Post by lucasbalkan on Dec 12, 2020 18:43:16 GMT -5
I'm waiting in my cold cell, when the bell begins to chime
Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time
When all is said and done, they’ll thank me.
When Joseph Black sat down with us, he didn’t understand at first why we would want to put our titles on the line in this way. He didn’t understand why the World Champion and the Intercontinental Champion would happily give opportunities to others to take their titles from them, when they could just wait and face them one after another, week after week, from now and forever. He didn’t seem to understand why we relished the challenge.
'Cause at 5 O'clock they take me to the gallows pole, yeah
The sands of time for me are running low, running low
Our time in professional wrestling is relatively brief, folks. If we do not grasp the nettle and create opportunities then we are wasting our time and when we look back on our careers, when our bodies are broken and our brains rattled, we will regret it.
I have dragged myself up since I was forced to leave Prekaz all those years ago. Through Europe, to Germany, three stints in SFT... I’ve been dragging myself up and taking the opportunities that I have carved out for myself.
But I am also a realist. I will not be here forever, I will not be champion forever. I want to challenge myself and test myself while I can and I want to be sure that others are pulling themselves up so that when I am no longer here, those who are continue to push SFT forward.
As the guards march me out to the courtyard
Somebody cries from a cell, 'God be with you'
If there's a God then why has He let me go?
And who might be the one to take my title from me, from the cast of characters that calls itself the SFT roster?
Well, there is the only one on the active roster with a better win/loss ratio than I. However, he has just lost his hardcore title and seems to be burning out rather than shooting to the top of the mountain. Of course, Jay, burning out is better than fading away but you are, by rights, the one who should be runs me the closest at Gold Rush. The matches which we have had in 2020 suggest that you are worthy of another opportunity at this belt. Will you come and take it? Has your stint as the hardcore champion hardened you and made you more of a warrior and less of a joker?
Speaking of hardcore, another who could dethrone me on Tuesday is the violent, enigmatic, forthright... Rumpke. Throughout my time in SFT since returning in 2017, the spectre of Rumpke has loomed large. A man who is so concerned with inflicting pain, he is willing to go to any lengths. A drunk but a smart and challenging opponent. When he is interested. Surely these opportunities will grab his interest, I feel. When I first claimed this belt that currently rests upon my shoulder, it was him that I took it from. However, it was not him that I pinned. Perhaps this time, it could be.
And after winning that belt for the first time, I lost it again fairly quickly to another man who has proven to be a more formidable opponent than I first thought. Emerson Embry is a multi time SFT World Champion, a man who has captured the hearts of SFT fans the world over. He’s went from being the plucky underdog to the top dog but without losing that connection. A family man, a father, a hero... I was both pleased and relieved to slay the ghost of him taking that title from me in July 2020 when I took this belt from him at the end of the Lethal Lottery. Emerson can win this belt, he has done before and I’m sure that he will again. Will it be on Tuesday? I have to say that I hope not, Super Em.
From a hero to a villain, in Louis Cypher. Another former champion, another formidable opponent and someone who has a remarkable arsenal of angst, anger and bitterness that, if weaponised, may elevate him to the top spot again. However, you don’t get to outlast the rest of the roster in a match like this just because you want to, friend, or because you think you deserve it. You have to try. Are you going to try, Louis? I look forward to it.
Less looking forward, more looking backwards, another decorated veteran of SFT, Twilight, takes a break from his trips to Jeville to join the Gold Rush on Tuesday. Twilight has always been a fascinating individual and one who I believe deserves the sort of opportunities that Gold Rush presents.
Who else can take this title from me? Some have tried and failed recently. Regardless of the backing of the Club, Jamo’s has failed to defeat me twice in recent months. Maybe the ICW World Title has taken his full attention... for some reason.
And speaking of full attention, Jack Jones, is your infatuation with Candace and interest in the World Title gone now than Redd has returned to be at your side? Speaking frankly, I don’t fear either of you but perhaps one of you may be the one to snatch one of the titles at Gold Rush.
Probably not mine... or Candace’s... but there’s always Robert Saints’ hardcore title. Can he hold onto that at Gold Rush? Doubtful. However, his friend Travis Deacon Hall has resurfaced to help. I wonder what would happen if they ran up against each other during the match? I guess we’ll wait and see. Who knows what to except from those two, or from anyone else who may appear in the match.
And what of my peers? Asriel and Candace, those who I trust and respect more than those who I have previously mentioned... Every day, those of us who are in the Flock speak together, travel together, plan together and fight together. But on Tuesday, we may need to stand across from each other and best one another to retain or claim championship gold.
Asriel is currently forging his own path through another wrestling promotion, pushing the name and the repute of the Flock far and wide. However, that will not stop him from taking a title from one of us or Robert Saints come Tuesday if he can.
If anyone deserves to be at the top of the mountain, replacing me, then it is Candace. Having faced a myriad of barriers and biases in life and other promotions, she has taken apart the competition in SFT and held the intercontinental title longer than I have held the SFT World Title now. I am sure that Candace will be the SFT World Champion one day soon, if not on Tuesday, and she will be the first woman to claim that since Mya Denton in 2018 and the second of Muslim heritage to do so after yours truly. One day, Candace. One day.
When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you'll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion
SFT can be a strange place, like any wrestling promotion, but it is also a place that is a home for many who do not feel at home elsewhere. Whether it is loyalty to those who have come before, negative experiences of other promotions, the opportunity for titles... we all have our reasons for being here.
I am here to challenge SFT and to be challenged. One day that challenge will cease, of course, but for now, I remain at the top of the mountain. The person that people picture when they think of SFT Champion is me. The person whose name is synonymous with the top of this company is me.
Maybe Gold Rush will be the start of a changing of the guard.
Maybe it will just solidify the fact that there is only one name that is spoken when people think about the SFT World Championship.
Yeah, hallowed be thy name
That name is Lucas Balkan.
