My Night

† MY NIGHT †
† MY HOME †
† THANK YOU †

So here we see the final days of SBK, standing side by side, fist to fist with a fading star and a weakened soul.

Its been Months since I left the world inhabited by ‘SBK’ and became Johnny Stlyes the honest, working, normal man. I proclaimed on that day that I would wrestle one last match, a match for the memory of a man I had never met, before departing the realm of wrestling for good.

I fought that match

I won

I left

The lights of the city revolve around me now, but not the lights of the gaudy monstrosity called Miami, Florida. This is Boston. This is my home! This is where it all started

I check my watch and my eyes drift over the hand rail to the road below. Deserted, the streets are devoid of traffic as the time ticks past 11:51pm.

She’ll be here soon

I need her to know

I returned home a few months ago, jaded by the garish neon hue of Miami and the town full of old and debauchery I lived in. I wasn’t that man anymore, I wasn’t ‘The Strike Back Kid’ anymore. No longer could I hold on to the life of lavish delights and desperate loneliness that held me there, I let go and never looked back.

I never looked back until now

For the only thing that could bring me back

My spot in the IWF Hall Of Fame

After that match with Death Angel, I left everything behind. I left the ring, my accolades, my gear and my name. I left myself behind and started anew. All the money I made from busting my back in the ring went into starting this new life and not becoming one of the many broken down has-beens I saw in my years in the business. People like Tails; a broken man who gave up on the world, and worse himself. Once a legend but he couldn’t quit while he was ahead. He got stuck in his own little worlds of regret and belligerence, I moved on.

Moving back home, I found work as a personal trainer. What more is there for a retired wrestler? It came naturally. Not as naturally as competition, but close enough to make a living and easy enough to make a life. Then I found the one thing I could never have found while I was in the ring; I found love with an old flame.

Jada Hart

I hear a screech of tyres below as a dark blue saloon rounds a corner and approaches the building. She never was a great driver. Checking my watch again it says 11:53pm, she’s just in time. The car parks up and out steps my Jada, though all I can really see are her slender shoulders and silky smooth chestnut hair as she walks into the building. Our building. This is the place we created together

At least that’s what I thought until a few days ago.

I heard that letter from the IWF Board fall through the door and ask me to return to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

I wanted to take that letter and say yes right away, but I hadn’t. Why? Because what I had was worth more than just a whim. I was at peace, I AM at peace, and though the chaos was exhilarating I don’t know if it’s a good thing to welcome it back

This is what distances me from Tails; the man I made my reputation beating. He lingers on the business he put their heart and soul into while I saw the toxicity it brought to my life

He's stagnate

I move forward

I feel something touch my shoulder and turn my head from the Boston skyline. Four light fingers and a thumb slide over the shoulder of my tailored suit jacket and a tiny figure emerges by my side. Her deep blue eyes look up at mine and she speaks.

Jada Hart
“You should come inside, it’s nearly time.”

Like a winters breeze her voice always brings me to my senses, but it does nothing to get rid of this lingering melancholia.

† Johnny Styles †
“I’ll be in soon.”

I almost sigh out the words as I slip my still rough hand into the inside of my jacket and pull out the letter I know she won’t want to see, not after the death of Frank Hart. I can’t bear to look as her hand tightens slightly.

Drifting down from me, her delicate face angles down to the paper in my hands and the realisation is instant. I told her everything; the fame and the indignity, the elation and the sickening pain. I recalled every match I had with tails. My career defining series of victories against my greatest rival. Jada knew it all and knew what going back could mean.

Jada Hart
“You’re going?”

Her timid words may as well have told me not to go. I hadn’t the heart to look at her and tell her that’s exactly what I would be doing. Taking her man to war again. Instead I stared back at the Boston skyline, the same sky I’d run away from Miami for. I would be betraying that as much as her.

† Johnny Styles †
“I need the closure, after having the Hall spot ripped from my hands in NLWF. I can’t let this chance pass.”

