July 28, 2016
Littleton, Colorado
What exactly in the world had he gotten himself into?
Somebody much smarter than him could chalk it up to social media and easily make the most ridiculous demands when the phone call came to the point where this match wouldn’t even get made in the first place. In fact, Chris Strike had just gotten off the phone with a man who would do that and have the most smug grin from start to finish while doing so in Chuck Matthews. But the conversation over the phone that was spurred out of a whim and a Twitter answer to the challenge laid out by Dexter Jacobs for Insurgency Wrestling’s “Fallout” event at the nation’s capital appealed to the one thing that not even Chris Strike’s own smarts were enough to stop him.
His competitive streak.
Many people in the industry were eager to shy away from Dexter Jacobs just based on the man’s reputation if they could help it. Some were foolish to think they could put him down for good and thus, people like Ryan Apollos and Lani San Diego getting their heads caved in happened. But only a rare few were brave enough to know they were walking straight into an asskicking and still believe they’ve got enough to dish back as much as Dexter Jacobs could give them. Unlike most, Chris Strike had the fortune of witnessing those rare few who could do that and even gotten a small taste of it himself months ago when both Jacobs and he were in the SureShot Ladder Match for a briefcase that would give its winner a SCW Global Heavyweight Championship opportunity. Neither men made it out victorious, but they had enough time to exchange pleasantries inside of the squared circle…
Enough to where Chris Strike knew Dexter Jacobs would welcome this challenge with open arms.
He was retiring in less than five months now and the fact was, stepping into a company like Insurgency at least one time before hanging up the boots was going to be an extra feather he could add on to his cap and to the fifteen plus years of hanging around in this profession. Most people were always anxious to see where in the world wrestling would take them, but as a man who’s traveled every continent in the globe, Chris Strike took pride in also traveling and wrestling for companies that could carry their own weight and that could provide something special to those they brought in attendance. Insurgency Wrestling was one of the few stops he’d regretted not making the leap to step into when it initially closed…but with this revival, that was his chance to rectify that particular wrong.
Thus, in a month’s time, he would do just that…
To do it against the final IWF Undisputed Champion was just the icing on the top of the cake.
-----------------------------------------
“So, let’s talk shop, Dexter Jacobs.”
The screen lights up, showcasing the frame of the man known across the wrestling world as the “War Machine,” as Chris Strike blinks while sitting back on a chair, eyes glancing at the camera lens now filming his every move as he begins to speak up to the world about what brings him all the way to the Nationals Park visitors’ dugout that he’s currently sitting inside of, against a white wall and choosing to go without any kind of fanfare...
“Respect’s always been this weird two-way street that two people rarely tend to cross at the same time in pro wrestling. There are times you’ll hear a guy talk about respecting another before a match and then be anything but respectful once you’ve whooped their ass. There are times where it’s the complete opposite, where putting a beating on somebody makes you earn their respect. Sometimes, it’s mutual from start to finish. Other times, it gets earned at the very end of it all.
The respect I have for your abilities as a competitor is something that you can trace as far back as you want, Dexter Jacobs. It’s stayed the same, regardless of where you were at or where you are at now in your personal life. I’ve seen the wars you’ve gone through with some of the best around the globe, some of them which happened inside of that Insurgency ring that’s getting set up here at Nationals Park where you and I will finally get to do battle. One-on-one, no nonsense, no fickle management cutting their nose to spite their face just because you said a few mean things to a bunch of people. Just a wrestling match worthy of that main event spot with thousands in attendance hanging on every single second of it all…
It’s the kind of stuff I live for, Dex. So to be able to go against someone of your caliber at what many can consider to be your absolute best form right now, well, it’s going to be one of the biggest tests of my fifteen year long career. We’ve ran into each other at least once during the SureShot Ladder Match, but that was simply an appetizer compared to the main course that wrestling fans here in the D.C. area and across the globe are going to be getting. But for all the good that I’d like to speak on in regards to this match of ours, Dexter...well, with that in mind, I’m not going to be facetious about what I have to say next or try to sugarcoat it.
I don’t think that respect is mutual on your part, Dexter Jacobs.”
The tone on Chris Strike’s voice shifts radically from just casually talking about a wrestling match to one specifically addressing his opponent. Sharp, to the point and the occasional hint of malice.
