XIII-The Legend of the Sandman
Jul 13, 2018 15:39:56 GMT -5
God King Dune, Stephen Singh, and 1 more like this
Post by Teo Blaze on Jul 13, 2018 15:39:56 GMT -5
A strange sight greets the viewer as the scene slowly comes into view. The room is consumed by an inky darkness, the barest glimpses of furniture peeking out from the edges of the scene, ghostly outlines in an otherwise completely blank picture. Jutting corners and sharp angles line either wall, forming a corridor that seems to stretch on infinitely.
Standing in the center of the room, in total silhouette, is a male figure. He slowly rocks back and forth in utter silence, as though recalling a strange memory. Yet even in the total darkness, the black void of the room, one thing stands out. Even with virtually no light, the viewer can see that he wears a luminous white and gold mask.
The figure’s head is bowed, as if deep in thought, as though memories are chasing themself across his mind only to crash into one another like two sides on a battlefield. Memories of victory, of pain, of loss, of triumph....Memories of fear.
His voice echoes forth in the darkness, his tone not unlike a man standing before the gallows. His tone is deadly serious, but impossible to tell whether he intends to meet his fate, or to leap forward and defy it at any cost.
Teo del Sol: Asesinato de Mayo. 2015. That was when I first witnessed it.
The legend of the Sandman.
This unstoppable force of a human being, this behemoth, this superhuman terror. Standing in the ring, across from Natural Ice Beckman. A man some thought would be champion forever. Dune ripped the mask from his own face to finish off the would-be legend. In an instant, one legend ended, and another began.
His accomplishments gained an almost mythical quality. In a time when every man leapt at the opportunity to tell the world how unbeatable he was, the Sandman proved it. He turned away all comers, squashed all opposition, and put fear into a roster that claimed to be fearless.
And I witnessed it all firsthand.
When I think of the Sandman, I don’t think of the mojave desert, I don’t think of bizarre tirades of otherworldly spirits. I think of the man who for nearly six months was an insurmountable obstacle, a beacon of greatness for anyone to witness.
A mythical beast.
The lights come on to reveal that Teo is standing in between the long lines of lockers that make up the WCF locker room. What is unusual though is his appearance. The trademark mask is there, but he is dressed differently. His ring gear is the same as his first night in the company, ripped and faded Blue jeans and white sneakers. He looks every part the rank amateur, the unready young man stepping between the ropes for the first time.
Teo del Sol: But was I afraid of the sandman then? Did I believe in his legend? When he defeated Thomas Bates, Gonzo Murdock, Joey Flash, or David Sanchez, did I look on him with awe, as a conquering hero?
A small grin appears on Teo’s face, he closes his eyes and shakes his head almost dismissively.
Teo del Sol: No. For all of Dune’s posturing, for all of his victories, for all of his great moments, I saw something. I saw what nobody else could. I saw the toll it took on him to hold that world title. For all of his talk of dominance, each and every match pulled him closer and closer to the edge. He accumulated damage faster than anyone in the company, and for every time he got to walk out holding that world title, the look in his eyes, the fire...it started to fade. The desert sands that he held so dear became the sand in an hourglass as he slowly realized that sooner or later, someone would come along, someone that he would not have an answer for.
Even in those young and reckless days, even at my most naive.
I was almost that answer.
The history books will show the match as a loss, and at the end of the night, Dune did manage to hold me down for the three count.
But that night on Slam, I gained the biggest victory of my entire life, even with a loss.
I showed the world that the Sandman was human.
Match of the week, in the conversation for match of the year, in the middle of that ring, a young, cocky people’s champion almost put down the man that had haunted the dreams of the WCF for years. For the first time I looked in Dune’s eyes and I saw that precious little thing he wanted to keep hidden, that dirty little secret.
I looked into his face and I saw fear.
He couldn’t believe it. I was a worm. I was nothing, a young punk with no talent and only a severe deficiency in self-preservation. I was no Joey Flash, I was no Thomas Bates.
And yet there I was, standing across the ring from him. Putting him in danger. Coming closer than ninety-nine percent of the WCF roster ever has to beating the invincible Doom from the Dunes.
On that night, the world saw something that it has never forgotten. The night that Teo del Sol almost did the impossible.
And do you know how I did it?
It is because I was never afraid of you, Dune.
For all of your talk of dominance, for all of the intimidation you tried to hurl at me, I stood across from you in that ring, and I didn’t flinch.
Thrown into the lion’s den, the dragon’s cave? I punched the dragon right in his damned nose. I hit you with everything and I didn’t hesitate for even a second.
Because I don’t believe in your legend, Dune.
When you ripped that mask off in front of Natural Ice? He was looking into the eyes of a demon, a determined monster who had no weakness. You can look into his eyes and you can see fear.
That look. That fear? That has been your greatest weapon, Dune. It always has.
You are strong.
There have been stronger.
You are tough.
There have been tougher.
You are frightening?
Teo’s grin now breaks into a full smile, an almost wild look, a manic excitement mixed with a stone-cold seriousness.
Teo del Sol: Not to me, Sandman.
You want to scare me? You want to make me flinch? To look at you with quivering knees? You want ME to look at you with even an ounce of fear??
The lights in the locker room suddenly drop, and blackness consumes the screen once more. It is at this point that something peculiar happens. The entire room begins to shimmer, as though the screen were a sheet of water broken by a pebble. After a few moments, the lockers seem to fade into shadow, to be replaced by a large metallic object at the end of the room. The object suddenly roars to life with a cacophonous noise as orange flames erupt from what is now clearly a boiler. Standing in the center of the room now is Teo del Sol, but the mask is gone, replaced by a pair of round red glasses.