Jada Hart
“You could be hurt…”

She was right, against a man as experienced as Tails I could be walking into a world of hurt. But on the other hand, has there ever been a better time to walk into that situation? I don’t have another contest to worry about a week later, I can recover in the knowledge that my hardest work will be instructing others how to lift weights properly.

† Johnny Styles †
“I’ve been hurt before and I’m still here.”

I try to reassure her, but I sense her turn toward me with a disapproving expression. This was the same concern she’d shown all those months ago when I told her I was fighting Death Angel.

Jada Hart
“But… you said the last one was it, no more.”

My chin drops to my chest and disappointment fills my heart. I did say that, but it was so long ago I actually believed it.

† Johnny Styles †
“I never thought this would come…”

I held the letter like a court summons and a golden ticket simultaneously. It could be the end of me, but it holds the key to leaving me at rest finally.

† Johnny Styles †
“Just this. One more time and then I’m done, I promise.”

She says nothing, but her hands grasp my arm like ivy clinging to a wall for support. What can I say? What does a man going to war tell his love?

† Johnny Styles †
“I promise I won’t get hurt, I promise I’ll be back here … I promise I’ll give it up for good after this one match; win, lose or draw.”

At least I know my opposition will make this a match for ages, an event fit for the occasion. Tails is a worthy competitor who will give his heart and soul to the match. It’s all he knows, it’s all he has ever known.

Her grip tightens and her ivy-like embrace pulls me down to her level. Drifting away from the skyline I dare not look at her eyes to see her reaction but soon I have no choice. She pulls me so close I can feel her breath on my cheek and finally I turn, staring straight into those sapphire irises. The expression isn’t disapproval or worry, but the care and compassion I had lacked for years in the industry. She pulls closer and the breath on my cheek becomes the moist touch of her lips on mine. Tender as it is, it’s over in a heartbeat and I feel warm air against my ear.

Jada Hart
“Then you’d better win.”

Glancing down at her lips I see there’s a faint smile there now, one of resignation that I would do this and of wanting me to succeed even if it was thoughtless folly. I smile back and slide the letter back into my jacket pocket.

Jada Hart
“Come on…”

She tugs on my arm and pulls me around with deceptive strength. Her slight form never ceases to surprise. We turn to face the see-through doors that lead into the celebration, spying the many people chatting and laughing jovially but hearing nothing. Slowly we make our way forward to the doors and I extend my battle scarred hand to open them. They pull apart easily and immediately the noise of the party hits me

Jada drags me forward into the barrage of guests and business partners. Our party seems to be going down well and the bar is getting a more than satisfactory trial run for the real customers soon to come. In just a week this room will become a health bar, sat atop a gym that will be overseen by myself and my fiancé.

The clock ticks to 11:59pm and the television sets placed around the room attract various crowds of people, though some approach us with open hands and hopefully open wallets.

“You have a great place here!”

One middle aged man exclaims as he muses over the home of both mine and Jada’s future.

“We really must visit when you’re on your feet.”

Comments the woman next to him, a lady I recognise as a possible supplier of health drinks. I make a point of saying thank you graciously and shaking both their hands in hope those same hands will be cashing and writing checks in the near future.

We built this place from scratch, took a misused building and created a shining beacon of what will become our livelihood. It’s just like taking that arrogant rookie all those years ago and making him one of the greatest wrestlers to step foot in a ring. We paid for this place with that money, now I return there to say thank you and to pay my respects.

Michael Stipe sings “It’s the end of the word as we know it, and I feel fine” and I do too. I feel at peace that the world of ‘SBK’ is coming to an end and a new era is coming into fruition. It’s the time for renewal, the time for rebirth from the ashes of things past.

The crowd explodes with adulation at my announcement of being selected into the IWF Hall of Fame. Fireworks light up the night sky outside with the gaudy lights I had sought to leave behind in Miami. One more time I take the neon laced soul of that identity into battle.

One more time