kingdom come act i: lead me home

Professional wrestling offers me nothing anymore.

Think about it. I've been around this industry since I was sixteen years old, setting things up for an indy promotion that gave me the basics. I turned pro at eighteen, busting my ass to learn everything and do everything. It wasn't until I was taken under the wing of a madman named Hal Snyder that my career truly took shape. I grew to be a monster, the next chapter of his legacy.

I tried things to mask it. I tried to be a long haired pretty boy with a penchant for bubblegum pop. When my best friend Michael Trey faked his death, I tried to be him.

It took me having to leave this sport for eight years to learn that professional wrestling had unleashed a monster in me. I bled for it and it left me angry and bitter. It ruined personal relationships and helped me forge new ones. The remnants of my life were left with my daughter at my side. We were a family of two after the death of my late wife, Helena.

Flash forward past my eight year exile. I have come back with a vengeance, nigh unstoppable. When I realized what eight years away had done to me, I decided it was time to give back to professional wrestling. With the funding of Rufus Frost and now Nicholas Gray, I opened EXODUS Pro Wrestling. I was never meant to be the money man, just the guy who handled the doors. This was supposed to be Shangri-La for the youth who needed a chance, the under appreciated, those who needed asylum from the bullshit of the sport. In its first year, it has gone from being a blip on the radar to a company on the lips of the most elite. Our roster contains so much talent, nobody knows who will win on any given night. My legacy won't be my six World Titles, my eleven Tag Team Titles, or the countless other accolades I've earned. My legacy will be EXODUS Pro and what I've done to help make this sport grow.

Unlike other veterans who search for reason to love this sport, I love it with all my heart. I'm trying to find inspiration to fight again. I leave for a match and I come home to my fiancee and daughter, and I hate the fact I leave them to begin with. Through my office job at EXODUS Pro, I take my family with me. Fiona is the ace of the company, one of the best. My daughter stays with me, her heart for this sport growing. I won't be able to stop her from taking this on.

If there's even an industry left for her to compete in, that is.

And that's why I'm here. This industry is choking itself out on mediocrity and its own filth. GDW used to be great, so Angela Jameson and Andreas Lasiewicz tell me. All I saw was its downfall, the poison and filth of Dan Herrera destroying everything. Now I have to finish the job he started.

I have to kill GDW if I'm ever going to save it for my friends. I can give it back to them and allow them to fix it. This was their home, only they can make it whole again. I'm just here to do the things they can't.

I love this sport. I love this industry and the people in it. So why is it that the end of the professional wrestling world is coming and I couldn't possibly care less?

11.25.13

He told Fiona it was for work. It was a rare occasion he had left her to her own devices. Lately, when Jonathan Daniel Collins had taken a match in his new career as a freelancer, he left his daughter at home. This one was special though, Madison being able to return to Nashville with him for reasons that were known to only him.

"Why'd we leave mom at home?" Madison asked, pulling her gaze from her 3DS to look up at her dad as he continued to look through one of his bags in the hotel room. Finally retrieving his laptop, he placed it on the room's desk and plugged in, starting to set up camp, so to say.

"Fiona isn't ready for this yet. Soon, yes. First, you and I have to track down an old friend," he told his daughter.

"Dad, there isn't anything in Tennessee except for that stupid promotion you left to form EXODUS," she replied, shrugging in a rather nonplussed manner.

"You'd be surprised what you can find when you look hard enough," he told her, giving her a grin as he checked a few emails quickly. There was much to consider at the moment, and he looked at his daughter, who was seemingly engrossed in the game she was playing.

"You know I did this for you, right?" he asked her.

"Did what?" she replied.

"I came back to this. You had wanted to see it so bad, I couldn't help but come back. You were so young, too young to almost remember my first tenure as a wrestler," he said quietly. "I did this for you."

Madison looked at him, blinking a couple of times before tilting her head to look at her dad. "Has it been worth it?" she asked.

"We met Fiona, didn't we?" he responded.

The young girl smiled.

"I guess it was," she said before coming over. "I remember...some. Uncle Drew, Uncle Trevor...I remember a redhead for a bit, she really liked us. I remember Uncle Alex...is he okay?" she asked, in reference to Alexander Ashton, one of Jon's oldest and dearest friends.

"Alex is fine. He's out there somewhere, I haven't heard from him in a couple of years. A lot of the good ones are gone, punkin. Ray Wilmott passed away, I heard Grady's not in good health either. The only one that still calls on occasion is Sean Sanders. We're not here for any of them. We're here for someone you definitely remember though," he told her.

"Who is it?" she asked.

He glanced at her, sighing softly before kissing her forehead.

"The same guy who almost took you away from me," he whispered.

"We found him?" she wondered. Her father nodded in response.

