Ride the Lightning (What did you think it'd be called?)

[Dean Wolf]

October 22, 2018
The Family Arena
St. Charles, Missouri

He did it.



He fucking did it.



DW Wolf finally won a professional wrestling championship.



And he did it by beating one of the best in the world.



After the tumult and sidetracks of the last three years, he finally got his wrestling career back on track. Not only did he get it back on track, but he hopped on the fast track and took advantage of his opportunity by becoming the WCF Hardcore Champion.



Now, he’s in the locker room, sweating, aching, tired, and holding the Hardcore Championship in his hands, looking down on it as if it were a newborn baby.



In a moment like this, one should be able to finally let go of all their mistakes, all their regrets, all their preoccupations; but even in this moment, when his mind should be totally free from worry, he can’t help but feel a pang of guilt.



It was just one of many emotions he had been feeling ever since his dad welcomed him back to Long Island after not speaking to him for three years. At first, Wolf was angry. Fuck him, he kept thinking to himself, he’s a piece of shit. Then he felt sadness that things had gotten so bad between him and his dad. Then he went back to saying “fuck him” and got mad all over again. Then he thought about why his dad had come to hurt him and he felt guilt. And finally, depression. Then sadness again. Then anger. Followed by guilt. Proceeded by depression. Accompanied by sadness. Anger. Sadness. Guilt. Depression. Sadness. Anger. Guilt. Depression.



He was running the gamut of negative emotions.



It couldn’t have come at a worst time, of course. He was edging ever closer to his Hardcore Championship Match against Stephen Singh and he did his damndest to get his dad off of his mind. There were moments when he was so wrapped up in activity that he could forget about him; but of course, the memory was still there in the back of his mind. It wasn’t going away, not even after he just had the greatest achievement of his life in winning the Hardcore Title.



He knew what he had to do to shake everything that was going on in his head.



It’s something his mother told him time and time again whenever he and his dad would fight.



“You need to go talk to your father. You can’t be angry at him forever. He’s your father. Don’t let this kind of thing ruin your relationship with him like it did with his father.”



His father, Phillip Dexter, was a complicated man. Not complicated to figure out, just complicated to deal with. In fact, figuring him out was quite easy. When Phillip was a kid, there was no love in his household. He had a mother who was abused as a child and in turn abused her own children. Every day was colored by a slap to the head or a whipping with a belt. One time, Phillip was even chased around the house with a butcher’s knife for bringing friends to his house without permission.



His father was out most of the time working, and when he was home, he gave no attention to his children. When he came home, he didn’t want to be bothered. He had worked all day. Now he was on his time, which meant reading the paper and watching TV news simultaneously during dinner. Sometimes the kid’s got his attention- when Mom told Dad about something bad they had done that day. Then they got Dad’s full attention. One time Phillip got a back fist to the face right there at the dinner table. Then, Dad returned to his meal and his news as if nothing had happened. Phillip, holding back his tears, got back in his seat and acted the same.



In addition to the lack of love shown by his parents, Phillip and his siblings were never taught to love each other, which left a breeding ground for rivalries and jealousy to build. Despite not paying much attention to his kids, Phillip’s father did seem to dote on them in different ways when they turned 18. His older sister got to go to college on his dad’s dime. His brother, who had been kicked out of the house at 16 after getting his girlfriend pregnant, wanted to be a mechanic, so Dad bought him all the tools he needed to start his career. The younger sister, the baby of the family, seemed to be treated differently than the rest of the kids. There were 11 years between her and Phillip. Dad gave her attention. Mom didn’t beat the shit out of her. She got everything she wanted.



Phillip, on the other hand, was the black sheep of the family. Not that he had really earned that title. Sure, he was a smartass, but he never did anything to embarrass his family in any way. Still, he was deemed no good by his parents and didn’t get shit. No college. No tools. No love. He got one thing. A beat-up old pick-up truck. With no floor.



