Under Pressure. // Chapter III

It technically wasn’t his first win within Professional Wrestling Excellence, but damn did it feel good.

Although he was able to pin Kanna in the gauntlet on the first Victory back, it didn’t feel quite real. It’s hard to feel good about a match when moments later you’re getting your shoulders pinned and losing your chance at the Excellence Championship. Not that there’s anything wrong with losing to Allen Chaney, and after all, he is the current Excellence Champion. But the overall loss of the gauntlet made his win against Kanna almost null and void. This time, it was concrete, solid. This time, he had his hand raised.

He knew Riggs was going to be a tough opponent. She’s managed to remain relevant in modern times, and she had much more of a name heading into their bout. Sure, Issak may have had a fanbase behind him at one point, and a fanbase he hopes to regain, but he knew he wasn’t the favorite to walk out with his hand raised. For that, he couldn’t help but feel he was heading in the right direction despite his original loss. He had to be.

The way his arm swung back in for the Class Axe, after trying so hard to put her down. The impact of his forearm across her chest, the air being sucked from her lungs. He knew the feeling all too well, because he’d climbed many a ladder before. He just hoped he wouldn’t be forced to take another fall off the ladder on his way to stardom.

“Issak, are you okay?”

His blonde hair shook as he tried to knock the cobwebs from his mind. His vision faded out from the last Victory, and reality began to form around him again. He sat at a restaurant he hadn’t been too before. A bit fancy, actually, at least judging by the wallpaper and the working fountain in the middle of the room. Honey Smith sat across from him, looking to him with the eyes of a doe.

Oh hell! He was on his date with Honey!

A moment later and he realized that they weren’t alone. A waiter had joined them at some point, waiting patiently beside their table. Now mentally joining them, Issak looked to the waiter, and then back at Honey. It was ever so obvious that a confused look was written across his face.

“Oh, I’m sorry, wha what were you saying?”

Again, she shook his head, shifting his focus back to the moments at hand.

“She asked if we were ready to order. I am if you are.”

Honey responded, holding her menu open with a look of anticipation. There was a sudden feeling of anxiety that came over him. He was completely unsure how long he’d been sitting here, how long he was supposed to have been thinking on his order, how long he’d actually been thinking on his career. He sheepishly looked down to the menu that lied in front of him…the one that he had yet to even open. Slowly, he unfolded the menu and looked at the first page. He contemplated simply choosing an item and living with whatever he’d chosen. After all, it was his own fault. A second thought and his conscience told him to be honest. He looked back to the waiter, still waiting patiently.

“Uhm, I may need a few more moments actually.”

He grinned, but he couldn’t hide the embarrassment he was feeling right now. His face began to grow red, naturally, as he turned back to the menu.

“Not a problem, sir. I’ll be back in a few more minutes. Take your time.”

She tapped Issak on the shoulder, trying her best to be reassuring, before she walked away from their table. There’s no doubt about it, this date was not going that well.

“What’s on your mind, Issak? You seem a little distracted.”

He sighed, feeling torn. There was a side of him that said to keep his crazy inside until he was a few dates in, Honey probably didn’t want to hear about his inner monologues. She didn’t sign up to be a therapist, she agreed to goon a date with him. The other side of him told him to be honest and open. After all, Honey was his friend first before she ever agreed to go out with him. First date, be damned.

“There’s just been so much on my mind lately. Not only have I still been working with Evolution here in Scotland, but as you know I also ventured into the United States recently. I’ve been contracted with PWE in Florida, and I’ve been sort of middle of the road. My debut match was a gauntlet for the Excellence Championship, and I did well but I didn’t win. I did manage to be number two on the Honor Roll, as well, so a very big feat for me. The last show I managed to get my first big win, and I do feel like I’m on an incline, but I wonder if I’m making a big enough impact. I want my name mentioned in the group that deserve a shot another shot, I want my one-on-one with Allen. For real this time. The thing is, it feels like I don’t have much of a leg to stand on. I haven’t been with PWE that long, and two shows doesn’t exactly show consistency. Meanwhile the current champion seems to have moved on to the former champion. I know, confusing.”

This was the point where she would turn and run, surely. Honey Smith would slam her menu down on the table with a horrified look, immediately turning her body to face away from Issak. She’d leap from the table, running in the direction that would find her an exit fast enough. There was nothing that could carry her further away from this crazy. Or so, Issak thought.

Instead, she giggled.

Then she giggled some more. Issak looked at her through puzzled eyes, completely unsure of what to make of this reaction. Honey leaned back in her chair, brushing her blonde hair from her face.

“Oh Issak, you’re so cute when you’re talking about your passion. Do you ever think of anything else besides wrestling?”

This is what truly shocked him. He placed a hand to his chin, trying to remember. Surely there were thoughts that did not involve wrestling. However, for so long and even now, they consumed large portions of his thoughts. Even before returning, all he thought about was getting back in the ring again. Now that he’s here, all he can think about is how to climb the ladder, how to get to the top, how to make a legacy.