Madison Collins smiled. She had been waiting for this moment for over eight years.



11.25.13

The place, as Jonathan had expected, was off the beaten tracks. He had become professional wrestling's J.D. Salinger, a man who just wanted to be out of the public eye. It was a familiar and sympathetic story to Jonathan Collins, who managed to get out of the business and stay gone outside a brief spell in 2008. Driving the rental car up the driveway, Jonathan sighed as he looked down at his daughter, giving her a small nod.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, nodding.

"Stay in the car. If I need you, I'll wave you out," he said to her as he killed the engine and got out of the car. He didn't know what to expect, and as he walked to the door and knocked, he wasn't sure what he was going to see. Would he look just as he remembered him?

Would he look worse?

Hell, at this point, it was possible he could even look better. That's when the door swung open and there it was.

A confrontation almost nine years in the making.

"I always heard you were trying to lure me out," the man said.

"Listen, Ja--" Jon started before a hand came up.

"You know me better. It's the gimmick name or not at all," he said.

"This is about more than business," Jon told him, reaching his hand out to his old rival and friend.

"Business is still business. So we use our business name...Storm," the man known as White Phoenix said as he gave him a chuckle before pulling Jonathan Collins into a hug.

"You grew up to be a good kid, Jon. A real good kid. Now where's my niece?" he asked before Jon waved out to the car.

"You almost took her from me, asshole. Your little prank with Aaron and Tony is not something I've ever forgotten," Jon said through a whisper as Madison walked up.

"You almost killed a guy in the streets of Knoxville, you're not innocent either...but it's the past, right?" he asked while Madison approached the two of them. "Hey kiddo! It's been a long time."

"Uncle Phoenix!" she called out, giving the man a hug.

"Hey, Maddie! Good to see you again," he said, reaching down to hug the little girl, but naturally he needed help up.

"Your knees?" Jonathan asked.

"You could saw off from there below and I'd probably be just as functional sometimes," he laughed. "Well, I guess you two should come in. Let's get this talk underway," the older man said to them. White Phoenix was never one to beat around the bush, and Jonathan understood.

"I need you to come back to San Diego with me," he told the man, taking a step in and realizing that for all he had accomplished in life, his old rival was still far more accomplished.

"For what? Jimmy? He'll be fine," he said to Jonathan, leaving him to sigh as Jon took a seat and his daughter did as well next to him.

"No, for...okay, Jimmy too. I feel like despite what he's saying, Jimmy's lost some confidence in himself. That, and I need you to help mentor Fiona. I can't do it this time. As good as she is, she's got a bigger problem now. The Honor Cup is the first time she's going in as a favorite, and I don't think she knows what it's like to not be the underdog. She needs finishing school, so to say. Anything I do will only make it worse for her," he said. "I need your help."

"So you came all the way out here to ask me to do something I probably have no interest in doing?" Phoenix asked him. "That's a lot of time and money invested into going home empty handed."

"Don't kid me, Phoenix. I know you still watch this," Jon replied. "I know that despite all your best attempts to get wrestling out of your system, it's as much in you as it is in me. It's why I came back. You still think you've got it in you to do one more match, and I know you do too."

"What the hell gives you that idea?" he asked.

Jonathan reached into his pocket and produced a flier for a local show.

"You're doing meet and greets again. Your first one in seven years," he said.

"Son of a bitch," Phoenix mumbled.

"I personally recruit, okay? Don't act like you're surprised. You wanted to be found," Jon said in a rather accusing tone. "So what is it? Do you wanna watch this industry crumble, or do you wanna help me give back to the people you and I are leaving it in the hands of?"

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Jon," said Phoenix as he came closer, his agitation matching Jon's. "And this business is already dead. You got people who try to destroy feds when they hand in their walking papers, people who think that twenty years of being big fish in small ponds make their whole career and they have the right to judge you. People who get buy on being propped up by a promoter, stupid shit like that. This business is killing itself and you know it! It's nice to see you trying to do the right thing, but maybe it's time you opened your eyes. This isn't like our days, where we had places to travel and go to when we didn't like it. Options are drying up, Jon. Sooner or later, it's going to be two or three places or nowhere at all," he grumbled almost bitterly.

"Then help me save it," Jon implored. "We've got one last shot at saving this whole thing. It's never gonna be pretty, and it's not going to be painless. What it's going to be is worth it. You love this sport, and so do I. So if I gotta go freelance in every place that'll take me in, fix it, and move on, I will. They need us, Phoenix. They need people like us who remember the better days."

"THE BETTER DAYS ARE GONE!" he shouted at his friend, slapping Jonathan Collins in the face. "The sooner you remember that, the better off you'll be."

