Man in the Mirror

There was no rest for the wicked.

GRENDEL and myself had destroyed Ryuji and Black, reclaimed the status of Tag Team Champions and within moments, we destroyed the tag team division leaving it in a heap of destroyed gold and leather in the middle of the ring back in Tokyo.

And now there were bigger things to accomplish than just achieve status and trinkets.

There were people who continued to doubt and criticise who I am and with the my abilities.. So once again, I found my Sunday being filled with the likes of a heavy weight lifting regime and interval cardio training to keep the pulse up...to keep the blood flowing...to keep the breathe in my lungs.

Because it wasn’t enough to just beat Kane.

I was going to set an example.

I was going to make a statement.

I was going to set a new standard.

My chest heaved up and down with a quicken breathe as I stood in front of the full length mirror with the Olympic regulated at my feet with three rubber 45 pound weight on each side as I finished the third set of power clinches. Looking down at chalk covered palms for a moment before looking up at my reflection in the mirror, the gray t-shirt fitted to my large frame from the copious amount of perspiration that poured from my body. A thin sheen of stubble covered my jaw as my braided hair had started to become a bit matted down and unkempt, something really out of character for me.

But yet this was what the cameras didn't see.

This was what the rest of the EXODUS didn't see...but they needed to.

This is what Twitter didn’t capture.

This wasn’t supposed to be pretty. This wasn't supposed to glamorous.

This was dirty. This was work. This was what won Championships…

...and this is what set me apart from the rest of the pack.

This is why I was continued to make a name for myself and continued to raise the bar week after week.

“You're still here?” a voice called out behind me. Looking into the reflection, I saw him behind me as I smiled slightly. Shaking my head I turned around to see my older brother, Darius Reed, stepping into the weight room, dropping his black Nike duffel bag near the row of free weights and taking a seat on the padded bench as he opened his bag to grab his black cloth wrist stabilizers and slowly wrapping them around his wrists slowly.

“Been here since six in the morning.” I said facing back towards the mirror before looking down at the weight sitting at my feet.

“Don't you have a lady at home or something?”

I chuckle and nod my head. “Yeah, I do. But she knows what I gotta do...I make my sacrifices so they I can provide down the road. But right now, when it comes to Kane...when it comes to Andreas...I’m trying to do something that everyone else is too scared or too blind to see or do. Call out the big dogs on their terms and beat ‘em at their own game.”

“So that’s what that was all about? As if you didn’t have your hands full with Kane?” he said rather casually.

“There’s a method to my madness with that but I’m surprised to see that you even care.”

“I don't. How you handle your career in EXODUS is your business. I’m just making conversation before my workout begins before my own match. Speaking of which are you almost done...I have a long day in front of me.”

“No, I'm not done...just like you. I got a long day ahead of me...you're more than welcome to join in.”

Squatting down, I grab the bar and with a grunt and bring it up to my thighs and with a quick shrug of the shoulders, I pull the weight up and snap it underneath my hands, bringing the bar to the top of my chest before jumping back and dropping the weight with a large thud as it bounces against the hard rubber floor. Quickly grabbing the weight again, I repeated the motion several times, before leaning over his placed my chalk covered hands onto my knees feeling the intense session of weights start to finally catch up to me.

“Pushing yourself a little hard for Kane, aren't you?” Darius said as he stood next to me and slowly began to pull the weight from the bar, racking them accordingly.

“Have to.”

“...let me guess because you think Christian is doing the same thing?”

I shake my head slowly, watching a drop of sweat run down the bridge of my nose to the floor below.

“No...because it's what I have to do. I don't give a damn about what Kane is doing to prepare, I need to make sure that I'm prepared for anything and everything. Working to the burn is one thing...working -past- the burn is everything. Making sure that I can take everything that Chris can possibly throw at me and then some. And when he's all done...I want to be able to smile at him...bloodied...broken...beaten...but still standing. And when it happens, it'll be mine turn and I promise you Christian isn't ready for what I have in store for him.”

