just two blocks down the road for some bagels, and a Raspberry tart for Lenora.
"Here you are."
"Thanks."
The nice older woman behind the counter handed me my bag, and I gave her a twenty. She tried to give me the change, but I had headed out before she could. I luckily didn't ever need to worry about money again. Between investments, the money I'd made selling myself out earlier in my career, and the pay I had gotten from PW. I was set. It also helped that I wasn't pissing it away on booze and strippers every night. I found my way back to the condo, went up to the second floor and started myself some coffee as I sat down the bag from the bakery. I got myself a quick breakfast, filled up my water, and went back down to the bottom floor where I'd set up my gym. I flipped the TV on to Sportscenter, where of course highlights of the NCAA tournament were playing. I sat down on the weight bench, but before I could lay back to get started, the door was shoved open by my wife who had a scowl where her usual beautiful light up the room smile should be.
"The hell Chris?"
She walked over and held up her phone, opened up to my twitter page with a very recent text front and center.
Retirement was cool for about 2 months, but part of that was the wedding and 3 week honeymoon. I'm kind of starting to miss the ring though.
"You can't really be serious, can you?"
I wasn't exactly sure how to respond. I figured she would see the tweet and not be happy, but I didn't expect this level of anger. I took a deep breath, and looked down towards the floor.
"I didn't say I'm going back tomorrow or anything like that. Wrestling was a big part of my life Lenora."
"That almost killed you like a dozen times."
I looked up and wanted give her a look that just yelled 'seriously' but that sad part was that there wasn't much exaggeration in that statement. I'd had multiple concussions, broken some bones, and lost quarts of blood, and that was just in the last six months before I retired.
"I just said that I miss the ring, not that I was going back to competing. I helped to train my Cousin, maybe I could do that again. He's doing well right now over in Japan."
"You really expect me to believe you'll just be able to train a few kids, and not want to go back to the ring full time? You're still obsessed with proving yourself, aren't you?"
I didn't say anything, because she was right. I'd won titles, hell I'd been a World champion in multiple companies, but the last three years of my career, they were filled with let down after let down. The stench of failure hung around me. In three years, I had managed to win one single solitary title, and it was what everyone considered a lower tier title. I'd given it up to fight for the World Title, been inches away from winning, and come up short once again.
"Babe, I loved wrestling before, I started to find that love again. Maybe there's somewhere out there in this crazy business, that can bring it back for me."
Now it was her time to not talk, just look at me with disappointment. It wasn't anger, even though that would have been completely justified after all the times she had to watch me get helped to the back with blood streaming down my face. No, she was disappointed because she knew there was a good chance of that happening once again. She wasn't going to leave though, as much as I loved her, she loved me the same. She was my soulmate, the one person in this World I couldn't live without, yet here I was potentially prepared to hurt her again.
"Lenora, I won't make any kind of decision without talking to you, and I promise I will not go anywhere that is all about the crazy insane violent matches."
She walked over to me knelt down, and placed my face in her hands.
"I don't want you to go anywhere, but I can't keep you away if you're set on it. I never want you to feel like I don't support you baby. Just, no more of those death matches or fans bringing weapons or crazy ass cages or barbed wire."
I laughed a little before running a hand through my hair feeling the scar that had been left a few months ago.
"Promise."
She gave me a quick kiss, and headed out, leaving me to my workout. I laid down on the bench, wrapped my arms around the bar, and got ready to start my set, but got interrupted once again, this time by the dinging of the door bell. I let my arms free, got up and walked out to the door. He opened it and was greeted my a man in his early forties, dressed in a simple navy suit and white shirt and no tie. Beside him was a woman who looked to be in her early or mid twenties, wearing a simple black dress.
"Hi, Chris Shields?"
"Uhm, yea."
"I'm Bobby McVeigh, with WrestleTown up in Holston. We saw your tweet the other day, and I was wondering if you had some time to talk."
I looked him up and down for a few seconds, then to the woman with him. It was difficult to tell with the executive types, had some that were great and all about the fans and wrestling, then others who only cared about their own agenda. I guess I should at least figure out what kind he is.
"Sure."
I let them in, and started upstairs, wondering if maybe I was about to be presented with the opportunity I was about to go looking for.
Those were the bright blue numbers that greeted me as I woke up this morning. Similar numbers had been greeting me for the last two weeks, just one or two minutes difference. No matter how hard I tried, I was always awake by seven thirty. The routine had subsided for a little bit during my recovery period after the brutal battles I had been through in Phoenix Wrestling, but come back after a few weeks. I pushed myself to go back to sleep for awhile, especially while on the honeymoon with my gorgeous new wife, but the recovery was done, the honeymoon was over, and I was feeling the old familiar itch once more. I looked over my shoulder and smiled, Lenora was still fast asleep and even with no makeup, hair a mess, and her face half buried in a pillow, she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. I leaned back, kissed her forehead and got up from the bed.