It was silent, and Madison glanced up from what she was doing. This was enough to be seen, and she could see that even through the respect, there was still animosity between the two old soldiers.

"There's no room for old men like us in this industry anymore," Phoenix grumbled.

"There's plenty of room if we make it. Now I'm gonna ask you one more time, Phoenix. Help me save this industry. Help me make it a better place than we left it. You once gave it some of its brightest stars. You once made careers. Come back to San Diego with me and help me make this all right," he said.

More silence. More tension. Madison didn't know if she should jump to the car or try to say something to help break it.

"Do it, because you have that fire in you still," Jon said.

"Get out. Just get out," Phoenix implored, Jonathan looking at him and giving him a silent nod. Jonathan knew there was nothing else to say, leaving him to just walk off, quietly thinking the whole time.

"I answered once, Phoenix. Don't expect me to answer again," he said as he motioned for his daughter to come with. A shake of his head and both he and his daughter were off and on their way.

"One condition then," the older man called out. Jonathan turned his head and Jonathan saw Phoenix approach him with a business card and envelope.

"You sort your business out with this guy. He's been asking me for the better part of three years to track YOU down. Not like you've been hard to find the past few months, but...you get it," James said as he gave the items to Jon. "Go on. I'll probably see you sooner than you think."

Jonathan looked at his daughter as the two of them made way to the rental car, Madison looking up at her father as he sat in the driver's seat, surprised that he seemed almost stunned.

"Who's looking for you?" she asked.

"Don't you worry about it, punkin. Let's get some food and go back to the hotel," he said. Handing her the papers, he just stayed quiet and went about his business driving, leaving the nosy daughter to look down on the business card to find one name.

James Sexton.



Hey there, GDW, remember me?

See, I feel like you all have selective memory. Just because I didn't make my name here, or decide I wanted to work every show you have, you have this idea that Angela Jameson pulled some schmuck off the corner to win the GDW Tag Team Titles. The reality is that I've been here and I personally saw fit to tap out half your roster with the help of Gabriel Gambino. Then I went and beat CJ Osborne and whoever else you put in front of me. The only reason I don't stand before you still one half of the tag team champions is because I decided to take a night off.

Well now I'm here to work and I want back what belongs to me.

They call it an Apocalypse match. They say no one has ever left it without an injury. I say that I couldn't give a shit, I've already got a broken hand. That's pretty much all I have to say about that.

Now let's get down to business, okay? GDW is dead. I know what you're thinking, it's typical jerk nonsense for a guy like me to come to your company and make threats against it, but I've been in this business for fifteen years. I know when a promotion is dead or dying. I have seen this happen too many times to not call it when I see it. I blame management, poor hiring practices, and people just don't seem to give a damn.

That being said, I'm here to destroy what's become a sinkhole. Once I do that, then the healing can begin.

I'm going to tell you a little story, okay? I once met a guy named Andreas Lasiewicz, maybe you've heard of him. We're talking over a dinner meeting, and he talks to me about a place called GDW. He swears up and down it's the best company in the industry, and even if I have my skepticism, I give him the benefit of the doubt. So I start watching and I start buying into this company. I start buying in so much that when The Godfathers of Wrestling have an opportunity to become active members of the roster, I get right into it. In one night, Gabriel Gambino and myself pick apart so many members of this roster, some would consider it one of the best debuts in the history of the company. Of course, Dan Herrera shows his true colors, and the whole thing's been a fruitless endeavor ever since. It's time to shut this place down and fix it from the inside and out. That being said, when it comes to culling cancer from a company, nobody's better at it than EXODUS Pro.

Why do you think Angela chose me for her partner?

So there's three other teams in this, and I'm not sure I can be fussed to care. Considering how shallow the talent pool has become for us to still consider Mya Denton a challenger, I just give up on this whole fucking thing. First off, we've got Golden Death. I'd like to say it's a cool name, but it sounds like it's just something slapped together to make the two people make sense. That being said, it's probably the team that worries me the least.

I'm trying to find a reason to find Arcadia Chavez and Alexander Midas a threat, but I can't seem to find a reason to think so. They talk great games, and Arcadia may have this thing where she's got some cannibalistic tendencies, but it's hardly anything that concerns me. I want to believe that this team has what it takes, but I don't find myself concerned about anything. Besides, I've got the best partner I could ask for in this match. I don't have to be concerned about whether or not they're going to attempt to turn one of my opponents into dinner. She's gonna show up, that's all I need.