Teddy Blaze: Good fucking luck.
Fear is just not part of my life, Sandman. You can threaten me with anything. You can take your little desert raids, your little cults of personalities, your evil spirits, and you can shove ‘em right up your sandhole, because quite frankly, all the smoke and mirrors in the world won’t change the fact that I see who you are on the inside.
I have a question for the person thinking that I’m a lunatic for calling out Dune like this. Did you ever sit back and really ask yourself why it is that Dune wants so badly to make you piss yourself when you see him coming? Did you ever wonder why someone who is sooo dominant, and soooo frightening would have to resort to so many theatrics? Kind of a weird question, right? I mean if he was really as tough as he says he is every week, why would he have to keep on beating that same old drum?
I’ll tell ya why.
It’s because he needs you to be afraid. He needs you to look at him with fear, to stare up at the Sandman and wonder what he’s going to do to ya. To play the part of the horror movie victim trying desperately to stop the unstoppable Jason.
News flash, big guy. You’re not Jason Voorhees.
You’re ghostface.
Blaze grins, a crooked smile of ivory flashing beneath the red eyes, the flames reflecting off them and casting a glowing orange light. They are inhuman eyes. Demon’s eyes.
Teddy Blaze: You want us to think that you’re something frightening, that you’re this magical, unstoppable being, because it makes your opponent panic. It makes him fight you on the back foot out of the gate. After all, how can anyone stand a chance against someone if they’re barely able to look at him?
You know who didn’t fall for the whole boogeyman act, Dune?
Alex Richards.
Joey Flash.
John Rabid.
I’m not saying your record is not impressive, but let’s look at what happens when your dirty little secret gets out. Let’s see what happens when you get put on the back foot. I notice you’ve done quite a bit to hide that internet title reign from general memory, but I remember, Dune. Richards is a crazy bastard, but he knew enough to not get intimidated by you, and sure enough, he ripped away that internet belt and made it look easy. Went on a reign so iconic that most people don’t even remember that you held the thing.
I like to think that was the moment, when I look at you Dune. I like to think that was the moment that you realized that there was always someone bigger, someone stronger. That was the moment that the Sandman was born. That was the moment that you realized that you couldn’t hack it on ability alone. Not like you wanted. You wanted the world, and you couldn’t be losing to people like Alex Richards if you were going to make that happen.
He smiles, looking into the crackling fire. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a toothpick, placing it in his mouth as he speaks.
Teddy Blaze: Oh it worked for a while, carried you all the way to the world title. But then along came a man who refused to be intimidated. Who refused to even acknowledge you as anything more than a step on his journey to greatness. When you faced Joey Flash, a man who not only had the natural ability to beat you, but who refused to kowtow to the idea that you were anything special, anything more than his next challenge?
You lost, Dune. In front of the world, you let yourself get pinned by Joey Flash in what was supposed to be your biggest title defense, your crowning achievement.
And then...that was it.
Your mystique was gone. You can count on one hand the number of people that remember you beat Joey Flash at One afterward. What we remember is that Joey Flash showed the world something I have known since the first night I stepped into this company. That if you strip away Dune’s mystique? There’s nothing left.
If you can break through that layer of fear? Then you get to face the Sandman on his own merits.
Teddy now laughs loudly, a cracked, manic laugh that echoes through the empty boiler room. He removes the toothpick and tosses it into the furnace with a flourish, where it makes a large flame.
Teddy Blaze: Do you know what happened when they took my mask off, big guy? Dominance. I beat the World Champion in the very first match of his new reign. I beat Zombie McMorris at One. That internet belt that you had so much trouble holding onto? I not only held it longer than you held the world title, but I have been called one of the best internet champions ever.
Do you know what happened when Joey Flash shattered your mask? And I don’t mean that metal contraption, I mean when he took the idea that you were unstoppable and showed it as quantifiably untrue.
John Rabid blew you up with dynamite.
You disappeared.
Now here we have a conundrum, Dune. Let’s really stop for a moment and think about this. I can’t hold it against you that you took a...let’s call it leave of absence from the company if Rabid forcibly removed you using explosives, right?
But wait a moment, I thought that Dune was supposed to be an unstoppable boogeyman? A terror who flaps in the night, the thing that makes the WCF roster hide in fear?
You can’t have it both ways big man. Either you ducked out on the company during one of the biggest moments of crisis it has ever had, and you stayed away during a time when we needed the Sandman.
Or else you’re not as big and bad as you say you are.
Did I take a night off when Jared Holmes cracked my skull with a steel chair? Did I take a leave of absence when Kyle Kemp threw me off of the stage? Did I even miss a day when Stephen Singh had me forcibly removed from the ring by police officers and thrown in jail?
You started long before I did Sandman, but the difference between you and me?
I don’t run.
I don’t do fear.
That’s right Sandman, I’m going to call it right here. Big bad Dune? You are nothing more than a scared child. You treat that World title like an action figure that you are afraid someone will come along and take, and when someone bigger than you shoves you down in the sand and takes your toy? You stay there.
You hide. You wait until it’s opportune for Dune to make his biiiig comeback and wow everybody.
Do you remember Dune? Back when I was Omega Champion and I challenged you to a match?
Do you remember your response?
“No belt, No match”.
Blaze’s head drops immediately, as though he’s repressing a snicker, as if something deep inside him is trying to escape.
Teddy Blaze: No belt, no match? Fuck. You.
