JJ Halme vs Jesse Durant

[Ryan Cooke]

Good luck to both!

[Mikko]

Sometimes I miss that old familiar thrill. The feeling of accomplishment that comes with a hot streak. Knowing that the path of destruction behind you is strictly of your own design. It's been far too long since I've had a taste. But all the same, it's an amazing feeling to see someone in their prime follow in your footsteps. Especially when you can take claim for discovering that very being. I can honestly say, I am proud of myself for bringing JJ Halme to PPW.

I very much doubt that the suits would agree with my views. But I've never really cared for their opinions anyway. Well, unless you count my time as one of them. But in this particular instance, Derek Shanahan can kiss my ass. In his sea of misfits only one shines as a true star. I need not repeat his name, but only tell his legend.

In the four and a half months that PPW has existed, not a single member of its roster has made the impact that JJ has. He's hospitalized two superstars. Intentionally thrown away a chance at being fasttracked to the championship. Been the victor of PPW's shortest contest to date. And most importantly he's been a destroyer of idols.

I touched upon that last one a few weeks back when the target was Chris Kaladaro. And ho hum folks, point proven. This was a man with integrity who set out to take down the monster that thrashed him months prior. Every breath was dedicated to vengeance and yet he failed. I say it again, he failed. But the important factor in that equation is not that JJ won. Don't be fooled, victory isn't decided by a pinfall or submission. Victory is achieved when your opponent abandons his very identity to try and beat you.

Too little too late for Mr Kaladaro. Yet here he sits, a fragile minded lunatic. Hell bent on revenge with no chance of obtaining it. Poor Big Bad Cortez can attest to that. Kaladaro abandoned himself and slaughter that mountain of a man from one side of the ring to another. Highlighting that not only is Halme better than him, but also leaps and bounds better than Cortez. As if there was ever any doubt.

Let us also revisit things with PPW's current champion. The so called “Main Attraction” Demetrius Burrell. Here's a guy who fell short of defeating Halme at the Scramble Six. Then when he had his shot at vengeance, he too abandoned his identity. He became his enemy and got himself disqualified. And while some might look at that as poetic justice, I strongly disagree. Becoming the enemy is admitting that you as you are, are nothing. Which is exactly what Demetrius Burrell is.

What has he really accomplished in winning the PPW title? He's obtained a belt, that rightfully was Halme's. CJ Rowell was nothing more than a paper champion. He was handed that belt from the very get go. One successful defense does not make you fit to call yourself a champion. Especially when that defense is made against the likes of Chris Kaladaro. What a joke, and that man was once a very good friend of mine. A man I had some serious amounts of respect for. But losing to Demetrius Burrell has diminished any memory of glory from my memory. That is just plain unforgivable. Fuck CJ Rowell!

And most importantly, fuck Demetrius Burrell. For running his mouth with his gal pal David Thompson. You want to challenge JJ Halme, kid? Be my guest, but your buddy couldn't beat him, and neither could you. I'd love for that punk to make a serious argument that says he can beat JJ. Better yet, draw up the contracts buddy, and let's see it happen. You insignificant little cunt.

But, until that day, the show must move on. Current events point to a new star in PPW. This Jesse Durant. A car crash survivor from the state of Tennessee. A daredevil turned wrestler by the great Ty Walker. Had this been Ty himself, I would send word of caution for JJ. I would tell him to treat this one special. But considering the circumstances, I'm going to have to say steam on boy, steam on! Look, this business is full of people trained by this guy and that. Hell, I've given plenty of them myself to the business, only to watch them flop, smash out their teeth and have nothing to bite back with in a matter of months. What makes Jesse any more special?

I'll give the kid this much, coming back from near paralysis is fairly impressive. But it exposes you in ways that training can't prepare you for. And when you're in with a man like JJ Halme, who's only intention is to hurt you... Well, you do the math. Don't be a hero I guess is what I'm trying to say, Jesse. If you start to feel the sting, lay down and let him bite your jacket a little. He might just leave enough of you in one piece for a decent burial.

Sincerely,
The Writer

[jesse]

Jesse woke in a cold sweat and lay in bed with the memory of the nightmare paying over and over in his head. Same old nightmare, the accident in slow motion, he would have thought after so much time that it would cease being as vivid, but it hadn’t, he could still see it as clearly as he could in the weeks following the wreck.

Exhaling a ragged breath he sat up and scrubbed a hand over his face. He’d learned two things since then. It never did any good to try to go back to sleep following it, there would simply be a repeat, and that remaining awake and inert, feeling sorry for himself in the wake of the memory only served to foster more doubts in his mind.

He didn’t need either.

He knew well enough where such thoughts could lead him. He’d gone through all the possible emotions of an accident survivor and the addictions that often accompanied them. Painkiller and Johnny Walker had been his feigned salvation for the first year and he’d struggled to leave that behind and move forward.

Tiny steps. His days and nights had been measured in little, miniscule steps, one after the other after the other, to lead him here.