“I…I suppose you’re right.”

He smiled, and began to laugh, which in turn started Honey giggling again. It was good to laugh like this again. Issak hadn’t done it in quite some time, probably since Kaia left him. The evening continued and he tried his best to keep from letting his mind wander. Honey was a great sounding board to talk things over with, because she understood where he was coming from. While she also seemed to have a good balance on his career and personal life. Issak on the other hand, didn’t have that. He knew she’d be good for him, but all in all, he learned that maybe he wasn’t ready to date again just yet.

"On the last Victory, I was out to prove something. Stepping into that bout, I knew Michelle Riggs. We all knew Michelle. I knew she was going to try her mean girl tactics on me, and I knew she was going to try to make me feel bad about myself. That’s how people like Michelle are able to control others, they put them down and tell them false things about myself. I knew they weren’t true, and I knew I had to press on. Furthermore, I knew that despite how I felt about Michelle on a personal level, defeating her in that ring was going to be a challenge. I wasn’t proven wrong. But I still believed in myself, and I still triumphed. I learned a valuable lesson from going up against Michelle Riggs, and I’ll carry it with me further into PWE where I know it’ll come in handy.

One win doesn’t make me the Excellence number one contender, I know that. But I’m hoping that my performance in the Excellence gauntlet against Allen was able to earn me some brownie points with the management here in PWE. If I was to state my case a little further, we could go into how a gauntlet automatically gives the very last entrant an advantage over the rest of the competitors. We went into that match knowing it to be so, but we took our chances anyway. Even Allen said I was feeling spent after facing Kanna, and I still put up a mighty fight against him. I would never say that Allen didn’t earn that title, because he did, and he earned his last entrant spot, as well. However, I do want to plant the thought into the minds of the PWE management that things could have gone different if we were on even playing fields. I still want my name in that mix.

I also know that Allen has his heart set on proving his former self wrong, so I’ll have to continue proving myself until I make enough noise to get someone’s attention. Whether that be management or Allen himself. In the meantime, I’ll fight the good fight against people like Michelle Riggs, and Jason Long. You’ll have to excuse me, Jason. I wasn’t too familiar with your work when this match was first announced, but there’s a reason for that. My last big match was in 2019, and it seems like you were hitting quite a stride at that time. Of course, I’ve done my homework though, and it seems like you’ve just kept going since then. You’ve got quite a lot of accolades under your belt now, you’re a name. What that means for me, is you’re exactly the caliber of wrestler I need to test myself against before taking another go at Allen.

But I’ll ask you though, Jason. What of me do you know?

Because I would hope, being the caliber of wrestler that I know you are, that you’d do your own homework. In order to have the best match possible, we need to take be as prepared as we can be. You don’t strike me as the type of kind to go into things blind, Jason. Plus, with your accolades, there’s no way you’d be so foolish as to not do the ground work. I don’t want to hear any lam excuses such as you don’t know who I am. That’s so played out, and we know better than that. Instead, I know you may have seen my work with the CWC in JCP, ACM and EW as the International Champion. Maybe you went as far back as RSW, where I won the Gold Briefcase right before the company closed. But it’s possible you even saw my performance in PwNEO, which is returning by the way, where I won the Grand Championship!

I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt there, so I’ll do you one better. The moral of my career thus far is that no matter where I’ve gone, I’ve managed to be a shining star. I know what I’m worth, and I know if I work hard enough and strive for the best, then I can make it there. I haven’t been proven wrong yet. So it’s true I was gone for a lot of your rise, Jason, but I’ve always managed to outwork and outwrestle, because I have obstacles such as a career hiatus that I’ve managed to battle back from. You don’t even need to see all those matches to know who Issak Otto is – just know I’m the guy who keeps fighting against all odds!

I was also once a traveling journeyman wrestler such as yourself, so I know all about what you’re going through. The most important lesson I learned is to not fall for that adage about being a big fish in a small pond. You have to walk into each company like you’re not sure if you’re walking into a pond or an ocean. There’s no telling what could be in these waters, and in seems PWE is shark infested, if you catch my drift. I assume you have an idea of what I’m talking about, the one match of yours that I was able to see up close resulted in you being one of the first eliminated. That’s not the Jason Long that I’ve heard about, that’s not the Jason Long that you talk yourself up to be.

You’ve got a reputation as a ring warrior, so THAT’S the Jason Long that I want inside that ring. THAT’S the Jason Long that I want to say I defeated. You’re decently aerial based Jason, and I’ve been known to put even the best technical wrestlers to the test. What that says to me, is that as soon as you’re grounded, you’re going to have a mighty tough time getting in the air again. I’m going to make sure to keep you in any hold I can think of to keep you on the ground, and out of your element. We’re only as good as the opponents that we are able to beat, and I want you to be the BEST.