You treated it like it was a goddamned privilege to step into the ring with you. You held up your reputation like it was something sacred, something to be looked on in reverence and awe, like I should get down on my hands and knees and beg you for a match, or else give you something as a reward.
And you know what happened? You won the damn match anyway after the booker had to come down and force you to have it!
You petulant child. You Self-centered, egotistical sack of shit, this is the mythical Sandman that made people quiver in fear? Mr. “No Belt, No match?” As if you have any right, any reasonable claim to demand that people just hand you anything you want.
To say that I was disappointed in your answer is like saying that a child would be disappointed if Santa Claus broke into their house and stole their TV.
That was the moment, Dune, that was when I saw you for what you really are. You’re not a hardworking, frightening man who puts WCF first, no. You are a calculating, politicking, slimy businessman who doesn’t care for anything except what he personally can get out of everyone else.
Where’s your tag team partner, Dune? After everything you went through together, after a whole saga of freeing Wade from the Jackal, what did you do once you lost those tag belts? You dropped him like a load of bricks. You can call technicalities, you can make excuses, you can twist it any way you want, but as far as I am concerned, you used his bloated, drug addled ass to get yourself into the tag title books and then you dropped him.
Teo now looks down onto the ground, and slowly bends over, kneeling down. There is a fallen white and red mask on the ground, and Teo looks into it through those red lenses, those demon’s eyes reflecting with the flames of the furnace, and he shakes his head mournfully.
Teo del Sol: I wanted to believe you were different, Dune. I really did. I wanted to think that beneath all the smoke, the veneer of dominance, there was nothing more than another hardworking wrestler.
But illusions, like most things, eventually come to an end. The more I saw you, the more that World Title became a golden albatross around your shoulders, the more I realized the truth. That you are in this for one person and only one person, and that is yourself.
You can try and hide it under layers of sand, you can put on your metal mask, you can play your mind games.
But you’re not the monster we think you are.
You’re a man.
A weak man, Dune.
A scared man.
And I have bad news for you…
Suddenly the lights go out once again, and the darkness returns. This time the room seems to shift very much, almost as though it is quaking. There’s a rumbling, a low sound at first, that slowly grinds into a cacophonous and chaotic symphony of sound, it penetrates the ear and makes the scene quiver with noise.
Then, all at once, with a resounding noise like a thunderclap, the room shudders, and the walls suddenly fall away, exposing a bright, blinding white light! The scenery seems to crumble into dust as the four walls slam into a dusty desert floor. And sure enough, Teo is standing no longer inside a boiler room, but instead in the middle of the Mojave desert, under a burning sun. Once again, he is wearing the well-traveled Gold and White wrestling mask, but he looks different. Older, wiser.
But perhaps most strikingly, he is holding in one hand a beaten and tarnished Omega Championship, the name “Teo del Sol” Emblazoned all along it.
Teo del Sol: I am not afraid, Dune.
No matter what words you use, no matter how hard you try to intimidate me, you cannot change the fact that I have seen the real you. I have seen the man who desperately tries to protect his own legacy, I have seen the weakness in your heart, the fear you have. I know what it takes to beat you, Dune.
What will you do that others have not? Have you forgotten when Gemini Battle held a shard of glass to my throat?
Have you forgotten when I stood atop a twenty foot scaffold, where even an inch of a mistake would send me tumbling to my death?
Have you forgotten when I leapt fifteen feet off the stage into the roof of a limousine?
Or slammed Stephen Singh’s limousine into the stage with myself behind the driver’s seat?
I do not know the meaning of the word fear, Dune! You can stand before me, the mythical conquering sandman, you can drag me down into your crater, you can throw anything in this entire blasted desert at me!
I will take it, and I will smile.
What will you do, Dune? What will you do when you stand across from someone like me?
Someone willing to die in that ring! To lay his body down if it means showing the world that you are not the monster that you want us to believe you are!
In case you’ve forgotten, big man...This isn’t just another show.
This is XIII.
This is the night when miracles happen.
This is the night when the impossible becomes the trivial.
When I step between those ropes, Dune?
That’s when you’ll look across the ring.
That same feeling that you’ve preyed on, that fear? That lifeblood that’s taken you to such great heights?
When you look across the ring, and you see these eyes.
Unblinking.
Unflinching.
Determined.
That’s when it’ll hit you.
That’s when you’ll feel that same fear coursing through your body. When you look at me, you’ll see a man who is determined to show the world that the Sandman is nothing more than a myth.
This is not about beating you, Dune.
It’s not about victory.
It’s about pain. It’s about exposing you for the lying, coward you are, about pulling back the curtain on the legend of the sandman.
It’s about walking into that crater, walking into your home turf, and in front of the world, ripping off your mask once and for all!
But unlike Ice Beckman, Dune, when I rip your mask off, I’m not going to flinch at what I see. I’m not going to shudder at the sight below.
You want the world to look upon you as a monster.
I don’t even see you as a man.
Teo can’t help but bring himself to a chuckle, and he pats the Omega Championship with a grin as he looks into the distance, where the Mojave crater can be seen on the horizon.
Teo del Sol: What did it feel like, Dune? I want to know. When did you realize that you needed that fear to win? When did you realize that your strength wasn’t enough? That your endurance wasn’t enough?
What thoughts spun around your head that day you looked into the mirror and say to yourself that you really were not as bad as you thought you were?
You know the fundamental difference between you and me, Dune? I’ve never had anyone scared of me. I’ve heard people talk about my untapped potential, I’ve heard them shower me with backhanded compliments and disdain for the records I’ve broken, but not a single one has ever looked at me and been frightened.