“You see, I am pretty confident that this same respect as a competitor doesn’t go both ways. Maybe you might think that too, given you’ve been more than happy to play the card at how disrespected you have been time and time again, whether that was with the things you did in Sin City or the lack of acknowledgement for some of your deeds over here in Insurgency, be that as it may...playing that angle ain’t gonna fly with me tonight. Because I remember being there at that arena the time you damn near ended Lani San Diego’s career after all the wicked bullshit she pulled off for months and I remember defending your ass for pulling the trigger on what you had to do. I remember very well understanding and even acknowledging the passion you had when you went after and damn near tried to kill one of my best fucking friends in this business in Michael Norcia for that SCW Global title. Hell, I even comprehend thoroughly why you just smacked the shit out of Ryan Apollos at Resurgence, given how much of a shithead Chuckles has been to you and his whole spiel to poor little Apollos about taking you out.
But me? There ain’t no disrespect to your abilities as a wrestler or the resume you have. But you are more than fucking happy to sit there on Twitter and jab at me after I’m more than happy to tell you how much I’m looking forward to fighting you as to the same shit every other asshole in this industry has been trying to throw at me ever since I announced I was hanging up the boots by the end of this year.
I believe ‘...we'll see 'bout who's goin' where on what terms’ were your exact words. And of course, I remember my retort went along the lines of you having a shot at it. Just like anyone else who steps into the ring against me between now and December 18th, when I have my very last match. Because that’s professional wrestling, Dexter Jacobs. When you step through those ropes, just about anything can happen under the right circumstances. It’s what keeps us on our toes, it’s what makes this sport so fucking alluring to the many who do watch it.
...But there is a large difference between having a shot and actually being able to pull the trigger.
And if there’s one thing you’ve been infamous for...it’s not being able to pull that trigger, Dexter Jacobs.”
A snap of the fingers. A defiant look in the eyes of the “War Machine” and a tone that now suggested something else meant to perhaps gnaw away at his opponent at Nationals Park: confidence.
“No matter how hard you try to disguise it by flat out hurting people these days to rob them out of their livelihoods, all as a means to satisfy whatever anger it is you feel inside about how disrespected you are, that doesn’t change the reality that nine times out of ten, you will not pull that trigger. You will not take your shot. You are infamous for wasting them, in fact. You are infamous for coming through with one hell of an argument and some solid moves inside of that squared circle, but you had better remember one thing and remember it real quick!
I am Chris Strike...and I have made a career out of beating men like you on my way to the fucking throne.
In fact, I’m about to walk into the place that you claim you made your own backyard before it died and smack you around in a way that’s going to remind you a hell of a lot about what Michael Norcia did to you the two times he punked your bitch ass. Remember that, huh? That for all the talk and all the hard hitting, you got put down, Dexter Jacobs. Twice. Tapped out the first time, as a matter of fact. And this isn’t me disrespecting the competitor in you, but you damn sure better believe this is me doubting that the man who was all well and ready to talk about what he’s going to do to me at Fallout is something ‘more 'n fuckin' appropriate for the occasion.’
Look...on December 18th, there’s a young woman who is going to take this industry by storm over these next few years, someone that I helped train and mold as a professional wrestler. She’s waiting for me that night in Chicago, Illinois, after accepting the fact that she’s going to see me off into the next phase of my life and into the great unknown. Because who the hell knows what I’m even going to become when you take away the one thing I ever wanted to do since I was kid...but I know this, Dexter Jacobs. I’m going to be there to stare her down from across the ring on December 18th and I will go through ANYONE and ANYTHING that gets put in my way to make that date and to conclude one hell of a wrestling career.
I made a promise that I would be there...and unlike you, I follow through on my promises.
You might be one hell of a competitor. You probably will attempt to hurt me and damn near succeed at it. You will probably make me wake up in an amount of agony that makes me want to scream out and not move a muscle for a couple of days. But you will not be the one to write the ending chapter on Chris Strike’s wrestling career, no matter how much you try to talk and psych yourself into thinking you can do it.
So talk all you want, Dexter Jacobs. Talk, because that’s about the only thing you know how to do. Show me exactly the kind of competitor that you can be…but know this reality, Dex. As a man...you cannot and you will not be able to pull the trigger and put me down for good.
Because when the chips are down and when the tough talk is all said and done. I’ve seen you crack under the pressure. And my friend, this is a level of pressure that you’re not equipped to handle. Not against me, Dex. Not against somebody of my caliber...and this isn’t being cocky, this is me telling you the honest truth, something that I know you don’t enjoy hearing but that you’re going to sit down and listen to, regardless.
At the end of the day, Dexter Jacobs...you talk tough. You can even bully anyone that’s underneath or at about the same level. Hell, if you actually get your head in the game, you might be able to even defeat me inside of that ring.
But you will not be the one who puts an end to my career at IWF Fallout, Dexter Jacobs.
You. Don’t. Have. What. It. Takes.
...And there isn’t a damned thing that you can do about that!”
Fade to black.
Subject: The Difference Between A Competitor And a Man 
Mon Aug 29, 2016 12:22 am
