Setting Sun

[Tony S]

As the static dissipated, a lone man stood in front of a large oak tree. The shadow of the oak’s limbs masked the man in darkness. The barren branches allowed very little of the setting Sun’s light through. The man stood still in his finely fitted black suit, a wolf’s mask dawned on his face. A light whistle of the wind blew by as the man walked into a single ray of sunlight. His eyes were closed as he lifted the mask of his face. Tommy End opened his eyes with a soft sigh.

Tommy End: Just like the light of a setting Sun, some careers fade into the darkness.

Tommy took a deep breath as he tucked his hands into the pockets of black slacks.

Tommy End: AJ Styles, I’m sure you don’t care to know me, and I’m equally such that I don’t care to know you. I don’t need to know you AJ because I know the type of person you are. Where others take their beliefs and they thrive to be a better person, you don’t. Instead AJ, you’ve given up.

His right hand came out of his pocket quickly. He stuck up his index finger and held it up at the camera.

Tommy End: I don’t care that you’ve given up on your beliefs. I don’t care that you’ve given up on yourself. I don’t even care that you’ve given up on the fans. But you see AJ, you’ve also given up on this business. That’s one thing I can not let stand.

He brought his finger up to his lips as he took a second. He shook his head slightly as he thought about his next words.

Tommy End: Growing in this business, there’s certain goals that every man thrives for. There’s places that every man works to get to. Then whenever that man gets those goals, he’s suppose to make a new goal. He’s always suppose to reach for that next so called, “brass ring”. Take me for instance.

He paused for a moment while he adjusted his weight.

Tommy End: When I started out in this business, I wrestled in gyms. I wrestled for 10, 20 people. I wouldn’t even make a dime. But I didn’t do it for the money. I didn’t do it for the fame. I did it because I love to kick the heads off people. And in doing so, I had my own set of goals. While I wrestled in the gyms of Holland, I wanted to be in Germany. When I wrestled in Germany, I wanted to be in England. Belgium. France. I wanted to wrestle all over Europe. In the end, I wanted Japan. When I made it to Japan, did I give up? No, I just made a new set of goals. I made a new ultimate goal, which is why I’m here in EBWF. I wanted to wrestle in the states. I wanted to bring my dominance to new world of wrestling.

With a smirk forming on the edge of his lips, Tommy took another brief moment.

Tommy End: Now, I’m sure you’ve had your set of goals AJ, don’t get me wrong. I bet at one point in your career you made a list of goals. Goals that I’m sure you’ve accomplished. But what did you do after you achieved those goals? Did you grow? Did you make a new set of goals? No. Instead you reached the top, then let yourself go. Your drive and ambition just dropped. You gave up on trying to better yourself. You gave up trying to learn more about this business because you thought you knew it all. Where has that gotten you AJ? Where has it gotten you, thinking you have all the answers.

He held out his hand and counted this fingers.

Tommy End: You’ve fallen to the bottom. A washed-up, has been. A joke. The laughing stock of the entire company. A faction of the man you used to be. There’s nothing phenomenal about you anymore. You don’t have the heart to be that something special that you used to be. You don’t have the drive. The passion.

He brought his left hand out his slacks and brought it together with his right.

Tommy End: So I ask you this AJ, why? Why are you still around? It’s obvious that you don’t want to be here. It’s obvious that you don’t have the desire for this business anymore, so why are you still here. Why do you continue to waste your time, my time, everyone’s time? You don’t want to be here, then leave. You don’t have the heart to be a professional wrestler anymore, then get a different profession. Stop milking a paycheck that you haven’t earned in years. There are plenty of us that are all here for the right reasons. Like me, there are a handful of men in the locker room that want to further themselves. They have to keep getting better. They want to go out there each and every night and make it better than the previous night. They don’t want to stop. They don’t want to give up and walk away. I don’t want to walk away. I’m not going to walk away.

He lowered his hands in front of him. He closed his eyes as he took another deep breath.

Tommy End: No, unlike you AJ, I’m here to prove myself. I’m here to bring my style of wrestling to the States. I’m here to take my style of wrestling, learn American style of wrestling, and adapt. I’m here to grow and further myself. I’m here to check another goal off the list. And once all those goals are checked off, I’ll make another list. Unlike you AJ, I will continue to better myself because I’m not going to stake the claim of being the “Best in the World”. I’m not going to stake the claim of being “Phenomenal”. I’m not going to claim that I know everything there is to know about this business because I don’t. Not even close.
Tommy brought his right hand back up into the air as he pointed towards the camera.

Tommy End: It’s idiotic to believe you know everything in this business. It proves your ignorance. It proves that you’ve given up on striving to get better. How can you get better if you’re the “best”? How can you push yourself if you believe that you’re “Phenomenal”? How can you have that drive? You can’t. If you believe that you’re at the top, there is no going higher. If you believe that you’re number one, then there’s no reason to go further. And when you have to drive, no heart. Then you have no fight, and without any fight, then you need to get out of the ring.

He signed as he tightened up his tie before he stuck both his hands back into his black slacks.

Tommy End: AJ Styles, I assure you that I will bring the fight. I assure you that I have the passion. I have the drive. I have the urge to better myself. AJ Styles, I assure you, I will knock your head right off your shoulders.

Tommy turned to the left as he spun around and looked up at the branches of the tree. The Sun continued to set just behind the trees.

Tommy End: The shadows are getting longer, and you know what that means.

He looked back over his right shoulder.

Tommy End: It will be dark soon. Like the falling Sun, AJ Styles, your career is about to set.

Tommy took his hands out of his pockets and reached into his suit. He pulled out the wolf’s mask from his suit jacket and lifted it up over his head. He lowered the mask and fitted it around his face. The static slowly filled the screen. Tommy End stood there as the screen flickered in the static. Suddenly after the flickering of the screen, Tommy End was gone. The oak tree disappeared within the static.