You know why?
Because I’ve never needed them to.
I can run down the list. Andre Holmes, John Rabid, Vengeance, Mikey Extreme, Gemini Battle, Thomas Bates, Alex Richards, Adam Young, Zombie McMorris, Jay Price, Bonnie Blue, Jared Holmes, David Sanchez, Jonny Fly…I could go on.
Any way you slice it, I have faced, and beaten, a murderer’s row. And do you know what every single one of those men, every single one of those champions that I’ve beaten have all said the same things and they have all had one thing in common.
They all looked at me and they saw someone weak.
They looked at me and they saw someone that they would be able to steamroll.
They were so sure, so confident that they would walk out with their hands raised.
You think any one of them held back, Dune?
You think any one of them were frightened by my presence?
You think any one of those names looked at me as anything more than another easy victory?
You should know better.
Unlike you, Dune, I’ve never had to hide my weakness. I’ve never had to intimidate anybody. In fact, most of the time I have been on the receiving end of the intimidation.
And I have never flinched.
I have never once stepped between those ropes and looked at an opponent in fear.
Because that’s not who I am, Dune.
I am Teo del Sol. Hero of the people, the savior of the hopeless, the man who dares to give a damn in a world torn apart by cynical and greedy bastards.
I am Teddy Blaze, the defiant seeker of truth, the witness to a world gone mad and the one who exposes those that would prey on the weak.
The name may change, but I have always been the same. No matter what doubt I felt about myself, no matter what opponent has been placed across the ring from me, I have each and every time, win or lose, walked out of that ring knowing that I had no excuse for either result!
You cannot say the same.
The Dune who on the one hand extolls the virtue of strength and honor, who tells the world that he is not to be trifled with, who attacks people from behind in the center of the ring?
Oh yes, don’t think I wouldn’t talk about last week.
Teo chuckles, as a flash of the attack from Monday flashes across his mind, he recalls how Dune had attacked him mere moments after he finally removed Sanchez from his life.
Teo del Sol: What did you want me to do, Dune? To be afraid because you hit me? To take that shot and quiver that you might hurt me again?
Don’t make me laugh.
I want you to hit me harder.
I want you to come at me with the full force of the desert!
I want you to reach deep down into that black heart of yours and I want you to pull out each and every ounce of effort you can muster!
I can take it.
You will Never. Break me, Dune.
I don’t care what you do.
You aren’t as strong as you think you are, big guy. You’re not as tough, and you’re not as unbeatable.
I have a roaring fire within me, and it is calling for you, Dune.
There is a passion, a desire that you can’t possibly imagine.
It is calling me to walk right into that crater, to stand across that ring from you and to show the world just how weak you really are!!
You are not a monster! You are a worm!
You are a pitiful child hiding behind smoke and mirrors, doing everything in his power to hide the fact from the world that you are nothing more than a sad, pathetic man who couldn’t even hold onto the internet title without frightening his opponent!
At XIII, I am going to walk into that crater, and I am going to walk out as the WCF World Champion!
That’s right Dune. What was it you said, no belt, no match?
That’s what you care about.
Even now you’re desperately clinging to that championship belt, you need it to validate your legacy.
Teo grins, looking down at the Omega Championship around his shoulder.
Teo del Sol: The WCF World Championship is the most valuable prize on the planet, Dune. Without it, you are nothing.
Without that twenty pounds of gold to wrap around your waist, you are nothing.
That’s why you wanted this, right?
Because you can only exist as long as you have a prize to show the world just how good you are.
Because what are you without it?
You’re the man who lost to Joey Flash.
You’re the man who John Rabid blew up with Dynamite.
The man who lost to Teo del Sol.
I want that World Championship Dune, I won’t lie.
I’ve worked non-stop, win or lose, for years to get this chance.
But no matter how much I want that belt, it will not validate my legacy.
I’ve won almost every belt there is to win, set records and redefined championships.
But my legacy will not be measured in gold.
My legacy will be showing the world that the impossible can happen. That miracles are attainable if you pour your passion into them.
If you let the fire that burns inside you reach its peak, if you can harness that yearning feeling, that drive, if you can let your desire push you, then it will ignite a spark that will change the world!
Unlike you Dune, it is not enough for me to claim the world.
I want to change the world.
I want to show the world the truth.
That we are special.
That we have unlimited potential.
You stand alone at the top of the mountain, Dune.
But you are one man.
That is why you will lose.
That is why I will take that World Championship from you.
You have the world in your hands, Dune.
But I have the world at my back.
I can feel the people’s fire. I can feel the passionate cries for change, I can feel the push at my back, the impossible tumult of a thousand voices!
I will free that championship from your waist, Dune, I will return it to the hands of the good, the righteous, the passionate!
The fire of the WCF Galaxy will turn your sandstorm into a nothing more than a sheet of glass, and I will shatter it, Dune!
Standing over you, as the new WCF World Champion, I will hold that belt aloft, and our fire will envelop everything else!
That is the way the legend of the Sandman ends! He is brought low not by a mythical beast, or an unstoppable titan, no!
He is brought low by the one man who dared look upon the sandman without fear, whose fire burned away the shadows that obscured the man from the desert.
Teo looks down at the Omega Championship, and slowly, he places it on the ground.
Teo del Sol: I am not walking into that ring as Teo del Sol, former Omega Champion, Greatest People’s Champion, or any other title you want to give me.
I am walking in as Teo del Sol, the man.
You are walking in as Dune, the Monster.
And at the end of the night, when all is said and done?
I’m walking out as Teo del Sol, the man with the world championship.