“Find your limits, little brother. Find your limits and once you've found them...push through them. Break down those walls so that no matter who you face they'll never know what it'll take to get you to breaking point but you'll know that there isn't a soul out there who can go longer or harder than you.”

Racking the rest of the weight, I gave Darius a nod of appreciation as I stood to my full height, wiping the excess chalk from my hands in small white puff of smoke.

“I'll admit it, Aries...I never seen anyone push themselves as hard as you do in EXODUS. To be honest, you've done enough around here to sit back and watch the royalty checks come rolling in.”

Even at 25 years, I was in the best shape since my college days...but yet with only five years in the business feeling the aches and pain were becoming a bit more prevalent.

“This isn't what it's about. I could easily phone this in without batting an eyelash and win or lose no one would think any different. But I would...and I can't have that. Being great is the easy part...maintaining greatness is where most people fail. Being better than the other guy is something we all want to achieve but being greater than the rest...”

“...that's the trick, Darius.”


[REC]

Melody Torres huffs as she shakes her head slowly as a playful smile spreads over her thin lips. The cut ‘#TEAMREED’ t-shirt wraps around her, revealing the tone mid-rift underneath as she looks off to her left, tilting her head softly. The soft sea breeze off of the Pacific Ocean gently wisks through her dark hair as she shakes his head slowly at Aries who sits off screen.

"Come on, baby...do I really have read these things? I have finished braiding your hair."

Off screen Aries hands her a small white index card as she can’t help but chuckle softly, knowing what he was trying to pull.

"Yeah, yeah you do. And besides you’re going to finish while I do this."

"Where's that white boy that you usually harass to read 'em?"

"He's not here, so its next man up or in this case...the next Puerto Rican up, so hush up with the back talk and gets to' readin'."

"Fine..."

Melody rolls her eyes as a soft smile forms at the corner of her lips. She looks down at the card as she cocks her hips to the side, placing a hand on her waist before looking up at the camera letting her piercing brown eyes stare through.

"The following is a Blackest Sun Production. The ideas and views discussed are not those of EXODUS PRO or any of its affiliates..."

Aries hands her another index card from off screen.

"...because they are so scared of the FCC or too pussy to let me have my say in television despite the fact that I have never crossed the line in a way that has caused the company any loss financially. So ladies and gentlemen, butter up those earholes because Aries Reed is about fuck 'em raw with deep, long strokes."

One more card, Melody smiles and looks over at Aries as a giggle passes her lips.

"Viewer discretion is advised."

Fanning the three index cards for a moment, she turns to her left and walks as the camera follows her. Making her way towards Aries Reed, who sits on the front steps of the apartment, she steps behind him, running a soft hand over his shoulders as he looks up at her with a smile on his lips. His black hair is half braided with the other half still in a large afro as Melody begins to braid his hair with expert fingers.

“You pasty bastards miss me?”

Letting it hang in the air for a moment, Aries’ smiles grows large as he holds his arms out for them all to embrace him.

“You know you did, don’t even try to lie to yourselves. Week in and week out, you all come in waiting for this moment because honestly, despite the fact that you all want to hate my guts…”

“...you all love to hear what I have to say next.”

“It’s the reason why I can operate with damn near immunity within EXODUS, it’s the reason why I can pretty much operate censor free without GInny bitching at me, or for that matter Collins flappin those gums and throwing out idle threats.”

“But, I can talk about the brass in EXODUS all day, I can talk about the support staff in EXODUS all day for that matter…”

“...but my manager in Bryan Cade made me promise that I would do no such thing.”

His smile fades from his lips as he points into the camera.

“So you assholes in back, lucked up.”

“But Christian Kane...not so much.”

“There are those who want to think that we are just alike...that we are two side of the same coin.”

“But, Chris, the thing is this…”

He turns his head to right, having a hard time in wanting to explain the most obvious difference between the two of them.