I found a simple pair of black track pants, a simple black t-shirt with the distressed style batman logo, and my running shoes. I grabbed my ipod, slipped on the wounded warrior dog tags, and got a bottle of water on the way out. Down the stairs, out the front door, and time to explore a new area of my neighborhood. Lenora wasn't completely thrilled when we moved from a massive Malibu beach house to a large three story condo in Dallas, but the city was always home to me, and even though she'd helped me fill the other house with good memories, there were plenty of bad ones. I ran, and ran and ran, my cardio finally really coming back to where it had been before I'd retired from the ring. I hadn't gotten fat or out of shape or anything like that, but I'd been out for a few months. I started making my way back towards the condo, stopping at the small bakery I had found just two blocks down the road for some bagels, and a Raspberry tart for Lenora.
"Here you are."
"Thanks."
The nice older woman behind the counter handed me my bag, and I gave her a twenty. She tried to give me the change, but I had headed out before she could. I luckily didn't ever need to worry about money again. Between investments, the money I'd made selling myself out earlier in my career, and the pay I had gotten from PW. I was set. It also helped that I wasn't pissing it away on booze and strippers every night. I found my way back to the condo, went up to the second floor and started myself some coffee as I sat down the bag from the bakery. I got myself a quick breakfast, filled up my water, and went back down to the bottom floor where I'd set up my gym. I flipped the TV on to Sportscenter, where of course highlights of the NCAA tournament were playing. I sat down on the weight bench, but before I could lay back to get started, the door was shoved open by my wife who had a scowl where her usual beautiful light up the room smile should be.
"The hell Chris?"
She walked over and held up her phone, opened up to my twitter page with a very recent text front and center.
Retirement was cool for about 2 months, but part of that was the wedding and 3 week honeymoon. I'm kind of starting to miss the ring though.
"You can't really be serious, can you?"
I wasn't exactly sure how to respond. I figured she would see the tweet and not be happy, but I didn't expect this level of anger. I took a deep breath, and looked down towards the floor.
"I didn't say I'm going back tomorrow or anything like that. Wrestling was a big part of my life Lenora."
"That almost killed you like a dozen times."
I looked up and wanted give her a look that just yelled 'seriously' but that sad part was that there wasn't much exaggeration in that statement. I'd had multiple concussions, broken some bones, and lost quarts of blood, and that was just in the last six months before I retired.
"I just said that I miss the ring, not that I was going back to competing. I helped to train my Cousin, maybe I could do that again. He's doing well right now over in Japan."
"You really expect me to believe you'll just be able to train a few kids, and not want to go back to the ring full time? You're still obsessed with proving yourself, aren't you?"
I didn't say anything, because she was right. I'd won titles, hell I'd been a World champion in multiple companies, but the last three years of my career, they were filled with let down after let down. The stench of failure hung around me. In three years, I had managed to win one single solitary title, and it was what everyone considered a lower tier title. I'd given it up to fight for the World Title, been inches away from winning, and come up short once again.
"Babe, I loved wrestling before, I started to find that love again. Maybe there's somewhere out there in this crazy business, that can bring it back for me."
Now it was her time to not talk, just look at me with disappointment. It wasn't anger, even though that would have been completely justified after all the times she had to watch me get helped to the back with blood streaming down my face. No, she was disappointed because she knew there was a good chance of that happening once again. She wasn't going to leave though, as much as I loved her, she loved me the same. She was my soulmate, the one person in this World I couldn't live without, yet here I was potentially prepared to hurt her again.
"Lenora, I won't make any kind of decision without talking to you, and I promise I will not go anywhere that is all about the crazy insane violent matches."
She walked over to me knelt down, and placed my face in her hands.
"I don't want you to go anywhere, but I can't keep you away if you're set on it. I never want you to feel like I don't support you baby. Just, no more of those death matches or fans bringing weapons or crazy ass cages or barbed wire."
I laughed a little before running a hand through my hair feeling the scar that had been left a few months ago.
"Promise."
She gave me a quick kiss, and headed out, leaving me to my workout. I laid down on the bench, wrapped my arms around the bar, and got ready to start my set, but got interrupted once again, this time by the dinging of the door bell. I let my arms free, got up and walked out to the door. He opened it and was greeted my a man in his early forties, dressed in a simple navy suit and white shirt and no tie. Beside him was a woman who looked to be in her early or mid twenties, wearing a simple black dress.
"Hi, Chris Shields?"
"Uhm, yea."
"I'm Bobby McVeigh, with WrestleTown up in Holston. We saw your tweet the other day, and I was wondering if you had some time to talk."
I looked him up and down for a few seconds, then to the woman with him. It was difficult to tell with the executive types, had some that were great and all about the fans and wrestling, then others who only cared about their own agenda. I guess I should at least figure out what kind he is.
"Sure."
I let them in, and started upstairs, wondering if maybe I was about to be presented with the opportunity I was about to go looking for.