You won’t be walking out at all.
With that, Teo turns and places the Omega Championship on the ground, and turns to begin walking towards the crater with a smile on his face. The camera slowly pans down onto the Omega Championship as the sound of the Mojave desert winds fill the ears of the viewer as the scene fades to black.
Standing in the center of the room, in total silhouette, is a male figure. He slowly rocks back and forth in utter silence, as though recalling a strange memory. Yet even in the total darkness, the black void of the room, one thing stands out. Even with virtually no light, the viewer can see that he wears a luminous white and gold mask.
The figure’s head is bowed, as if deep in thought, as though memories are chasing themself across his mind only to crash into one another like two sides on a battlefield. Memories of victory, of pain, of loss, of triumph....Memories of fear.
His voice echoes forth in the darkness, his tone not unlike a man standing before the gallows. His tone is deadly serious, but impossible to tell whether he intends to meet his fate, or to leap forward and defy it at any cost.
Teo del Sol: Asesinato de Mayo. 2015. That was when I first witnessed it.
The legend of the Sandman.
This unstoppable force of a human being, this behemoth, this superhuman terror. Standing in the ring, across from Natural Ice Beckman. A man some thought would be champion forever. Dune ripped the mask from his own face to finish off the would-be legend. In an instant, one legend ended, and another began.
His accomplishments gained an almost mythical quality. In a time when every man leapt at the opportunity to tell the world how unbeatable he was, the Sandman proved it. He turned away all comers, squashed all opposition, and put fear into a roster that claimed to be fearless.
And I witnessed it all firsthand.
When I think of the Sandman, I don’t think of the mojave desert, I don’t think of bizarre tirades of otherworldly spirits. I think of the man who for nearly six months was an insurmountable obstacle, a beacon of greatness for anyone to witness.
A mythical beast.
The lights come on to reveal that Teo is standing in between the long lines of lockers that make up the WCF locker room. What is unusual though is his appearance. The trademark mask is there, but he is dressed differently. His ring gear is the same as his first night in the company, ripped and faded Blue jeans and white sneakers. He looks every part the rank amateur, the unready young man stepping between the ropes for the first time.
Teo del Sol: But was I afraid of the sandman then? Did I believe in his legend? When he defeated Thomas Bates, Gonzo Murdock, Joey Flash, or David Sanchez, did I look on him with awe, as a conquering hero?
A small grin appears on Teo’s face, he closes his eyes and shakes his head almost dismissively.
Teo del Sol: No. For all of Dune’s posturing, for all of his victories, for all of his great moments, I saw something. I saw what nobody else could. I saw the toll it took on him to hold that world title. For all of his talk of dominance, each and every match pulled him closer and closer to the edge. He accumulated damage faster than anyone in the company, and for every time he got to walk out holding that world title, the look in his eyes, the fire...it started to fade. The desert sands that he held so dear became the sand in an hourglass as he slowly realized that sooner or later, someone would come along, someone that he would not have an answer for.
Even in those young and reckless days, even at my most naive.
I was almost that answer.
The history books will show the match as a loss, and at the end of the night, Dune did manage to hold me down for the three count.
But that night on Slam, I gained the biggest victory of my entire life, even with a loss.
I showed the world that the Sandman was human.
Match of the week, in the conversation for match of the year, in the middle of that ring, a young, cocky people’s champion almost put down the man that had haunted the dreams of the WCF for years. For the first time I looked in Dune’s eyes and I saw that precious little thing he wanted to keep hidden, that dirty little secret.
I looked into his face and I saw fear.
He couldn’t believe it. I was a worm. I was nothing, a young punk with no talent and only a severe deficiency in self-preservation. I was no Joey Flash, I was no Thomas Bates.
And yet there I was, standing across the ring from him. Putting him in danger. Coming closer than ninety-nine percent of the WCF roster ever has to beating the invincible Doom from the Dunes.
On that night, the world saw something that it has never forgotten. The night that Teo del Sol almost did the impossible.
And do you know how I did it?
It is because I was never afraid of you, Dune.
For all of your talk of dominance, for all of the intimidation you tried to hurl at me, I stood across from you in that ring, and I didn’t flinch.
Thrown into the lion’s den, the dragon’s cave? I punched the dragon right in his damned nose. I hit you with everything and I didn’t hesitate for even a second.
Because I don’t believe in your legend, Dune.
When you ripped that mask off in front of Natural Ice? He was looking into the eyes of a demon, a determined monster who had no weakness. You can look into his eyes and you can see fear.
That look. That fear? That has been your greatest weapon, Dune. It always has.
You are strong.
There have been stronger.
You are tough.
There have been tougher.
You are frightening?
Teo’s grin now breaks into a full smile, an almost wild look, a manic excitement mixed with a stone-cold seriousness.
Teo del Sol: Not to me, Sandman.
You want to scare me? You want to make me flinch? To look at you with quivering knees? You want ME to look at you with even an ounce of fear??
The lights in the locker room suddenly drop, and blackness consumes the screen once more. It is at this point that something peculiar happens. The entire room begins to shimmer, as though the screen were a sheet of water broken by a pebble. After a few moments, the lockers seem to fade into shadow, to be replaced by a large metallic object at the end of the room. The object suddenly roars to life with a cacophonous noise as orange flames erupt from what is now clearly a boiler. Standing in the center of the room now is Teo del Sol, but the mask is gone, replaced by a pair of round red glasses.
Teddy Blaze: Good fucking luck.