“...I’m better than you.”

“In every sense of the word.”

“There I said it…”

“In the span of 15 months, I’ve been more successful, I’ve been more talked about, become a more polarizing figure that you have all of your short stints in EXODUS combined. And while you want to think I’m just a ‘student’, I’ve become things in EXODUS that you’ve been struggling just to do since you first walked in here.”

“I’m a two-time EXODUS champion.”

“One of the hottest rising stars in this business.”

“I’m what you wished you could be, but instead you’re content with being a Twitter personality expecting things just to fall in your lap and when they don’t…”

“...you’ll either just disappear into nothingness or into a bottle.”

“Honestly, either way is fine with me.”

“You’re coming off of losing your International TItle to Justin Brooks and while you want to blame your former cum-dump of screwing you over, when you look at the record books, all it’s going to show that Justin Brooks pinned Christian Kane in the middle of the ring. Make all the excuses you want but you are the one who let his side piece fuck him over. It was you who couldn’t get your bitch under control, it was you who couldn’t keep it in your pants…”

“...it was you who lost.”

“And pretty soon, you’re going to lose again.”

“But this time there aren’t going to be any excuses, there aren’t going to be anyone else to blame, it’s just going to be Aries Reed kicking the shit out of Christian Kane, the handsome drifter, who in the end is nothing more but a pretty face with fading talent.”

“And the minute the spotlight is taken from poor Christian Kane, he is gonna throw a bitch-fit and can’t handle it.”

“But it’s quite alright, Kane…”

“...you can be just like everyone else and hate me, despise me, be disgusted by me...it’s all good because for the past 15 months, I’ve come to accept it and I’ve learned to embrace it.”

“Because it’s people like you that make me better.”

“It’s people like you who makes me strive to do bigger things.”

“It’s people like you that makes me want to come into the ring shut ‘em all down.”

“And it’s going to be people like you, who I can thank when I’m standing on top of the EXODUS Mountain with the World Title around my waist. Because it’s people like you that create men like me.”

“...that create superstars like me.”

“Creating men who take all that hate, all that doubt, all the criticism...and spin it into pure gold.”

“You struggle to hold onto that small sliver of relevancy in EXODUS and stand across the ring from the man who holds the majority stake of it. And while masses want to think that I don’t have a shot against you, they let their own personal bias stand in the way and forget the talent and deny my skills because they don’t want to see the likes of Aries Reed make it to that level.”

“...you know, the level Justin Brooks…”

“...you know, the level of Chris Strike…”

“Then again, if I wanted to get a shot at the World Title, all I have to do is just pull of a ‘Christian Kane’.”

There’s a moment of silence as the look of shock spreads over his face. Melody continues to braid his black hair with talented fingers as she tilts his head to side.

“Oh!”

“What is ‘pulling a Christian Kane’, you ask?”

Aries smiles softly and nods his head gently, he glances up at Melody who only shrugs her shoulders softly.

“I haven’t the slightest idea, babe.”

“Well, allow me to explain for you and the mindless peons watching at home.”

“All I have to do is lose in some sort of embarrassing fashion, maybe I’ll have Melody here hit in the face with a chair or something…”

Looking over his shoulder, Aries smiles back at Melody who only rolls her eyes and shrugs her shoulders softly.

“...and then all I have to do is come out when Strike finished kicking someone’s ass and just standing there and point!”

“It’s fuckin’ genius!”

“I mean who gives a shit that I have barely accomplished anything to warrant a title shot, who gives a damn that in the past several months, I’ve haven’t done anything worth mentioning at all? Who gives a flying shit that only a few weeks ago I was bitching and complaining about getting paid more money?”

“It makes Johnny Cannon look like...well...Johnny Cannon!”

“Extreme visions of grandeur, Kane.”

