Eric Steel [vs] Corey Casey

Corey Casey: "I want you to take my place."

I laugh.

Chris Matthews: "...you're serious?"

Corey frowns.

Corey Casey: "Honestly? I saw the doctors. And they gave me options...a few of them, actually. But to tell you the truth, Chris...I don't think I really want to go back. I'm out of the business. I've been living my own life, without the crazy schedule, or the physical abuse, or any of the backstage politics. I can be my own man, raise my family. I like that, and I don't really want to go back to that old life."

Chris Matthews: "So you want me to do it?"

Corey Casey: "I trust you to get the job done."

Chris Matthews: "And you just take your Hall of Fame ring and go on your way."

Corey Casey: "If it makes you feel better, I won't be getting the procedure done. I'm not cleared to compete, so technically I'm not lying to anyone."

Chris Matthews: "Strangely, that doesn't ease my conscious any."

Corey Casey: "So you won't do it, is what you're saying?"

I stare at Corey for a moment.

Chris Matthews: "No. I'll do it. But you owe me."

Corey Casey: "I'll buy you and Colleen dinner sometime."

I laugh. Corey was a good guy. I think, to a lot of people, they had assumed that the Casey family and Matthews family had always been at odds. Always at each other's throats, with Jessica being the black sheep that turned on us and married a Casey. As if it was some sort of Romeo and Juliet story, with Jessica leaving for a rival family. On the contrary, Corey got along with most of us. Jessica loved him. He and I were good friends, and even Colleen seemed to like him. Zack got along with him well enough, and warmed up to his new uncle straightaway. The only person who seemed to find issue with Corey was...

Nevermind.

I stand up, slapping Corey's shoulder.

Chris Matthews: "If this is really what you wanna do, I got your back. Don't worry about it."

I turn to head out of the room.

Corey Casey: "Everything alright?"

I stare at him for a moment.

Chris Matthews: "Fine. I'm just gonna talk to Jessica."

I walk towards the kitchen, stopping when I hear my sister's voice.

Jessica Casey: "He is to me."

Jessica hangs up the phone, staring at it for a moment before sighing deeply. I lean against the archway.

Chris Matthews: "Who was that?"

Jessica jumps at the sound of my voice. She smiles.

Jessica Casey: "Oh, it was....nobody. Nobody important anyway."

I raise my eyebrow.

Chris Matthews: "You're a terrible liar."

Jessica Casey: "Don't worry about it, Chris."

I take a seat in the kitchen chair, looking at my younger sister.

Chris Matthews: "Something is on your mind."

Jessie crosses her arms across her chest.

Jessica Casey: "Do you ever wonder where he is?"

I nod, looking at the floor.

Chris Matthews: "This is about Charlie."

Jessica shrugs.

Jessica Casey: "I guess it's just because we're back in his house, you know? In Chicago, in Charlie's home...and he's not here. And I guess I just wonder where he is, you know?"

I nod solemnly. Truth was, none of us were quite sure of where Chuck had been. Months ago, he'd just up and vanished, seemingly off the face of the earth. One day, he was helping Jess as she ran daily workings in IWF. The next day...nothing. He wasn't at the corporate offices, he wasn't at home, he wasn't on TV. John Eastwick, Craig Hemming, Lauren Taylor...none of them knew where he had gone. The O'Days hadn't heard anything about where he was going. He had just...disappeared. As if the world had simply opened up and swallowed him whole.

Chris Matthews: "You miss him."

Jessica opens her mouth, but stops.

Jessica Casey: "I think that's what bothers me the most. I...don't."

I raise an eyebrow.

Chris Matthews: "No?"

Jessica Casey: "I know that I should. I know that he's our little brother, and we should look after him, or at least know where he is. We should be there for him. But, I guess...it's Chuck. That's what he does. People want so bad to know him, to be there for him, to help him when he's in a bad place, but he won't have any of it. When he wants to disappear, he just goes and does it and he doesn't give a damn that him leaving might hurt anyone else. I guess I'm just tired of chasing him, you know? I'm tired of being my brother's keeper. If he wants to push people away, I say let him."

Chris Matthews: "You don't mean that."

Jessica Casey: "And why not? Where is he, Chris? Nobody's heard anything from him in months. MONTHS. He's probably in some lonely corner of the world. Maybe he finally checked himself into the madhouse. Maybe he's-"

She stops, biting her lip. Her nose starts turning a shade of pink, a sure indicator that tears were on the way.

Chris Matthews: "He's not."

Jessica speaks, but her voice cracks, an audible lump in her throat.

Jessica Casey: "What if he is?"

Chris Matthews: "He's just...gone. Doing his own thing. Like you said, it's Charlie. He does that. If he wants to disappear, there's nobody who will know where he is. He's a smart guy, Jessie. He can take care of himself. He's vanished before, hasn't he?"

Jessica Casey: "Never for this long."

Chris Matthews: "He likes to make a show. You know how he is. He's a big boy."

Jessica Casey: "I'm just nervous. He had a bunch of contracts coming in from a bunch of different companies, you know? He was expanding his work, he was competing again, and even if all that failed and he had to retire, he still had his media company. But he doesn't have any of that. He stopped showing up to shows for all the places he was contracted to. And then when Mr. Dillinger refused to renew the deal with ME and IWF..."