Oh, and he also got a lifetime’s with worth of pain, misery, and anger to carry around for the rest of his life, especially when Phillip was old enough he got into a fistfight with his father in his house and they stopped talking to each other.



That pain, misery, and anger sometimes made itself known when DW Wolf, born Daniel Evan Dexter, was a kid.



Phillip was not an abusive father, not by any stretch of the imagination. Wolf got hit sometimes- when he did something wrong, like running across the street without permission into oncoming traffic when he was five. Boy, was his ass red after that; but really, Phillip’s anger manifested itself in the words he would use when he got frustrated or angry with Daniel. There was the time that Phillip was fixing something in the bathroom and asked Daniel to get a pair of pliers from the basement. Daniel didn’t know what pliers looked like. He grabbed what he thought were pliers but ended up being wire cutters. When he went back to the bathroom, Phillip was already in a foul mood over whatever he was trying to fix. When he saw the wire cutters in his son’s hand, he shot up to his feet and just started shouting the kid down, calling him “shithead” and “fucking idiot” and telling him “you don’t know what a fucking pair of pliers is but if I asked you anything about wrestling, you’d know the fucking answer!”



Man, was Daniel pissed after that. Nobody ever fucking showed him what pliers were. And where did his dad come off calling him a “fucking idiot?” He was just some custodian who came home and watched fucking TV and ate junk food all night. He said as much to his mother, Marie, when Phillip left to go get something from the hardware store.



She was always in the middle of these things between father and son. She had come from a much more loving household where people fought but then forgave each other and made up afterwards. She let her son vent and left him alone while he stewed in his bedroom, but later on, when the problem in the bathroom was fixed and everybody’s emotions had wound down, she went up there, saying the same thing that she always said when Phillip hurt Daniel’s feelings deeply and Daniel vowed never to speak to his father again.



“You need to go talk to your father. You can’t be angry at him forever. He’s your father. Don’t let this kind of thing ruin your relationship with him like it did with his father.”



And he always did because he was a good son and because he really loved his dad despite the his faults.



And because waiting for his father to apologize- for anything, ever- was like waiting for pigs to fly.



So if he thought that his dad was going to apologize for showing up at his apartment and kicking the shit out of him, he was insane.



And anyway, why would his dad have to apologize in this case? DW knew exactly why his dad had punched him in the throat, kicked him in the balls, and kneed him in the face.



It was because in the three years that they didn’t talk and DW was living the good life as Bernard Core’s trusted enforcer, his mother died.



His mother was the sweetest woman he had ever known. She never had anything bad to say about anybody, always accepted people for who they were, and kept a positive outlook on life, no matter how bad things had gotten.



She was also the bravest woman he had ever known. She didn’t really stand up for herself when Phillip was unloading his residual venom on her, but when it came to her son, she was DW’s shield. When Phillip was at his worst with his anger and his insults towards their son, she was right there to tell Phillip to back off. He didn’t, but at least his wrath was deflected away from DW.



Marie was the best mother anybody could have ever had, but it didn’t matter when she died. DW was so wrapped up in his hatred for his father that he never wanted to see his father again- even if that meant missing his mother’s funeral.



No title victory was going to wash away all the inner turmoil. The guilt, sadness, anger, and depression that DW had felt in the last few days did not just stem from how he felt about his relationship with his father had deteriorating. It also had to do with how much of a fucking shitty son he was for not paying his last respects to the woman that was his guardian angel.



He deserved the ass whipping, but now that it was over, he hoped that his father had gotten it out of his system and they could move on. Maybe it was a pipe dream, but the ball was in DW’s court. He could either keep feeling angry, sad, guilty, and depressed or he could do the right thing.



And go talk to his father.

---

October 26, 2018
WCF Studios

DW Wolf: Zach didn’t want to interview me this time, huh?



DW was in the WCF Studios sitting across from Hank Brown as the production staff walked around them, getting ready for the interview.