Fear is just not part of my life, Sandman. You can threaten me with anything. You can take your little desert raids, your little cults of personalities, your evil spirits, and you can shove ‘em right up your sandhole, because quite frankly, all the smoke and mirrors in the world won’t change the fact that I see who you are on the inside.
I have a question for the person thinking that I’m a lunatic for calling out Dune like this. Did you ever sit back and really ask yourself why it is that Dune wants so badly to make you piss yourself when you see him coming? Did you ever wonder why someone who is sooo dominant, and soooo frightening would have to resort to so many theatrics? Kind of a weird question, right? I mean if he was really as tough as he says he is every week, why would he have to keep on beating that same old drum?
I’ll tell ya why.
It’s because he needs you to be afraid. He needs you to look at him with fear, to stare up at the Sandman and wonder what he’s going to do to ya. To play the part of the horror movie victim trying desperately to stop the unstoppable Jason.
News flash, big guy. You’re not Jason Voorhees.
You’re ghostface.
Blaze grins, a crooked smile of ivory flashing beneath the red eyes, the flames reflecting off them and casting a glowing orange light. They are inhuman eyes. Demon’s eyes.
Teddy Blaze: You want us to think that you’re something frightening, that you’re this magical, unstoppable being, because it makes your opponent panic. It makes him fight you on the back foot out of the gate. After all, how can anyone stand a chance against someone if they’re barely able to look at him?
You know who didn’t fall for the whole boogeyman act, Dune?
Alex Richards.
Joey Flash.
John Rabid.
I’m not saying your record is not impressive, but let’s look at what happens when your dirty little secret gets out. Let’s see what happens when you get put on the back foot. I notice you’ve done quite a bit to hide that internet title reign from general memory, but I remember, Dune. Richards is a crazy bastard, but he knew enough to not get intimidated by you, and sure enough, he ripped away that internet belt and made it look easy. Went on a reign so iconic that most people don’t even remember that you held the thing.
I like to think that was the moment, when I look at you Dune. I like to think that was the moment that you realized that there was always someone bigger, someone stronger. That was the moment that the Sandman was born. That was the moment that you realized that you couldn’t hack it on ability alone. Not like you wanted. You wanted the world, and you couldn’t be losing to people like Alex Richards if you were going to make that happen.
He smiles, looking into the crackling fire. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a toothpick, placing it in his mouth as he speaks.
Teddy Blaze: Oh it worked for a while, carried you all the way to the world title. But then along came a man who refused to be intimidated. Who refused to even acknowledge you as anything more than a step on his journey to greatness. When you faced Joey Flash, a man who not only had the natural ability to beat you, but who refused to kowtow to the idea that you were anything special, anything more than his next challenge?
You lost, Dune. In front of the world, you let yourself get pinned by Joey Flash in what was supposed to be your biggest title defense, your crowning achievement.
And then...that was it.
Your mystique was gone. You can count on one hand the number of people that remember you beat Joey Flash at One afterward. What we remember is that Joey Flash showed the world something I have known since the first night I stepped into this company. That if you strip away Dune’s mystique? There’s nothing left.
If you can break through that layer of fear? Then you get to face the Sandman on his own merits.
Teddy now laughs loudly, a cracked, manic laugh that echoes through the empty boiler room. He removes the toothpick and tosses it into the furnace with a flourish, where it makes a large flame.
Teddy Blaze: Do you know what happened when they took my mask off, big guy? Dominance. I beat the World Champion in the very first match of his new reign. I beat Zombie McMorris at One. That internet belt that you had so much trouble holding onto? I not only held it longer than you held the world title, but I have been called one of the best internet champions ever.
Do you know what happened when Joey Flash shattered your mask? And I don’t mean that metal contraption, I mean when he took the idea that you were unstoppable and showed it as quantifiably untrue.
John Rabid blew you up with dynamite.
You disappeared.
Now here we have a conundrum, Dune. Let’s really stop for a moment and think about this. I can’t hold it against you that you took a...let’s call it leave of absence from the company if Rabid forcibly removed you using explosives, right?
But wait a moment, I thought that Dune was supposed to be an unstoppable boogeyman? A terror who flaps in the night, the thing that makes the WCF roster hide in fear?
You can’t have it both ways big man. Either you ducked out on the company during one of the biggest moments of crisis it has ever had, and you stayed away during a time when we needed the Sandman.
Or else you’re not as big and bad as you say you are.
Did I take a night off when Jared Holmes cracked my skull with a steel chair? Did I take a leave of absence when Kyle Kemp threw me off of the stage? Did I even miss a day when Stephen Singh had me forcibly removed from the ring by police officers and thrown in jail?
You started long before I did Sandman, but the difference between you and me?
I don’t run.
I don’t do fear.
That’s right Sandman, I’m going to call it right here. Big bad Dune? You are nothing more than a scared child. You treat that World title like an action figure that you are afraid someone will come along and take, and when someone bigger than you shoves you down in the sand and takes your toy? You stay there.
You hide. You wait until it’s opportune for Dune to make his biiiig comeback and wow everybody.
Do you remember Dune? Back when I was Omega Champion and I challenged you to a match?
Do you remember your response?
“No belt, No match”.
Blaze’s head drops immediately, as though he’s repressing a snicker, as if something deep inside him is trying to escape.
Teddy Blaze: No belt, no match? Fuck. You.
You treated it like it was a goddamned privilege to step into the ring with you. You held up your reputation like it was something sacred, something to be looked on in reverence and awe, like I should get down on my hands and knees and beg you for a match, or else give you something as a reward.
And you know what happened? You won the damn match anyway after the booker had to come down and force you to have it!