“But it’s going to hard to make a case for being a number one contender when have to explain how you lost to Aries Reed, because if you think that just because this is going to be some sort of walk in the park, then maybe you need Venus to smack you in the fact again because, Chris, I’m going to make sure than even in defeat...I still win.”

“I’m going to make that Handsome Drifter uglier than ever.”

“I’m going to take the only redeeming quality about you and take it from you.”

“You want to beat me, you want to take the Blackest Sun of Exodus to task?”

“Well, I’m going to make you earn that right because honestly, Kane, you’re supposed to be ‘upstarts’ like me. You’re supposed to teach guys like me a lesson...Christian beating Aries Reed is supposed to be a foregone conclusion.”

“But we both know it’s far from that…”


#Wrestling…for the hardcore of the hardcore…now back to Asher and Clyde…The Squared Circle!#

I sat in a small room with a set of headphones over my ears, across from two men, conveniently named Asher and Clyde. A set two of two wrestling talk radio yahoos who were broadcasting statewide reaching the majority of Southern California wrestling fans for about two-hours or whatever their time slot allotted for. Both men, kept it simple, wearing t-shirt and jeans as they adjusted knobs or the microphone in front of them.

“And we’re back! Live on the podcast and as we promised for those in the Bay…you called, you petitioned, you cried…you bitched and moaned…and here you go. We have your own EXODUS PRO Tag Team Champion...Aries Reed” Asher smiled as he looked over at me and nodded his head. “Aries…go ahead and give a holler.”

“What's going on, fellas?” I said sitting back casually into the chair.

“Okay, Aries…it seems that as of late there has been quite a lot of noise coming from the EXODUS, believe it or not there is a lot of commotion going on and it seems that you are the hottest thing coming out of there since…well…since ever. Now last week, you and your partner captured the Tag Team Titles for the second time...only to literally destroy the things in front of everyone back in Japan Now we have some calls on the line and if you want, I’m sure that if you want we can get to some…”

I simply nodded my head. “Yeah, we can get to some calls, but you know before you do that, I got something to say.”

Asher looked over at Clyde who simply nodded his head. “Well…please, go ahead…the mic is yours.”

“Since I've come into EXODUS everyone needless to say has an opinion about Aries Reed. And frankly, I couldn't give..."

Sitting back slightly I look over at the two men and arch a brow.

"...this is the internet, so I'm damn near uncensored right?"

Clyde smiles and nods his head. "Yeah, Aries...go for it."

"Fantastic, anyway...I couldn't really give a fuck about what anyone thinks about me as a person, because I'm not here to make friends. This is a business, not some goddamn softball team...and just because half of EXODUS is on Twitter, complaining and bitching about who they are fucking or about whatever the hell those white people want to talk about...everyone has a voice. But you know the problem with everyone having a voice is the fact that when it comes down to it, no one wants to back it up. No one wants to step up to the plate, no one wants to actually get their hands dirty anymore. People want to look at me and think that just because I'm rather 'vocal' that I'm labeled an asshole around here. But what they don't want to say is when I step into a ring, I'm as good as gold. They don't want to see me succeed because they know what it means."

Asher simply shrugs his shoulders. “You won't shut up about it?"

“You goddamn right. They know that I won't let them forget it...you cross Aries Reed, you doubt Aries Reed, you criticise Aries Reed, I'll spend every waking moment in my life making you eat those words and you will never make that same mistake twice."

Asher smiles and nods his head. “And those are some heated words…but let’s take some calls…” Clyde works the phone boards as he points towards Asher.

“And you are on LIVE with Aries Reed…what’s on your mind?”

“…Uh yeah…Aries, man, I wanna tell you, I’ve been a fan of yours since you first came into REVO Wrestling. You had that X-Factor about you that really sets you apart.”

I couldn't help but chuckle as past memories flooded my mind. “Man…I appreciate it. And they say Aries Reed doesn't have any fans.”

“My question is about Christian Kane...you two are scheduled to link up, what does beating Christian Kane mean to you?"