Hank Brown: No, he had his contract amended so that he never had to interview you ever again.



DW Wolf: Well, that’s unfortunate. I was starting to come around on the guy.



Producer: Alright, everybody. We’re getting ready to start!



The crew go to their designated spots. Hank fixes his jacket and mic real quick as the producer counts down.



Producer: In 5, 4, 3…



He holds up two fingers, followed by one, and points at Hank.



Hank Brown: Welcome to a WCF exclusive interview with the NEW WCF Hardcore Champion, DW Wolf. Thanks for being here, DW.



DW is in his chair with the Hardcore Title prominently featured on his shoulder.



DW Wolf: No problem.



Hank Brown: Describe how it felt when that ref’s hand hit the mat for the third time and you realized you had just become the WCF Hardcore Champion?



DW Wolf: I mean, I felt relief, really. I’ve been waiting so long to show people on a grand stage like the WCF that I’m the real deal and I was finally able to do it against one of the best in the world. I got that desire to prove myself off of my mind. Now, I need to show everybody how great of a champion I can be.



Hank Brown: Well, before you do that, you’re going to have to face James Wolf in just a few days at Helloween in probably one of the most dangerous matches ever devised, an Electrified Cage Match. Before we get into the match itself, this feud between you and James Wolf started before you even stepped back into a WCF ring. How did this animosity between you and him begin?



DW Wolf: Back when I was still competing in the Sixth Dimension Tournament, I suggested on social media that James and I have a match at the next XIII, which is 11 months from now. I thought it would be kind of cool. Wolf vs. Wolf. It was a friendly rivalry. Then, he made some lame joke about someone in the Mustache Family and I half-jokingly posted on social media “Don’t sour the Wolf name with lame jokes.” I say “half-jokingly” because part of me was joking around with him, but the other half was concerned about how the name Wolf would look if it was associated with weak jokes about the Mustaches.



Now, “Wolf” is not my real surname. Maybe it’s James’ real last name. Maybe it’s not. I don’t know and I don’t really care. What I know is that I the name Wolf has a very significant meaning to me and I care about its integrity. Wolf denotes a certain attitude, a certain toughness that is a prerequisite to having that name. There are going to be wrestlers who use the name Wolf in one fashion or another after James and I are gone, so right now it’s up to us to make sure that the name Wolf isn’t sullied. When he goes on the internet and people see bad comedy attached to the name Wolf, he does damage to the name, and I can’t let something like that happen.



Hank Brown: So is that what this feud is about? A name?



DW Wolf: No, it’s about his whole fucking attitude, which he copped after I told him how lame his joke was, telling me to shut my mouth and get a sense of humor. Then he asked me when he and I were having our match. I thought we established that we’d go toe-to-toe at XIII, but I figured that if he was asking, then that meant he wanted to fight me a little sooner, so I said “Helloween sounds like a perfect time for me.” And what makes me angrier about this guy is that he thought criticizing Kennedy Matthews’ smoking was a higher priority than accepting a match at Helloween. That didn’t just show disrespect to me. That showed disrespect towards the whole business. Somebody names the time and place for a match and you would rather go after someone who you don’t even have a match against? What the fuck is that? Then he tried to save face by saying he didn’t know it was me challenging him to a match at Helloween because I changed my name from Dean to DW. Bullshit. What other wrestler in the WCF named Wolf was he having a dispute with? Was it really that hard for him to realize that I simply dropped the title of “Dean” and started going by “DW?” No. He just looked like an ass and was trying cover it up.



Hank Brown: Which brings us to the match at hand in just a few days. Are you nervous about stepping into an Electrified Cage?



