Post by Joe Stanton on Apr 17, 2018 22:26:41 GMT -5
"A man is a lot of things."
The scene opens up on Joe Stanton, he's walking down the hallway of the PARADOX Wrestling School, the walls lined with posters and photographs & championships of the many talents associated with the school. Both the trainers and the students, including some of Joe's accomplishments are on these walls, promotions' posters, retired championships. Surprisingly for a man that is so in love with this business and with battle, Stanton never cared to keep these things himself, the memories and failing that footage of the matches were all he wanted or needed from them. The accolades that came with the career he left for his trainers' to do with whatever they saw fit.
"Which is why the question of what makes a man is tricky."
The Scarlet Speedster states plainly, staring at a photograph from a match of his. He doesn't dwell on it, either his words or the photograph and he keeps walking down the hallway.
"A man is not a man without his mistakes, if you meet a man that says he's never made one...well...you know you've met a liar too. Because we all make mistakes, it's in part how we react to them and how we rebound from that that tells you the character of the man. A lot of people find it extremely easy to make excuses, to even double down because they think it's easier to give in to their mistakes rather than owning them."
Shaking his head, Joe interlocks his fingers in front of him.
"Some men let their mistakes define them, consume all that they were before them so that all that's left is those mistakes. They think it easier to let those mistakes be who they are rather than to pull themselves out of the mud and make themselves something more than those mistakes."
Stanton continues strolling down the hallway, overall very nonchalant in his attitude and his demeanor.
"Personally I usually don't care much about what kind of man I'm stepping into the ring with, just so long as he can tie up his boots and bring me something resembling a fight. But I bring it up because so much of my opponent is defined by his mistakes, who he is to the world at large, to himself, is the mistakes he's made in his life. Some say that he truly wants to change that, some say that he's on the path to letting his mistakes consume him so that they're all that's left of the man. Frankly I don't think I can make a fair assessment of that till the bell rings and the two of us square up. Because when you're in the ring there's not a lot of you that you can hide, whether you want it to or not the fight brings out all of you for the world to see and form their opinion on."
The confession Joe makes he has no issues with admitting, most men he can stomach on some level even if he doesn't necessarily agree with them on every little thing so long as they can take the fight to him. So long as they can scratch his itch for a challenge. He stops only when the topic of Caden Walker's past comes up, glancing down when he describes how his opponent's been treated in promotional descriptions. How his bio on the Union Battleground website focuses a lot on his past mistakes.
"What I can make an assessment of is that Walker is another big man in this promotion, another heavy hitter if what I've seen of him is any indication of what he's capable of against little ole me. Somebody that's not unlike a Rumble Reyes, which I'm perfectly fine with, especially if Walker is even half as good as Reyes can it comes to pummeling somebody's face in. The kind of wrestler that ensures that this isn't going to resemble a junior heavyweight contest, nor is it going to look like any kind of revival of european chain wrestling. This is going to be ugly, this is going to be brutal, this is going to the kind of match that can shatter bones and leave you needing to get a concussion test from the doc in the back."
The One Punch Man's on the move again when he starts talking again, bobbing his head a little when he describes the kind of fighter he's gleamed Caden Walker is off of his Union Battleground website bio and what footage he's seen of the man in the ring. He pantomimes a stiff forearm when talking about pummeling somebody's face in, similarly his hands act like they're men flipping through the air when he mentions junior heavyweights. He strikes a classic "pro-wrestler" grappling pose when talking about the euro style. A crooked smile edging its way onto his face when he explains what kind of match this is.
"Because Walker, you'll find I'm a lot of things. But I'm really not that complicated of a guy. First and foremost I'm a fighter, I want that blood boiling, heart pounding heat of battle that only somebody worth a damn can provide. At Lights Out, you'll get to see that aspect of me firsthand. I hope you're ready."[/color]
The Scarlet Speedster's teeth are bared like a shark that smells blood, thumbing his chest when he describes what kind of man he is. He grows steadily more excited at even the thought, at even describing the type of fight that he lives for. With the same hand that had been thumbing his chest he points to the camera when he sends his well wishes to Walker before walking past the camera and the scene comes to a close.
