REUNITED

[Roger Wright]

REUNITED

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that we all take for granted, we never slow down and stop to just enjoy what is truly around us. In just a few hours my flight for Shanghai takes off, but I couldn’t but sit on this bench here in a beautiful spacious park in Italy. Now I have your company, and you too can enjoy the fresh air, the birds, and soft breezes. All of it truly assaults every one of your senses, it’s amazing, and it’s beautiful.

Before you go off thinking I’ve lost my mind over what happened on the sixth anniversary show, I want you to take a deep breath and really just let your mind relax. Feel’s amazing right? Just a few more breaths, breathe in…and out. Man it’s so refreshing and almost…almost cleansing. Man I love that feeling, it’s like I’m free, free to enjoy the beauty of the world and appreciate everything that it has to offer.

But sadly we have to talk about last week, because even the beauty of this park, the relaxation it instills in me, can’t prevent the few things on my chest from taking over. So let’s get them off my chest, and let’s start with the sixth anniversary show. Ryan Pugh is still the N.E.W. World Champion, and good for him. That title means everything to the man, its damn near his reason for being, but his blind desire for that title allowed him to make a mockery of himself, he sold his soul for it.

Now I know what you are thinking, Roger you just feel bad for yourself, but truth be told I don’t. I went into that show with one goal, and I accomplished that goal. See Pugh has the title, but I pinned him, one…two…three! Every single fan watched as Jim Floss dropped down and made that count, Pugh was beaten, no excuses. What came next was what anyone who has even known Ryan Pugh, will ever Know Ryan Pugh, or has ever seen him before, should have expected.

We can all say Ryan Pugh cheated, or he paid someone off, reality is he did what he had to do to keep the N.E.W. World title around his waist. I guess that’s what a man has to do when he is pinned by a nobody, a never was, a force fed fallacy like myself. See Ryan Pugh had to save some face, losing to a man he said he could beat 100 out of 100 times, well that’s just damn embarrassing, and if that was going to happen then he had to make sure he walked out champion.

But you, every other fan, everyone that watched the damn show saw what happened. Ryan Pugh got beaten, got pinned by a never was. The washed up Roger Wright, the man who couldn’t win a big match, whose time had passed, beat the man at the top of the mountain, and that man couldn’t take it. My brother used to always talk about fear, and how it drives a man, Ryan Pugh’s actions on the sixth anniversary show are a prime example of how fear can cripple a man to his core, and allow him to destroy himself.

So you ask do I feel sorry for myself. No, I feel sorry for Ryan Pugh. A once proud man, a man whom fans could believe in allowed himself to be destroyed by his own ego, his own selfish pride. He may have taken the N.E.W. World title, but he didn’t take the victory, he didn’t take my moment when I rolled off of him and I, along with everyone else knew I had beaten him.

But Ryan Pugh wasn’t the first man to disgrace himself on the sixth anniversary show. That honor goes to Adrien Specter. So mentally ravaged by his own failings, the man resorted to stealing the Youngblood title from PKA. Now that’s a man I feel bad for, PKA. He went through one hell of a match and emerged as the Youngblood champion, the bell rang and everything, only to have some jack ass rush out from the crowd and steal the damn thing. Specter couldn’t even let PKA have one damn moment in the sun with the title.

You want to talk about supreme cowardice, there it is completely incarnate. Pugh has done a lot for this company since he took over, but mostly he has hired talent that will be like him, listen to him, bow to him and clearly Adrien Specter has learned from him. Which leads to the almost too coincidental booking of Ignite 190. I can see Pugh now saying it. ‘Why not take the two guys whom I have wronged, by my own doing, or the doing of a man I just rehired and put them into a match together?’

Enter Champion vs. Champion. That’s right PKA who doesn’t even have a title but is champion, versus Roger Wright. I suppose the match makes sense in some world, in some train of thought. Maybe Pugh hopes I’ll lose and the world will forget about what happened to him and they will focus on PKA and what happened to him. It’s a sound idea, a solid plan, and maybe PKA will win, and what a boost to that man’s career, the man who pinned the man who beat the world champion just the week before.

Or as is most likely, I will win but I will shake the young man’s hand after the match and tell him to get what is his. Because that man is not my enemy, that man has done nothing but be a victim, a victim of the same man who is systematically destroying his own legacy! But enough about Pugh, enough about the Sixth anniversary show, let’s talk about last night, oh man what a night.

You don’t pin a world champion without there being some kind of celebration afterwards. Now I spent a night in the hospital and then had to have some down time afterwards but last night the party was on! Yesterday morning I awoke to find a letter under my door, and with great interest I read this letter, it outlined the plans for the night but the planner decided to remain anonymous. This had my interest thoroughly peaked.

So like anyone else I took a shower, slipped into some jeans, tossed on a t-shirt and put the X-Core title around my waist. The night was young seeing as I had slept the day away. Yet people were everywhere, the parties were just beginning and I was ready to partake. The letter told me to first visit a small bar on the west end of the city, there I found a great group of N.E.W. fans who toasted my win over Ryan Pugh, most of them saddened that I didn’t get the title, but that didn’t discourage them from taking pictures with me and my X-Core title.

From there I set off to the east end of town where I found another group of N.E.W. Fans whom just like those before seemed to enjoy drinking and taking pictures with myself and the X-Core title. The night was still young, I was pretty damn drunk by this point but there was still one stop to go, and that was the pub on the south end of town. This is where things got a little bit crazy.

As with the previous two I expected to enter the bar and find myself surrounded by N.E.W. fans, what I found shocked the hell out of me. There were fans, and those fans went crazy when I showed up, but it was the man sitting in the middle of the bar that caught me off guard. Years had passed since last we had talked, hell since last we had seen each other, and there he sat smile on his face.