DW Wolf: Hell yeah, I’m nervous. I’m not too much of a man to admit that. Who wouldn’t? We’re going to be surrounded by a bunch of mesh with electricity flowing through it. He and I have had to sign waivers saying that we wouldn’t hold WCF responsible if we were seriously injured. Shit, I could die, but I’ve never backed down from a fight in my life. Maybe that’s what James was hoping for. If you remember, he originally gave the the choice of what kind of match this would be. I thought that, you know, since it was Halloween time, Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal was an appropriate choice. Other wrestling promotions have done it around Halloween. And I’ll give James credit. He’s creative. I did not have Electrified Cage as one of the options for the wheel. Tables Match? Sure. First Blood. Of course. Falls Count Anywhere? You bet.



But he vetoed my choice and just said “It’s going to be in an Electrified Cage.” Maybe that was his way of trying to show he had a bigger dick than me or something, but if he thought that by suggesting Electrified Cage that I was going to back out, then he seriously miscalculated. I don’t shy away from fights and I don’t back out of fights. He’s still trying to get out of the fight now, telling me I should forfeit before I even step in the cage. Whatever. None of that shit’s gonna happen. I’m going to step into that cage, electricity or not, and do what I do best: fight. Believe me, I know he’s going to get his licks in, but every time I get beat up in that ring, I fight back and I give just as much as I take and then some. He wants to throw me into the cage? I’ll throw him into the cage harder. He wants to scrap my face along the mesh? I’ll scrap his face along the mesh and make sure the cuts are much deeper. He wants to make me ride the lightning? I’ll make him ride the lightning even longer. For every bruise that shows up on my body, he’ll have one more. For every ounce of blood that drops, he’ll drop an extra one. For every pulse of electricity that flows through my body, he’ll feel it 10 times worse. Maybe he doesn’t realize that by entering that Electrified Cage, he’s got just as much chance of getting fucked up as I do. Maybe by seeing the flash of electricity that’s going to flow through his eyeballs, he’ll understand the error of his ways and the error his logic.



Hank Brown: James Wolf recently said “Although, [the Hardcore Championship] is not on the line, this match would be perfect for a title defense.” Now that you’re the champion, have you thought about putting the title up for grabs inside the Electrified Cage?



DW Wolf: You didn’t read what he said right after that, which was that he’s not interested in this belt. That’s what James Wolf does every time he talks about a belt that’s not the World Championship. Whether it’s this title or the TV Title, he acts like neither of those belts are important because he doesn’t hold one of them. It’s like when you have a crush on a girl and you think she’s the most beautiful girl in the world, and then as soon as she doesn’t show any interest in you, she’s a bitch and a slut. James, you can’t speak out of both sides of your mouth. I know you want this title. You’ve fought for it before and failed, so now, you have to act like it doesn’t bother you and call it the Garbage Championship. Well, call it the Garbage Championship all you want. It’s still a championship and it still doesn’t belong to you.



Hank Brown: So, will you defend it in the cage or not?



DW Wolf: Hell no, I won’t defend it against him! You think I’m going to ruin the prestige of this title by defending it against a guy who called the Television Title “a shitty piece of tin?” Fuck that shit! If he doesn’t appreciate what this title represents, then he doesn’t deserve a shot!



Hank Brown: What does the Hardcore Title represent to you?



DW Wolf: Hard work. Perseverance. Sacrifice. Determination. Maybe to people like him, those words are cliche, but to me, those are things you need to have in order to become a champion. Those are the traits that his partner in the Hellimination Match, the WORLD CHAMPION Odin Balfore, possesses; and there are a lot of other people in the WCF besides James Wolf who have those traits and believe that the Hardcore Championship and all the other championships of the WCF represent those traits. Those are the people that I would give a shot to before I EVER give a shot to James Wolf; and despite what he says about this beautiful piece of gold draped on my shoulder, I know he wants it. Well, let me say right now that if he wants to prove that he’s worthy of getting a shot at this title, he’s going to have to earn it. If somehow, someway, he beats me in that Electrified Cage, I’ll give him a shot at the Hardcore Championship.



Hank Brown: Do you think he can beat you?



