Author's Notes: Special guest appears via permission.
August 30th, 2021
Pro Wrestling Excellence Victory 1
William Blake Mason opted to isolate himself from the rest of the roster in the luxury suite in the arena. Sitting down on a plush leather couch already in his wrestling gear, he had his feet propped on a small table as he watched Xaria Linette’s battle royal in process. His faithful bodyguard Jaxson Sullivan stood to the side, prepared if anyone decided that they were going to interrupt him.
The battle royal was intense. William was on the edge of his seat watching his best friend navigate through the contest. Just as he had hoped, Xaria won.
William leaped out of his seat, pumped his fist into the air, screaming as loud as he could.
“Damn right, that’s my girl!” He turned to Jaxson. William shot his hand in the air wishing to high-five his trusty steed. The big man wasn’t responsive, keeping his hands in his pockets. William rolled his eyes.
“Would it kill you to show some emotion?!” Blake raises his eyebrow.
Jaxson does remove his hands from his pockets. He taps the watch on his right wrist.
“You do realize your match is next.” “I’m not worried about that. Xaria won. What can be better than that?” William exclaimed.
Jaxson pointed at William.
“You winning for starters” “Fair.” William smiles.
“I wish you understood how big this is for me. This is the first time Xaria and I have worked in the same company. Not every day do you get to share the locker room with your best friend. I am grateful to have such a great woman like that in my life. This is huge Jax. One of us could leave as the Excellence Champion. I have to do my part now.” Jaxson walks over to William. Stuck his hands back in his pockets.
“Understood. How did you two meet anyway?” William smirks,
“I have my good brother to thank for that.” :: FLASHBACK
2014 ::
William Blake Mason sat by himself in the backseat of a limousine. On this day he chose to wear a purple three-piece with a white button-up shirt and a purple tie to match his suit. He was growing rather restless, wishing the driver would arrive at the desired destination. First, he played with his tie. Next, he reached into his pocket to grab his cellphone. He opened up the Twitter app to distract himself from the quietness.
Nothing on Twitter caught his imagination.
“How long until we get there!” he asked his driver. The male driver responded.
“We’re five minutes away, sir.” William sighs.
“Is there a faster way to get there?” Immediately the driver responds.
“I’m afraid not, sir. P--” Before the driver could respond, William interrupts.
“I swear, if you tell me patience is a virtue there might be a good chance you won’t have a job. Patience does not pay the bills and it won’t get me to the Institute faster. Figure it out.” William folds his arms into his chest.
“Phillip is right--” the woman to William’s left chimes in. William shifts his attention to the blonde sitting next to him. She isn’t looking at William, her attention is directed at the tablet that has captured her imagination.
“What is your aversion to Knoxville?” “There is literally NOTHING to do in this town.” William responds.
“I don’t understand. My brother could afford to go to the best wrestling schools on the planet. Instead, he decides coming all the way to Knoxville would yield the best results.” “I agree with your assessment, but it’s not your life. It's his.” The blonde says.
“Victor will regret the day he didn’t listen; quote me on that one.” William asserts.
The blonde smiles.
“Only time will tell.” For the remainder of the time, William and his blonde assistant remain in silence. Upon arrival, William opens the door. He steps out of the car. Readjusting his tie he walks up to the Knoxville Wrestling Institute. The building from the outside looked like a high school, not exactly the state-of-the-art facility he was accustomed to training in.
Once inside he walked into the building. Didn’t take him long to find his brother sitting on the ring apron. Wasting no time he walks over to Victor who has now just spotted him. Victor slides off the ring apron. He walks over to his brother. The Mason’s hug.
They don’t hold the embrace long.
“Hey.” Victor says.
“I wasn’t expecting you to come.” “The power of family brought me to Knoxville I guess. Don’t make me regret it.” William smiles.
“I appreciate seeing you all the same.” Victor nods.
“So would you like a tour of the place?” William shakes his head.
“All good; I wasn’t expecting to walk into the Four Seasons. Rather not be further disappointed.” “Suit yourself.” Victor pats his brother on the shoulder. He walks back to the ring. Returns to sitting on the ring apron.
“Can you do me a favor?” William walks over to his brother. He takes a seat next to him on the ring apron.
“It’ll be my pleasure to rescue you from this dump. No one will think less of you.” “Um, no.” Victor shakes his head.
“While you're here, can you keep the KWI trash talk to a minimum?” “Vic--” William starts to say.
Victor winds up cutting his brother off.