"Oh, good question." Clyde chimes in.

“What does beating Christian Kane mean to me?"

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I leaned into the microphone.

"Beating Kane doesn't mean anything to me. Frankly, beat Kane does nothing for me because honestly Christian Kane is nothing more but a waste of talent and space, I'd rather see Mason Joseph or Ambrosia than Christian Kane. People are rooting for Kane because he's the lesser of two evils. People root for Kane because he's stepping into the ring with me, if it was anyone else...they'd be booing the shit out of him. Beating Kane is something that I'm supposed to do because, if I don't beat him...he's going to beat me, I refuse to let that happen. Are you rooting for Kane?"

"I mean, I'm a fan of yours but I mean Kane is..."

"Yeah, well what the fuck do you know? Next caller."

Asher disconnects the call only to connect yet another.

“You’re on the air with the Blackest Sun of Exodus, Aries Reed. Speak on it!”

“Aries…you know I don’t get you, you talk a big game but you know what, I can understand the shock gimmick and everything, but you need to have some respect about yourself in this business and personally I hope that when Kane steps into the ring with you next wipes the ring with you.”

I could only chuckle as I rub my chin. “You know…you’re entitled to your opinion and haters gonna hate, but before you want to run off at the mouth, how about you think about it for a moment. Wulf Erikssen wanted a shot…I gave him one, hell I gave him two chances at it and I pinned his ass in the middle of the ring. I've beaten him so much that he changed his damn name. So, I'll go ahead and entertain the notion, if you could have someone teach me 'respect' who would it be?"

“Andreas Lasiewicz.”, the caller responds.

“Andreas. Lasiewicz. Are you fuckin' serious?”

Asher interjects. “Well...you did call him out on Twitter about a week ago.”

“You damn right I did, because you know why?”

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm tired of the status quo. I'm tired of watching guys like Andreas of Fiona for that matter come around every so often as if they are fuckin' untouchable around here. They show up and people lose their goddamn minds as if the sun rises and sets off of their ass. So I'm going to put them all on notice...everyone wants to think that I'm a dead man, but they don't even know the half of it."

“Well as it seems that Andreas wants to be the one to beat some respect into you..”, Asher continues on as he disconnects the call.

“Yeah, so I've heard. Apparently, that's what it takes nowadays is basically get in front of the camera and say that you got next like it's a game of pick-up basketball. Everyone wants to challenge for the Heavyweight crown but no one wants to put in the work to get there and no one wants to put in the sweat and tears it takes to get to that place of legitimacy. Lasie wants to rumble, I'll give him the chance to rumble. I beat his ass and send him back to Heather...not in a wheelchair but in a goddamn casket.”

Asher nods. “Well Aries, I know your time is precious…but we got time for one more call, you down?"

"Yeah man...fuck it, why not?"

"Caller, you're in the Squared Circle with Aries Reed."

"Hell yeah, man! What I wanna know is, if Jimmy cracked corn, would Aries care?"

There's an awkward silence in the studio as Aries looks between both Archer and Clyde. "What in the actual fuck?"

Archer sighs and immediately disconnects the call as Clyde only shakes his head. "Sorry about that, every once and a while one of the crazies slides through. But, I know you have a lot things to get taken care of before you step into the ring this weekend…any parting words?”

“Yeah…I got some parting words. Everyone is quick to say this and everyone is quick to say that about Aries Reed. But no one no one is willing to step into the ring and back it up. Everyone wants the attention but no one wants to do anything with it. If you want to step into my face, don’t be surprised when I put you on your back. Christian Kane…I'm gonna kick his ass to such a extent that you think Venus was railing him again.…and when I'm done with him, I'm going to step into the ring with Lasiewicz and teach him that the changing of the guard is now."

“Ladies and Gentlemen…the Blackest Sun of EXODUS...Aries Reed.

“You're welcome, white people.”