Chris Matthews: "Jess..."

Jessica Casey: "All he's ever known is success. Our family was always well off. When Charlie left, he found work right away, and he was good at it. When his career wound down, he had Matthews Enterprises to keep him busy. All his life, he's never known failure. Does he know how to survive? I'm just afraid of what he's doing now."

I nod. Jessica made a good point. Chuck had often told stories about his first few years in the wrestling business. He had lived in an old apartment on Chicago's southside. It was a meager living, but it was only temporary, and when Chuck had landed a bigger contract, and was in higher demand, he quickly moved up. By the time he was in the big leagues, he was already in a two-bedroom house, and was living comfortably. The fact of the matter remained, Chuck had never really hit the bottom. Even when he was first starting, he was a step or two ahead of the rest of the game. When he finally did leave the business, he'd expanded his company to bring in all the money he needed, and it was upheld mostly by the partnership with several wrestling promotions around the world, primarily IWF.

Then Alex Dillinger had taken the wheel, and with new management came a complete overhaul of IWF as a whole. He declined to renew the contract between IWF and ME, the deal that had gotten IWF off the ground, and had existed since IWF's conception. It was Chuck's company that had funded IWF, and it was Chuck's company that promoted and televised IWF's events. Dillinger changed that. Without the IWF contract, ME lost money fast. When Chuck stepped out of wrestling, companies were buying out of their contracts rapidly, and ME was tanking, and tanking fast. Chuck had mentioned a benefactor of some sorts. Some hotshot businessman who was willing to take ME under his wing, to invest in it, hold considerable shares, and keep ME afloat until it could reestablish its foothold in the market. Chuck wasn't pleased with the idea, but he eventually took it to avoid bankruptcy. As it would turn out, the new company shut down ME anyway. Chuck wasn't competing anymore. His company was gone...what more did he have? He'd gone from the top of the world to rock-bottom...and now, nobody had heard so much as a whisper from him, and that was what had our family spooked.

Chris Matthews: "I...I don't know, Jess."

-------------------------------------------------------

"Surprised, Mr. Steel? So am I.

I never really expected to be back in an IWF ring. Not for any particular reason, I never really doubted that I might have an issue getting a match...but my days are long past. I had my time a few years back, and I won't fool myself into thinking that I was able to match any of that success in IWF. Some markets cater better to certain skill sets. I understand that, and honestly, IWF didn't have a place for what I had to offer. I'm not bitter.

You, on the other hand, Eric, seem to be the exact opposite. You, like me, have the potential, and perhaps even the history, of a great star. In other companies, you may have risen to the top of the heap. You've done well for yourself, and you've shown that you have the potential to make it far. Like me, you came into IWF, into another international market, and you sought to dominate this landscape as well. Like me, you failed, and you failed in spectacular fashion.

And that's as far as our similarities go, Mr. Steel. You see, because unlike me, you seem to have a lot of trouble grasping this simple concept that IWF is not your place.

The mark of a truly successful competitor is not racking up wins wherever he goes. It's understanding his own skill, his own faults, and understanding that there are some places that you will not win, no matter how much talent you have. IWF was that for me, as it was for you. IWF's fans are unique. They will bring your career to new heights if they like you, but they will tear you apart and ensure that you never see the peak of the midcard if they don't. You and I fall into that latter category.

And yet, we find ourselves here, in IWF yet again, fighting a main event at the Hall of Fame show of one of IWF's founding fathers.

That's something I'm sure even you can appreciate, right Steel? You understand exactly how big this night is. You realize, of course, that you are making history. You're fighting Corey Casey in his final match in the world of wrestling.

Well...not exactly. You're fighting me. Or, rather, you're fighting Corey Casey's chosen replacement, since, regrettably, he won't be here to fight for himself. Ain't that a bitch?

But I digress. The fact of the matter is, Steel, that this night is immensely important, and it is so fitting that a night of this magnitude only be followed by the biggest spectacle in our industry: IWF From the Ashes. After tonight, we will have inducted four men into the IWF Hall of Fame. Two of them were founders of IWF, leaders of the locker room and the company when it first started.

Hey, here's a fun fact. Do you know who that third man is? The third leader of the old IWF who has not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame? My younger brother.

Strange as it may be, that was always my claim to fame in this sport. I am the older brother of Chuck Matthews. Bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than Chuck ever was...no wonder I was such an imposing force when I first started. You look at my family, Eric, and you see exactly what I have that you don't: A pedigree. I am the oldest member of the Matthews Family, a dynasty that has given three stars, and trained several others. Chuck Matthews, a legend of the business. His daughter Ashley, one of the best women's wrestlers to ever compete. Myself, and as much as I don't like to toot my own horn, I am a multiple-time champion, and I was, at one point, a dominant competitor. We brought names like Chad Mason and Bobby O'Day to the top of the heap from the bottom of the barrel. We've been tied to the legendary O'Day family. We've worked alongside men like Corey Casey, like Brandon Macdonald, like the Stylez family. We fought against the Harts, and won. We are natural born leaders. We are the greatest family of wrestlers to ever compete.

And you...you're Eric Steel. You have nothing to your name, and you have no grand exploits to impress me with. There's a reason Corey chose me to fight in his place, Steel.

This week...at the Hall of Fame Show...you're going to learn exactly what that reason was."