“I always appreciate your input. Please respect this is the path I have chosen. There is purity in embracing this community. And I want to embrace this journey on my own terms, not because dad helped pave the way as he did for you. Knoxville is my path. Try to relax.”“Don’t make this difficult. Grab your bags and come--” The image of an angel stopped William from completing his thought. A wavy-haired blonde walked into the gymnasium.
William didn’t notice his brother snapping his fingers in an attempt to snap him back into reality.
“Don’t!” Victor warned.
William turns his attention to Victor.
“Oh, now I get it. Why didn’t you tell me? I understand. Do you!” Victor shakes his head.
“For starters, she is one of the trainers. And number two, she’s married.” “Well--” William pats Victor on the shoulder.
“All rules are made to be broken. If you’re not gonna talk to her, then I will. What’s her name?” “Xaria Ford.” “Thanks.” William hugs his brother.
“I changed my mind, Knoxville is a great place.” Before Victor could give his brother a piece of his mind, William walked off to talk to his brother’s trainer. She had her back turned, Xaria didn’t notice he was there. He taps her on the shoulder. She turns around with a curious expression. With a smile plastered across his face, William says,
“Hi. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is William Blake Mason. You can call me Blake. William. Whatever you like. My brother was just bragging about how great of an instructor you are. When he becomes a megastar, I’ll throw you the biggest party in the history of parties.”It took a moment for her to piece together what the gentleman was saying. Her emerald eyes light up once she connected the dots and she offered him a bright smile.
“You are Monsieur Victor’s older brother?” Oh, her French accent was delightful. She politely bowed her head.
“Bonjour, Monsieur William. Mon nom est Xaria Ford. Do you mind?” She opened her hands between them, gesturing to accept his hands.
William doesn’t hesitate to take her hand. While he shakes it, she blinks and giggles softly.
“Desolé, monsieur. I was gesturing for this.”Taking both of his hands in her, she rises up on the tips of her shoes and kisses his cheeks. Ah, the friendly European way to greet another person. William has to lean down to kiss her on her cheek.
“Has anyone ever told you your accent is enchanting, Xaria? You should consider doing an audiobook. I would listen to seven hours straight of you reading one of my favorite books.”A gentle smile crosses her face. Relaxing on the soles of her shoes, she releases his hands and folds her own hands in front of her.
“The thought never crossed my mind, monsieur. Usually, I only read to my little angels, Christian and Jacques. They just turned two in March.”Lord, she’s a French wife
and a mother. She tilts her head and looks into his eyes. William strokes his chin processing the revelation.
“Awesome. Must be an adventure having twins. Got to be a handful.”“Some days, it is a challenge,” she confesses.
“But I love them with all my heart. I want to give them a far better childhood than mine.”There’s a genuine vulnerability in her eyes as a sad smile crosses her face. William tilts his head to the side, observing her face.
“I completely understand that. I have a daughter, her name is Kayla. Not going to pretend my life was completely bad. Materially I was set for life. What I longed for most was my father to be present. So every day I strive to show my daughter no matter how busy I am, her dad will always be there” Blake nods. He takes Xaria’s hand.
“Focus on the big picture and you’ll succeed with giving Christian and Jacques a better life.” Feeling him squeeze her hand, she looks up to him and a genuine smile returns to her face.
“...Merci. You are very kind, Monsieur William.” She raises her free hand and holds his hand in both of hers.
“I shouldn’t keep the students waiting. Perhaps we should have dinner after training?”William nods.
“Of course. Don’t want to deprive them of your knowledge a second longer. Until we meet again.” He kisses her hand.
“Pleasure to meet you.” A soft smile crosses her face.
‘He’s rather friendly,’ she mentally notes. Still, she’s not the naive, highly-spirited optimist she once was.
“Tout le plaisir est pour moi.”Offering a cute giggle, she lightly draws away from him and turns to meet with the KWI students, including William’s younger brother. He watches Xaria as she walks away. With a smile, he turns around and leaves, anticipating this evening when he would talk to Xaria again.
:: PROMO TIME::
William Blake Mason can be seen sitting on a weight bench. He is wearing a black white beater t-shirt and some black shorts. Opting to lay down on the bench, Blake grips the barbell. He lifts the barbell off the rest. Doesn’t take him very long to grind out ten reps of what could be viewed as the first set of his workout. He sits up to look straight into the camera. With a mischievous wink he finally speaks.