We've chatted on Twitter, Arcadia. If it wasn't for the psychosis, you'd probably be a pretty fair lady to speak to. Alexander? Well he just happens to come off like a little troll. I really have no deal with either of you two, nor do I particularly care. The reality is that in the end, you're an obstacle. Obstacles are overcome, that's just the nature of the beast. So it's great that you guys have developed this relationship, I'll go win these GDW Tag Team Titles while you two cultivate whatever it is you're doing. The truth is, as good as you guys might be, you're about to find out what seventeen years of experience and wisdom will do for a guy like me. Just two weeks ago, I proved that even with one hand, I'm still better than most of the wrestlers in the world today. I might as well go ahead and keep up that pace. Good luck, because you're going to need it when you step into the ring with a bastard like me.

Alexander, I've seen you around, and I gotta be honest. Besides looking like a complete and total troll, I don't know much about you. The plus side is that you probably don't know much about me either, which puts neither of us at an advantage. That's where veteran savvy kicks in, bud. I don't need to know you, I just need to size you up. It's a gift and a curse, really, when you can look at a guy and know what works for them and what doesn't. The truth is, I just can't see you beating me in any scenario. Maybe it's overconfidence, maybe it's the fact that you're fucking stupid for thinking you can manipulate someone like you're doing Arcadia. See, I've played that game too, and it never ends well. The person you're playing smartens up eventually, and what are you going to do when your flesh eating sweetheart decides you're on the menu? Personally, I'm going to be the first one handing her ketchup. You probably taste a little bitter from my point of view.

The next group we've got is High Voltage. Hey, that's a thing. How you guys doing? Do you like being cannon fodder? Or, if I'd like to make a nerdy reference, how you like being red shirts? See, I have no idea who you are, and you're so low on my priority list, I'm not even going to try to search you guys. I've decided I want to call you Steve and Eddie. You can decide which one is which.

So maybe you're great, Steve. Hell, maybe Eddie's better. I don't know you two from a hole in the ground. What I do know is that I'm not leaving this thing empty handed. I'm going into this, because I'm going to do GDW a favor. Maybe you two are young guns that are trying to make a name for yourself. I don't care what you are, really, I have a job to do and I have no intention of letting two guys who seem too much like duplicates of people I've probably seen before to let me get stopped. The reality is that when you make an omelette, you need to break a few eggs, and two guys named Steve and Eddie seem like just the type to be broken. When you're down, out, and unable to stop Angela and myself from taking what's rightfully ours, you're going to thank us. Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll fit in with the new GDW her and I are planning.

So Steve, Eddie, I hope you guys aren't too comfortable. It's really cool that you guys have tried to make your name at this point in time, but it's over. You guys had your fun, but mom and dad are home and we're ready to put an end to your crazy little games. Thank us later when we've fixed GDW and made it a better place for working.

And that brings us to Trinity. See, I know one of you, and that's Glory Braddock. Mark O'Brian I'm vaguely familiar with, but mostly because two weeks ago, you and your sister Sophie tried to win the GFC Invitational. You know, the same one that had Chandler Scott in it? Wait, who was Chandler's partner? Why, I do believe that was me! And who won that tournament? HOLY SHIT, IT WAS JONATHAN COLLINS AND CHANDLER SCOTT! It's like I'm good at this tag team wrestling thing! See, I turned around and told the world I had a declaration of intent that night. I told people I was coming after Sophie O'Brian and her GDW World Title when this was over. When I've left her friend and her brother in pieces, she'll have no choice. See, her number one contender? I've beaten Samantha Raine. I choked her out like she was nothing. She was no competition to me, and when I prove that GDW has nobody in their arsenal to stop me, they won't be able to deny me. Once I've collected the Tag Team Titles and the World Title, I can start the healing process.

Mark, maybe you're the brawn of the operation, because I'm pretty sure Glory is the brains. If she is, maybe it's time she tells you guys that you're in for a world of hurt, but more importantly...you're facing the one team that can defeat the rest of you and make it look easy. You guys may triple team us, and that's fine. You guys might do whatever is in your power to stop us, and that's fine too. What you can't do is put us down. You can't destroy what's stronger, and that's what sets us apart. That's why we have that little hashtag of ours.

You guys probably think it's cute.

You probably think we're doing it to be assholes. Truth be told, that's part of it.

Veteran Status means that we're high on the pecking order. When the rubber hits the road, we're the duo who can do it all. You can try as you might, but there isn't a thing you can do to stop us. We're the real deal, and you can hate us all you want for laying claim to the victory, but you will have to respect that at the end of the day, it'll be us holding the gold.

You can despise us for our mission. You can loathe us for thinking low of you, but you will respect us at the end of the day.

The truth is simple, everyone. You might think this is a race to be the greatest, but it's not. Angela and I have one bit of knowledge, and that's all that matters. The truth is, even if this is our first time teaming up, we don't have to be the best tag team.

We just have to be better than you. Considering what's in front of us, that shouldn't be too difficult at all.