DW Wolf: Hank, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. Listen, I’m not going to spend my time sitting here and saying that he’s a shitty wrestler, because he’s not. He obviously is a good wrestler or else he wouldn’t be in an organization that has national TV, shows on pay-per-view, and millions of fans around the world. There are a lot of people who train to be wrestlers who never get the honor to wrestle on a platform like the WCF. Only a finite number of people get that chance, and he’s one of them. I’ll give him respect for that. Oh, sorry. I used “respect,” another cliched term.



What I don’t respect, what I don’t like, and what I will criticize is the fact that he says that the other wrestlers in this organization are shitty or scrubs or worthless or whatever other demeaning adjectives he uses to describe the people that help him make a living. That’s right. I said “Help him make a living.” Don’t forget that James. Without the “shitty” wrestlers that you seem to have the burden of stepping into the ring with, you wouldn’t make any money.



You know, Hank, if I were to call James Wolf a bad wrestler, and then I went out and beat him, then what did I really accomplish?



Hank Brown: Um…



DW Wolf: Nothing. I would accomplish SHIT. I beat a bad wrestler. Any good wrestler can beat a bad wrestler. It ain’t anything special. And if I were to call him a bad wrestler and lose to him, then I would look like the drizzling shits because I lost to a bad wrestler. I wish he could understand that logic.



I think that Wolf, in trying to convince everybody that he’s better, is actually bringing himself and the rest of this business down. He is a detriment to professional wrestling.



I’m not gonna sit here and say that I like the people that I work with. I don’t. I’m not a sentimental person. I’m not looking to make friends here; but what I won’t do is bring down this industry that we all work in. This is how I support myself, and if I denigrate this thing that gives me a living and I denigrate the ability of the people that work in this industry, then I’m only going to cut my nose off to spite my face.



I understand, James, if you want to talk shit. That’s half of what this business is, just like in boxing or mixed martial arts. Talking shit brings people into the arenas and brings eyeballs to the TV screen, but you can talk shit in a lot ways that don’t involve bringing this business down, and in your case, you should probably talk less shit because it hasn’t helped you. When you were getting ready for your TV Title match against Kurt Navarro, what were you doing? You were on social media criticizing Kennedy Matthew’s smoking. Instead of training or watching tape to prepare for Kurt Navarro, you decided to troll Kennedy for a vice that only affected her.



Hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you did watch tapes of Navarro to prepare, but I doubt it. If you had watched any of his past matches, maybe you wouldn’t have said that the Vanishing Point was a weak finishing move. It certainly wasn’t weak when he hit you with it and retained the TV Title.



And what about War? Sure, you had a good performance, but you entered at #1. You had the smallest probability to win that match. Why did you enter #1? It’s because you lost a match to Buff Mustache. Maybe if you had spent less time on social media criticizing the way the Mustache Family lives their lives, then maybe you would have beaten Buff, entered the match at a much higher number, won War, and gone on to fight the World Heavyweight Champion at One.



I don’t think I really have to say much more about you. You are your own worst enemy. You do the most damage to yourself. You are a detriment to yourself. You don’t think before you speak, you don’t think before you tweet, and you don’t think before you act. You simply don’t think before you make a decision. You know what I never hear you say in any of your comments? I never hear you explain why you think you are going to beat your opponent. I hear you say why your opponents suck, but I never hear you say what doesn’t make you suck. Maybe you don’t have the confidence in yourself necessary for competing in that ring. You’re so insecure about your own ability that you have to shit on the ability of others, which in turn makes you more insecure because it leads to you losing. It’s just a unfortunate cycle that you keep spinning on, and the key think about being on a cycle is that you never move forward. Right now, you’re stuck on that cycle. You’re going nowhere. Every time you decide to criticize your opponents for stupid reason, you just spin faster and fast. Every time you lose, you just spin more and more. You’re not advancing. You’re not getting anywhere. You’re staying in the exact same place that you were before, and when you finally leave the WCF, you’ll see that you’re leaving in the same exact place that you entered.