“WELCOME. TO THE BLAKE. MASON. EX-PERIENCE.” Blake thumps his chest three times. With a light chuckle he says.
“Sorry. Not sorry. Saying that will never get old.”
“I don’t want to dwell on the past too much. Normally I would subscribe to the adage of onward. But I can’t sweep Victory 1 under the rug, so much happened on August thirtieth, twenty twenty one that it would be quite impossible not to revisit. My first wrestling match since March of this year. Five months since I was thrown off a scaffold. Five months after waking up in a hospital room, five months after arriving to a split second decision that I was going to hang up the wrestling boots forever. I walked down to the ring, performed a lot better than I was expecting. To come one elimination away from advancing to the next stage. Made a rookie mistake taking my eyes off the ball, no excuses. I lost. From that aspect, what’s done is done.”
“What meant the most to me was opening up Twitter the next day. My mentions were blown up. No one really focused on me coming up short in the battle royal. The overwhelming response I received from my friends, family and all of my fans who have supported me when I gave you no real reason to, without hesitation, message after message after message was reminding me that I belong in a professional wrestling ring.”
“Reading all your kind messages means more than I can put into words.”He takes a moment to salute everyone.
“And you know what’s funny? I started this journey at the age of eighteen. I’m thirty one now, thirteen years in the business. When I reached year ten, in my head I felt old, I know, saying that sounds silly, part of me felt starting my career at an early age, grinding my body into the ground all these years, my mind convinced me I was forty years old. A friend of mine was whooping ass at the age of forty. That alone should tell you that my mentality has not always been the greatest. I am thirty one years old damn it. I am still a young fucking lion. Look at me, I am in the best shape of my life.” Blake removes the white beater t-shirt to show off his chiseled physique. He shamelessly bounces his pecs.
“Who was I to believe five months ago I was done? I was in the ring a week ago with a woman I feel is going to take the world by storm. Chelsea Skye. She’s hungry. Will likely be better than I was in my rookie year. Not that my rookie year was fantastic. The young wrestlers today, three years ago I conned myself into believing I couldn’t keep up. Now? I am looking forward to pushing each and every single person I step in the ring with to see if they can keep up with me. What better opponent to push than Kayla Richards.”A smile forms on Blake's face.
“Kayla... I am supremely confident you and I are going to have fun, perhaps a little too much. Your reputation obviously precedes you. You are one of the most ruthless, arrogant pro wrestlers on the planet. A tad rough around the edges. Some will say you come across like you have a chip on your shoulder. Going out of your way to antagonize Besty Granger. Gave Chelsea and Ross hell on Twitter for showcasing the depths of their love. Unsure why that is a hill you wanted to die on Kay, I can call you Kay? Eh, probably not but I will anyway.”He shrugs.
“There is a reason why fighting you drives me; I see a lot of myself in you, Kay. That arrogant streak of yours I know all too well. I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth, I was accustomed to believing that I was better than everyone else. Whenever I stepped inside a wrestling ring I knew I walked into every match with confidence knowing that I had the best training that money could buy. My father ingrained in me the mentality of doing whatever it took in the business world, I translated that same killer instinct to the professional wrestling world; so Kay, whatever chip on your shoulder you possess. Whatever evil intentions you intend to bring to our fight, I can match in spades.”
“I appreciate your spunk.”
“Your drive.”
“Do I appreciate the way you treated Jessica Mathews, a good friend of my brother’s, no. But I am not going to stand on a soapbox to condemn you for being you. In another lifetime Kay, you and I would be friends. Not best friends. Only one woman holds that distinction. Hey Xaria.”Blake waves for the camera.
“I implore you, bring your best. I demand it. Bring the Dream Killer of legend I have heard so much about. I want the Dream Killer who I have seen on Twitter eat people alive with her venom. I want the Dream Killer who I have watched terrorize every company she stepped foot in. Bring the best version of you, Kay. And in return I am going to give you the best experience possible. A Blake Mason Experience of course.”Williams gives two thumbs up.
“What is on the line is momentum. At Victory III, we battle to become the first Impulse Champion. A little momentum goes a long way. I hope Allen Chaney, Lewis Chad Pinkston, Zoey Madigan-Star and especially Chelsea Skye are watching. Just like you, they need to know what they are standing up against. I’m gonna give you and them a small preview of the storm that’s coming. See you in Los Angeles, Kay. Thanks for coming.”William lays down on the weight bench. He grips the barbell one more time as the scene fades on him launching back into his workout.
