Greenville, SC

Lake Robinson Park

The scene opens midday as we see Steve Murdock skipping stones on the lake shore, taking in the natural scenery.

He’s dressed in blue jeans, an old red Texas Pro Wrestling t-shirt and red and white Converse sneakers. 

“You have a lot of time to think between laying in hospital beds, sitting at home, and running the ropes in a ramshackle ring that was put together at home, so I thought I might share them for those who pay attention…”

He crouches down and rifles through a few rocks on the beach looking for a smooth stone.

“People talk about how they’re destined for things, how fate has brought them to a great point in their life, and sure, things can be fated to happen, but there’s destiny and there’s the culmination of hard work, sacrifice and a life spent honing your craft to stand above the rest in your field.”

“And for all honesty’s sake, I’ve not be sharpening that edge, turning that ingot of steel into a blade that could cut through adversity, I just throw the metal at my opponents and hope it hits hard enough, and this point of my career is the result of my sloth, months off from injury in a match I could’ve handled, but that ends at Civil Warfare.”

He tosses his selected stone in the lake, and gets a handful of skips before it sinks to the bottom.

“Lance, you’re not dealing with the old “Hardcore Icon”, oh I’ll try and introduce you to my kendo stick or put you through a table or Pillmanize your leg or neck, but that’ll be out of sheer instinct, you’ll be a facing a man who taken the time off given to him to relearn technical wrestling, oddly enough from my son, who’s brought out the old and rusted techniques of my early days back into the fore.”

“Is this tactic going to help me contend for a title, I don’t know, but it will start to wipe the taste of “He’s just a garbage wrestler” out of people mouths when they start screaming in pain while in a bow and arrow lock or an STF, and maybe the locker room will take notice.”

“Of course, this could all be a moot point, Lance, if I don’t defeat you at Civil Warfare, and as we get closer, I fear your silence is going to be replaced with pleas of mercy…”

“And I’m not the one who grants that, unfortunately.”