You petulant child. You Self-centered, egotistical sack of shit, this is the mythical Sandman that made people quiver in fear? Mr. “No Belt, No match?” As if you have any right, any reasonable claim to demand that people just hand you anything you want.
To say that I was disappointed in your answer is like saying that a child would be disappointed if Santa Claus broke into their house and stole their TV.
That was the moment, Dune, that was when I saw you for what you really are. You’re not a hardworking, frightening man who puts WCF first, no. You are a calculating, politicking, slimy businessman who doesn’t care for anything except what he personally can get out of everyone else.
Where’s your tag team partner, Dune? After everything you went through together, after a whole saga of freeing Wade from the Jackal, what did you do once you lost those tag belts? You dropped him like a load of bricks. You can call technicalities, you can make excuses, you can twist it any way you want, but as far as I am concerned, you used his bloated, drug addled ass to get yourself into the tag title books and then you dropped him.
Teo now looks down onto the ground, and slowly bends over, kneeling down. There is a fallen white and red mask on the ground, and Teo looks into it through those red lenses, those demon’s eyes reflecting with the flames of the furnace, and he shakes his head mournfully.
Teo del Sol: I wanted to believe you were different, Dune. I really did. I wanted to think that beneath all the smoke, the veneer of dominance, there was nothing more than another hardworking wrestler.
But illusions, like most things, eventually come to an end. The more I saw you, the more that World Title became a golden albatross around your shoulders, the more I realized the truth. That you are in this for one person and only one person, and that is yourself.
You can try and hide it under layers of sand, you can put on your metal mask, you can play your mind games.
But you’re not the monster we think you are.
You’re a man.
A weak man, Dune.
A scared man.
And I have bad news for you…
Suddenly the lights go out once again, and the darkness returns. This time the room seems to shift very much, almost as though it is quaking. There’s a rumbling, a low sound at first, that slowly grinds into a cacophonous and chaotic symphony of sound, it penetrates the ear and makes the scene quiver with noise.
Then, all at once, with a resounding noise like a thunderclap, the room shudders, and the walls suddenly fall away, exposing a bright, blinding white light! The scenery seems to crumble into dust as the four walls slam into a dusty desert floor. And sure enough, Teo is standing no longer inside a boiler room, but instead in the middle of the Mojave desert, under a burning sun. Once again, he is wearing the well-traveled Gold and White wrestling mask, but he looks different. Older, wiser.
But perhaps most strikingly, he is holding in one hand a beaten and tarnished Omega Championship, the name “Teo del Sol” Emblazoned all along it.
Teo del Sol: I am not afraid, Dune.
No matter what words you use, no matter how hard you try to intimidate me, you cannot change the fact that I have seen the real you. I have seen the man who desperately tries to protect his own legacy, I have seen the weakness in your heart, the fear you have. I know what it takes to beat you, Dune.
What will you do that others have not? Have you forgotten when Gemini Battle held a shard of glass to my throat?
Have you forgotten when I stood atop a twenty foot scaffold, where even an inch of a mistake would send me tumbling to my death?
Have you forgotten when I leapt fifteen feet off the stage into the roof of a limousine?
Or slammed Stephen Singh’s limousine into the stage with myself behind the driver’s seat?
I do not know the meaning of the word fear, Dune! You can stand before me, the mythical conquering sandman, you can drag me down into your crater, you can throw anything in this entire blasted desert at me!
I will take it, and I will smile.
What will you do, Dune? What will you do when you stand across from someone like me?
Someone willing to die in that ring! To lay his body down if it means showing the world that you are not the monster that you want us to believe you are!
In case you’ve forgotten, big man...This isn’t just another show.
This is XIII.
This is the night when miracles happen.
This is the night when the impossible becomes the trivial.
When I step between those ropes, Dune?
That’s when you’ll look across the ring.
That same feeling that you’ve preyed on, that fear? That lifeblood that’s taken you to such great heights?
When you look across the ring, and you see these eyes.
Unblinking.
Unflinching.
Determined.
That’s when it’ll hit you.
That’s when you’ll feel that same fear coursing through your body. When you look at me, you’ll see a man who is determined to show the world that the Sandman is nothing more than a myth.
This is not about beating you, Dune.
It’s not about victory.
It’s about pain. It’s about exposing you for the lying, coward you are, about pulling back the curtain on the legend of the sandman.
It’s about walking into that crater, walking into your home turf, and in front of the world, ripping off your mask once and for all!
But unlike Ice Beckman, Dune, when I rip your mask off, I’m not going to flinch at what I see. I’m not going to shudder at the sight below.
You want the world to look upon you as a monster.
I don’t even see you as a man.
Teo can’t help but bring himself to a chuckle, and he pats the Omega Championship with a grin as he looks into the distance, where the Mojave crater can be seen on the horizon.
Teo del Sol: What did it feel like, Dune? I want to know. When did you realize that you needed that fear to win? When did you realize that your strength wasn’t enough? That your endurance wasn’t enough?
What thoughts spun around your head that day you looked into the mirror and say to yourself that you really were not as bad as you thought you were?
You know the fundamental difference between you and me, Dune? I’ve never had anyone scared of me. I’ve heard people talk about my untapped potential, I’ve heard them shower me with backhanded compliments and disdain for the records I’ve broken, but not a single one has ever looked at me and been frightened.
You know why?
Because I’ve never needed them to.
I can run down the list. Andre Holmes, John Rabid, Vengeance, Mikey Extreme, Gemini Battle, Thomas Bates, Alex Richards, Adam Young, Zombie McMorris, Jay Price, Bonnie Blue, Jared Holmes, David Sanchez, Jonny Fly…I could go on.