He’d just wrestled his first match back to a time limit draw. Some might look at that as a loss, some might be second guessing themselves or questioning their ability, he saw it as a triumph. He’d walked away from that ring with his head held high knowing that he had made it through the grueling match with nothing to be ashamed off, and most importantly, the morning after had left him with no lasting effects.

It had given him a confidence he’d been sure he’d lost.

There were so many things that came to mind, so many cliché sayings. Jesse, for the most part was a young man who’d had only high school for education and little to fall back on. He’d never had the chance to learn the ends and outs of the speaking part of the business, how to sell himself outside of the ring, but he had matured to the point where he realized that was necessary.

He’d also matured to the point when the knew when to open his mouth and when to keep it closed. It would have been easy to spit sharp remarks back at those who thought that JJ Halme was going to have an easy time with him in the ring, was going to set out to hurt him in the ring, but what would that really accomplish but getting himself labeled an arrogant loudmouth, better to let them see what he was truly made of, rather than telling them.

One thing was for damn sure, his mentor would never have let him get back in the ring if Jesse could have been so easily hurt. Walker had put him through a full year of some of the most grueling training known to man, had tried to break Jesse mentally as well as physically every day just to be sure that someone like Halme would not have an easy time getting him down and causing harm.

That wasn’t to say that Jesse looked past the man or looked past the possibility of accidents, those always played highly in his mind, it was simply that they were part of the business, facts that were as simple as the necessity of air to breath, if they had scared him in any way Ty would have exploited them and made sure Jesse never wanted to step back into the ring again.

He was here.

That alone should tell them all everything they needed to know.

So let Halme do his worst, Jesse was not without abilities of his own, he was not without his own ways to break a man down and make him submit. Jesse had made it a practice to study the art of submission the way other men studied the art of dropping guys on their heads or being able to counter every move that was thrown their way. The end would tell the tale and the end was all that mattered.

[jesse]

Jesse picked up the phone and dialed Ty’s number again. He’d been trying to get a hold of him all week with no results and again, got nothing but the constant ringing. With a sigh he closed the phone and stuffed it back into his pocket, leaned his head back against the lamp post and sighed.

He’d messed up.

It wasn’t a big mess up, not like the mess ups of the past that had landed him in a world of trouble, he had much better control of his temper now, he no longer let it rule him. No, this was trouble of a different sort, and he needed advice, big time.

Running his fingers through his longish hair he jerked at a few of the tangles, then shook his head, catching a few drops of rain on his face. The cool rain felt good, and walking in it helped him gather his thoughts and refocus them.

Prioritize, that was something he’d learned during the long months of rehabbing and retraining. Prioritize and decide what was the most important thing to tack first. At the moment it was sleep, he needed a good nights sleep before he wrestled again, everything else could be put into perspective after the match.

His life had become a tunnel vision of focus, focus on training, focus on keeping himself healthy, focus on his next opponent and what that man might bring at him in the ring. He did not have time for the nervousness that fluttered in his stomach, the feeling of panic and unrest that had been bothering him leading up to the match.

Jesse dreamed of flying off the top rope again. He dreamed of feeling the air rushing past his body as he took those high risk moves, moves he could no longer execute to the best of his ability. But he’d been trying, god, he’d spent a great deal of time trying this past week. He’d broken from his new training regime, trying to reincorporate the old, trying to do what he’d been told time and time again he would never be able to do again. When would enough be enough for him, he wasn’t sure anymore but his head was all messed up thinking about it, longing for those moments, to have them back.

A car tire screeched and Jesse jumped, his breathing came faster, he felt his heart pounding in his chest and he stopped and reached out for the railing of front steps to support him as he saw the images in his head again, that truck sliding, coming closer.

Jesse had a moment of pure panic, he looked left, right, he was looking for escape, escape from something that wasn’t there anymore.

Some nights he thought the only escape to be had was back in the ring, in his old life, in doing what he felt he was born to do, other nights he was still unsure and uncertain, like tonight, tonight he wasn’t sure about anything.

JJ Halme looked to be a pretty basic wrestler, straight forward, easily controlled and easily countered. Jesse knew how to keep someone on the mat, how to twist them and hold them and hurt them without letting them hurt him, he knew how to counter out of the suplexes with move of his own, it was the brutality that had him a little concerned if he was being honest with himself, which he was tonight with so many fears of the past riding high in his mind.

Jesse didn’t know if he could stop, didn’t know if he had it in him to spare himself if things got to be too much, sure, he could take pain, sure he was in excellent shape, but, and it was a very big but, he’d watched tapes of Halme, and now that he’d seen what the man cold do he’d allowed himself to already be psyched out just a little.

Three years ago he’d never stepped into the ring with such fear. Three years ago he’d believed himself to be invincible. Three years ago he’d thought he could conquer the world.

He wasn’t that young and naive anymore.

He didn’t feel fearless tonight and tonight, of all nights, he needed to.

Jesse picked up the phone and dialed the number again, waiting in the cold for an answer.