“You going to just stand there with a blank look on your face brother?” He asked wearing a big shit eating grin. Part of me wanted to just stand there with a look of shock, another wanted to run over and hug the man, but something prevented me from doing both and like an idiot and I half stumbled when I took a step forward.

“I thought…” My words trailed off because in that moment I didn’t know what the hell I thought.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you thought I had just disappeared and was gone. Come give me a hug brother!” His arms flew open and we embraced in the middle of the bar, the crowd cheering hard.

“Get these men each a beer!” One man yelled. And they did, we were seated at a large wooden table, a group of fans all around us ready to listen in to our conversation. Because let’s be honest, it’s not every day that Roger Wright, and Matthew Carter sit down at a table and have a few beers.

“I see you got my message.” Matthew said with a large grin on his face. He looked good, probably in the best shape of his life. For the first time he looked like he was at peace, not filled with the inner strife that had once plagued his life, that had led him to leave the N.E.W. so many years ago.

“You look good brother, and yes I got the message and am more than surprised to see that it was you who set this whole thing up.” There were no truer words that I have could said. For the longest time Matthew had hated me, but before he left the N.E.W. we had managed to repair our bond, we had become the brother we once were long before our parents had died. Something that we both knew they would be proud of.

“I watched you the other night, to be honest I have watched you ever since I left the N.E.W. and for the first time I saw you, the man that you were, and the man that you are. It’s about time I have my brother back.” Matthew raised his glass and we clanged them together both sucking down the cold beer with smiles on our faces.

“It has been a long road and I made some bad turns, but I think things have come full circle.” I finished of the drink and before I could order another the glass was full. I pulled off the X-Core title and set it on the table, the fans around us reached to touch it, and I let them all take pictures with it. All the while my brother and I sat there silent just drinking and watching the men have fun. They all held the title like champions and took pictures, memories they would no doubt never forget.

“go ahead and ask?” Like always my brother got right to the point, never a man to just beat around the bush.

“You coming back?” It was the question that I had asked myself the moment I saw him. It wasn’t a question of just returning to the N.E.W. but a question of his actually coming back. Would he come back to Texas, help on the ranch, be the brother that he used to be.

“Yes. Yes to every variation of that question. I can’t sit back anymore and just watch people like EVO just impose their unjust will on everyone. You remember what dad used to say don’t you?” I nodded my head. “It was his favorite quote. ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’ Now I don’t know that we are good men Roger, but I will not sit back and do nothing.” Slowly Matthew stood up and raised his glass. I followed suit. “Good man, or bad man, I will stand up against the tyranny in the N.E.W. alongside of you brother!”

We clanged glasses and finished off our drinks, the fans in the pub all cheering loudly. Slowly we sat back down and Matthew leaned in. “PKA has potential you know. This match was for him Roger, a smoke screen meant to take the focus off of Ryan. Don’t let that happen.” He winked at me and slapped me on the shoulder. “I’ll see you in Shanghai.” And with that he stood up and walked out of the bar.

It was a crazy night for sure, I came face to face with my brother, and found that the fire that burned in him was not burned out. No it burned hotter than before, only now he seemed to be in control of himself. Something in him had assuredly changed but the meeting with him was not all that happened that night. See as I walked home, in a crazy zig zag pattern as anyone too drunk to be out and about walks. I couldn’t help but think about PKA and what this match truly represented. It wasn’t a test for him, it was a test for me. Would I let my rage over the sixth anniversary match overcome me and destroy this young man?

Every fiber of my being said no, but deep down inside I knew Pugh wanted me to destroy the man and would do what he could to make it happen. But there on that walk, that’s when I made the decision to shake that man’s hand after the match. Win or lose I would not allow myself to be brought down by Ryan Pugh, I will stand against him and his tyranny, I will show the world what they already know, what they already saw once. Ryan Pugh is weak, he needs others to make himself seem strong.

So I walked happy for the first time in a long time and I reached my hotel room door and found a giant box. This giant box, it’s pretty damn big isn’t it. On this box there was a letter, and now I will read that letter to you.

Dear Roger Wright

We at the board of directors for the N.E.W. wish to express our deepest and sincerest apologies over what happened on the sixth anniversary show. We know not all wrongs can be righted. We have reviewed the match between you and Ryan Pugh and while we cannot overrule the final judgement of an N.E.W. hired official we can strive to fix things that are wrong with it. It is clear to us that you defeated Ryan Pugh on that night as evidenced by one official who called for the match to end after a three count you delivered. However the bell never rang and Ryan Pugh in turn defeated you with what we have determined was a fast three count delivered by another official.

Now we cannot strip Ryan Pugh of his world title, he is the N.E.W. World champion, we however do reserve the right to place Scott floss on indefinite leave from the N.E.W. and all officiating duties going further, and have reserved the right to make all hiring and firing decisions as it pertains to the staffing of N.E.W. officials.

We do however know this is of little help to you in your situation but we are doing all that we can as our powers are limited in certain areas. Enclosed you will find something that might brighten your spirits and make you feel just a little bit better inside. You earned it, and we want you to wear it with pride.

Sincerely,

N.E.W Board of Directors.

Quite the interesting letter is it not? They pretty much said hey we can’t help, but we want too. Nice to know someone actually cares about the injustice that Ryan Push is spreading around the N.E.W. isn’t it. Oh, you want to know what was in the box. This, that’s right an N.E.W. World Championship belt. I’m not sure what this means, they did say Ryan Pugh was champion, but now I have an N.E.W. World title too.