I’m all about change, James. That’s the only way that you’ll move forward in the WCF. You need to change the way you’re doing things, because if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you’re going to get the same results. I hope this match changes you, whether you win or you lose. I hope that maybe a zap of electricity will rewire something in your brain and make your realize the error of your ways for the past few months. I hope that whether you’re looking up at the lights or my shoulders end up flat on the mat, you become more humble, because no matter what happens, you are limping away from this match. You may kick my ass but you’re going to know that you were in a fucking fight. And I’ll say this to Odin, Kaz, Gravedigger, and McPherson right now: boys, you’re going to have a handicap in the Hellimination Match, because two things are going to happen. Either I’m going to injure James Wolf badly enough so that he won’t be able to perform at 100% or I’m going to beat him so severely that he won’t be able to fight in the match at all. There is no way that James Wolf is leaving the Electrified Cage unscathed. He’s going to rue the day that he decided on an Electrified Cage Match to settle our differences. He’s going to get an education in humility and pain. He’s finally going to realize what it means...to seek the wolf in thyself.



Hank Brown: There you have it folks. The match is set. Hardcore Champion DW Wolf vs. James Wolf inside of an Electrified Cage at Helloween. DW, thanks for stopping by.



DW Wolf: The pleasure’s all mine, Hank.



They shake hands as the screen fades to black.

---

October 30, 2018
Centereach, NY

His flight to Chicago leaves in a few hours, so this is the last possible moment for him to do this.



He pulls up across the street from his dad’s house. He looks out the window and sees the bottom half of Phillip’s body sticking out from his pick-up truck. He was probably cleaning it out, as he always was. He took a lot of pride in his trucks and always made sure they looked in tip-top shape, inside and out.



DW gets himself mentally prepared to go and do probably the hardest thing he has ever had to do in his life, the same thing he was demanding of James Wolf. He was going to have to humble himself.



DW Wolf: Now or never.



He gets out of the car and walks across the street. He’s about to step onto the driveway when Phillip comes out of the truck and sees his son approaching.



Phillip Dexter: Don’t take one more step closer!



DW stops in his tracks. He thinks about not listening and walking up the driveway anyway, but that would probably have an adverse result than the one he’s looking for. He has to deny his usual instincts. This time, he has to show restraint instead of being stubborn just to prove that he’s his own man.



DW Wolf: I only have one thing I need to say to you right now.



Phillip Dexter: Yeah?! Well say it and get the fuck away from me!



DW wants very much to just say “You know what? Fuck you then.” But again, it would go against why he is here in the first place.



DW Wolf: I’ve got a match tomorrow night…



Phillip Dexter: Well, good for you!



DW Wolf: Could you just shu-----



Calm the fuck down.



He takes a breath.



DW Wolf: It’s a pretty dangerous match. Actually, it could be fatal. I might not make it out alive. What I wanted to say to you is that if I do end up surviving this match, I think you and I need to talk when I get back to Long Island.



Phillip Dexter: Whether you die in your wrestling match or not doesn’t mean shit to me because you’re dead to me anyway!


That cuts real deep. He doesn’t want to show it, so he just tightens his face and bites the inside of his bottom lip. He feels shaken for a quick second, as if the electricity from his upcoming match is already coursing through his nervous system. Again, his instincts want him to say more, but all he gets out are two words.



DW Wolf: Okay then.



He turns around and walks back to his car.



Phillip Dexter: Okay then. Go fuck yourself.



Motherfucker’s always got to have the last word.



DW gets in the car. He looks at his father, who storms into the house. DW feels his heart rate beat faster. He starts breathing out through his nose harder. He grabs the wheel like his hands are two vice grips. He wants to scream. He wants to shout. He wants to punch out the windows of his car; but he's going to save all of that energy, because there’s a better outlet to express his frustration: the Electrified Cage Match.


And James Wolf is going to get fucked up beyond all recognition.