Any way you slice it, I have faced, and beaten, a murderer’s row. And do you know what every single one of those men, every single one of those champions that I’ve beaten have all said the same things and they have all had one thing in common.
They all looked at me and they saw someone weak.
They looked at me and they saw someone that they would be able to steamroll.
They were so sure, so confident that they would walk out with their hands raised.
You think any one of them held back, Dune?
You think any one of them were frightened by my presence?
You think any one of those names looked at me as anything more than another easy victory?
You should know better.
Unlike you, Dune, I’ve never had to hide my weakness. I’ve never had to intimidate anybody. In fact, most of the time I have been on the receiving end of the intimidation.
And I have never flinched.
I have never once stepped between those ropes and looked at an opponent in fear.
Because that’s not who I am, Dune.
I am Teo del Sol. Hero of the people, the savior of the hopeless, the man who dares to give a damn in a world torn apart by cynical and greedy bastards.
I am Teddy Blaze, the defiant seeker of truth, the witness to a world gone mad and the one who exposes those that would prey on the weak.
The name may change, but I have always been the same. No matter what doubt I felt about myself, no matter what opponent has been placed across the ring from me, I have each and every time, win or lose, walked out of that ring knowing that I had no excuse for either result!
You cannot say the same.
The Dune who on the one hand extolls the virtue of strength and honor, who tells the world that he is not to be trifled with, who attacks people from behind in the center of the ring?
Oh yes, don’t think I wouldn’t talk about last week.
Teo chuckles, as a flash of the attack from Monday flashes across his mind, he recalls how Dune had attacked him mere moments after he finally removed Sanchez from his life.
Teo del Sol: What did you want me to do, Dune? To be afraid because you hit me? To take that shot and quiver that you might hurt me again?
Don’t make me laugh.
I want you to hit me harder.
I want you to come at me with the full force of the desert!
I want you to reach deep down into that black heart of yours and I want you to pull out each and every ounce of effort you can muster!
I can take it.
You will Never. Break me, Dune.
I don’t care what you do.
You aren’t as strong as you think you are, big guy. You’re not as tough, and you’re not as unbeatable.
I have a roaring fire within me, and it is calling for you, Dune.
There is a passion, a desire that you can’t possibly imagine.
It is calling me to walk right into that crater, to stand across that ring from you and to show the world just how weak you really are!!
You are not a monster! You are a worm!
You are a pitiful child hiding behind smoke and mirrors, doing everything in his power to hide the fact from the world that you are nothing more than a sad, pathetic man who couldn’t even hold onto the internet title without frightening his opponent!
At XIII, I am going to walk into that crater, and I am going to walk out as the WCF World Champion!
That’s right Dune. What was it you said, no belt, no match?
That’s what you care about.
Even now you’re desperately clinging to that championship belt, you need it to validate your legacy.
Teo grins, looking down at the Omega Championship around his shoulder.
Teo del Sol: The WCF World Championship is the most valuable prize on the planet, Dune. Without it, you are nothing.
Without that twenty pounds of gold to wrap around your waist, you are nothing.
That’s why you wanted this, right?
Because you can only exist as long as you have a prize to show the world just how good you are.
Because what are you without it?
You’re the man who lost to Joey Flash.
You’re the man who John Rabid blew up with Dynamite.
The man who lost to Teo del Sol.
I want that World Championship Dune, I won’t lie.
I’ve worked non-stop, win or lose, for years to get this chance.
But no matter how much I want that belt, it will not validate my legacy.
I’ve won almost every belt there is to win, set records and redefined championships.
But my legacy will not be measured in gold.
My legacy will be showing the world that the impossible can happen. That miracles are attainable if you pour your passion into them.
If you let the fire that burns inside you reach its peak, if you can harness that yearning feeling, that drive, if you can let your desire push you, then it will ignite a spark that will change the world!
Unlike you Dune, it is not enough for me to claim the world.
I want to change the world.
I want to show the world the truth.
That we are special.
That we have unlimited potential.
You stand alone at the top of the mountain, Dune.
But you are one man.
That is why you will lose.
That is why I will take that World Championship from you.
You have the world in your hands, Dune.
But I have the world at my back.
I can feel the people’s fire. I can feel the passionate cries for change, I can feel the push at my back, the impossible tumult of a thousand voices!
I will free that championship from your waist, Dune, I will return it to the hands of the good, the righteous, the passionate!
The fire of the WCF Galaxy will turn your sandstorm into a nothing more than a sheet of glass, and I will shatter it, Dune!
Standing over you, as the new WCF World Champion, I will hold that belt aloft, and our fire will envelop everything else!
That is the way the legend of the Sandman ends! He is brought low not by a mythical beast, or an unstoppable titan, no!
He is brought low by the one man who dared look upon the sandman without fear, whose fire burned away the shadows that obscured the man from the desert.
Teo looks down at the Omega Championship, and slowly, he places it on the ground.
Teo del Sol: I am not walking into that ring as Teo del Sol, former Omega Champion, Greatest People’s Champion, or any other title you want to give me.
I am walking in as Teo del Sol, the man.
You are walking in as Dune, the Monster.
And at the end of the night, when all is said and done?
I’m walking out as Teo del Sol, the man with the world championship.
You won’t be walking out at all.
With that, Teo turns and places the Omega Championship on the ground, and turns to begin walking towards the crater with a smile on his face. The camera slowly pans down onto the Omega Championship as the sound of the Mojave desert winds fill the ears of the viewer as the scene fades to black.