Michelle told me a few weeks ago that people didn’t come to my Festival of Friendship because they had no clue who I was. That’s not entirely true though. I mean, not only did I accidentally write the date wrong on the flyers, there was another reason they didn’t come. I used to have people that believed in me, but I lost their trust. I’ve got to earn their trust back, and to do that I need to be consistent with my words and actions. My plan is to prove that I deserve an Excellence title shot by defeating Jason Long at Victory XIII. I hope that Allen is watching with the rest of the House of Blues Orlando on Monday, because he’s not going to want to miss it!”

“It looks pretty bad...”

It was a couple weeks ago when Carson began complaining about a pain in his ankle. He had competed in a solo match, with Issak at ringside, that seemed to go off without a hitch at the time. It wasn’t until later that he began to complain of a bothersome sharp pain. Like any wrestler does, he tried painkillers originally, but over time it was only worsened. At this time, he had yet to tell Evolution management, but it was better to get a professional opinion before worrying anybody else.

However, he did give Issak the information and when he’d be seeing the doctor. Seeing as how Issak lives in Scotland, Otto was there in no time. He wasn’t about to let his friend go into the situation without having some sort of support system there.

So there they were, Carson Campbell with his leg up on the medical bench. The room felt cold, as they always did, and now the room was dark. The doctor had walked back into the ring only minutes before, tossing the x-rays up onto the wall before them. Issak had been in this position numerous times, and so as he looked up to the wall he couldn’t hep but blurt out the first thing that came to his mind. Immediately after, his hand went over his mouth with a gasp. The doctor was shocked at the outburst, but Carson couldn’t help but laugh, even despite the situation.

“Give it to me straight, Doc.”

“Unfortunately, your friend here is right. You’re looking at a tear here, at best. You’ll need to keep out of the ring for a matter of months after a mandatory surgery if you’re trying to prolong your career, Mr. Campbell.”

“But what do you think the quickest time possible would be?”

“Issak…I’m going to be out for a while. You should look at going solo again in Evolution.”

“Nah Carson, there’s no way. You’ll be healed soon, and we’ll keep our tag momentum going!”

Carson looked to the Doc and sort of nudged him towards the door. He could tell that Issak was going to need a moment, even though it was Carson who was going to be away from the ring. Carson could tell, because Issak was now facing away from him, more than likely trying to keep himself from crying. Slowly, the doctor slipped out of the door to give the two friends some time.

The moment was more loaded than anyone could ever realize. Issak and Carson met years ago in JCP, and since then, the duo had several start and stop moments of their tag team. The first wrench in the machine was an injury on Carson’s part, then an injury on Issak’s part. Now that the stars had aligned and they both had their careers on track, it seemed they’d be derailed yet again. Carson spun himself on the bench to face Issak, placing an arm on his shoulder.

“Look Issak, there’s no sense in you waiting for me to be cleared. You need to use the time you’ve gained, and do what you need to do in Evolution, just like you’ve been doing in PWE. You were never a tag wrestler to begin with, and we only paired together out of necessity when our partners in Evolution ditched us. For what we’ve done, we had a good run, but we’re much better apart and we know that.”

Issak, still not looking at Carson, stood up from his chair. He slowly walked towards where the x-rays were still hanging, taking a deeper look at them. In reality, he wasn’t looking at them at all, but instead trying to formulate the right words to say.

“It’s just..it’s just not fair.”

He began, before suddenly stopping. He took a moment to catch his breath before beginning again.

“Seems like this is always happening, isn’t it? You start to get somewhere, start to rise through the ranks and feel like you’re really making a difference again. You start to feel like your old self, just to have the rug ripped out from under you. Everything can be gone in an instant, without warning. So much promise and potential ahead of us. I just don’t want it to all be for nothing at the end of the day, you know?”

“Are we still talking about me?”

There was a short pause as his words sunk into Issak. Maybe Carson was right, maybe he was turning this into a worry about himself. To just come back to the ring and see the dreams of his friend dashed like that meant the same could happen to him.

“You’re fine, Issak. You’re healthy. Most of all, you’re going to make the impact you want. I’m sure of it.”

It made everything seem that much more dire. The impact needed to happen now.

The locks turned, and the big wooden door swung open again. He stood there in the doorway, feeling exhausted, and the echo of the voicemail notification could be heard throughout the house. This was becoming a bit of a thing. He’d come home after a long trip, hallucinate in the hallway for a second before he’s brought back to reality by the annoying beep of his old school answering machine. At least there was something stable in his life, after all.

Just as he always did, he walked over and pushed playing.

“You have one new voicemail from August 24th at 4:02pm.”

“Hey Issak, it’s Honey. I haven’t heard from you in a few days, but I know your phone service isn’t the best out there in the countryside of Scotland. Either way, I just wanted to tell you that I understand. Call when you can.”