Re: Round 1: Kiyomori vs. Karl “The Dragon” Brown
[FADE IN to a small TV showing grainy footage of some quite old wrestling. Really astute fans would be able to spot Mark “Rollerball” Rocco wrestling on British TV, but the footage is so distorted and stretched it’s hard to make out who his opponent is, let alone be able to see most of the action.
ZOOMING OUT we can see “The Dragon” sitting in an old brown arm chair, an over-thin cushion. The TV, which we can see is a CRT, is standing atop a low, glass-fronted wooden stand, a beige folding door to the right of shot and faded wallpaper on the wall behind the TV. The carpet is a faded patterned brown one, although there’s a blue rug that’s almost as faded as the carpet as well. To the left of the TV is another wall, and on the wall are a few ornamental plates in chronological order from 1988 to 1994 gathered from various trips. The Empire Pro wrestler and Ultra Title hopeful is wearing old jeans and trainers with an old, paint-splattered jumper]
Karl: I know. Hardly the most glamorous setting for something like the Ultra Title, but I’ve got family things to take care of for a few days. Plus it doesn’t really matter if one of us is in the gym in the hour or so it takes to do this, or at the old family home taking a break from sorting through almost 50 years of family memories. It matters that you turn up to the ring and give it everything you’ve got, and people who know me know that’s what they’ll get every time.
Not that I’m unique in that regard. Everyone here, from the guys I know like Anarky, Shawn Hart, Sean Stevens and Jonathan Marx to the ones I’ve never seen like Kiyomori, is going to give it their all. One slip up and we’re going home. Nobody wants to be the one who lost in seconds, let alone in a tournament of this magnitude.
That’s what this comes down to. I don’t know anything about Kiymori, if I’m honest. And since I’m helping sort out this place before a funeral I’m not going to get the chance to dig into his history in Japan the way I would like to. I have heard the name on the grapevine, I have a few contacts left from training over there, but I’ve never seen your matches. Before you think of sending in clips, I should warn you that I don’t really care either. Arrogant, perhaps, but it doesn’t honestly matter what you’ve done before. If I started researching your old matches, I would get an idea of what to expect, perhaps, but I’d be far less flexible in my approach to you.
And it’s my flexibility in the ring that’s gotten me through some of the nastiest matches of my career.
Hm. Flexibility. Stopping to think about it, it’s our flexibility that truly defines us and our successes in life. People often say it’s survival of the fittest, but it’s survival of the one who can adapt, alter their approach, and find the way to make the biggest impact quicker than the others.
In this tournament, that flexibility is going to be the difference maker.
[Karl reaches down to the floor, picking up a so far unseen TV remote. He turns the TV off, standing and looking out of a nearby window. There’s a small hedge in front of a large communal lawn, beyond which there’s another hedge and a busy main road, a footbridge over it and a large round about barely visible to the left of the shot. Karl’s eyes seem a little misty, lost in nostalgia, as he speaks]
Karl: You know, Kiyomori, I may not know anything about you. But being in this house… this house was my Grandma’s. Her funeral’s next week. I’m not saying that for sympathy, but because I learnt a lot from her. I learnt a lot in this house. I learnt to approach life with an open mind, approach every challenge with my eyes open, my head held high, and my mind sharp and focused. I’ve had matches where I’ve not known my opponent until they walked through the curtain. I’ve had matches where the stipulation has changed moments before the opening bell. I succeeded because of the lessons Grandma taught me.
Open mind.
Eyes open.
Mind ready for anything.
Accept the possibilities.
I learnt a lot from Grandpa as well, but that’s another story for another time.
The point is, Kiyomori, that no matter what you are, who you are, what you do, you won’t surprise me.
Took a long time to say that, didn’t it? I’m rather verbose, you’ll get used to it.
[He turns, looking across the room while the camera stays on him]
Karl: This match, whatever greets me… it looks like it’s going to be an interesting one. The little I know about you suggests we’ve got similar styles, similar approaches, and similar backgrounds. It’s going to be a case of who is more flexible in their approach and able to quickly decide on a course of action that takes the other by surprise long enough to end the match.
The 37 year old from Japan, or the 29 year old from England.
I won’t be corny and say I’m doing this for Grandma, she never cared for my in-ring career. But I will say thanks to her for giving me the lessons I need in order to make sure I go into this match one hundred percent focused, and ready to adapt to whatever you throw at me.
I can only hope you can do the same, or this is going to be a very, very short match.
[FADE OUT]