Post by "The Iron Titan" Eli Atlas on Dec 14, 2020 14:06:06 GMT -5
The camera opens at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. The thousands of seats are all empty. All except for one. A young man in a red hoodie looks on as ring crews and production staff seem to be prepping the venue for Unbreakable Resolution.
What does a battlefield look like?
The screen fades to darkness and back again. We fade back in with a pan of a wide open field and then back out again.
What does a battlefield look like?
The screen flashes up a few images of places. The montage includes traditional battlefields such as a ring, a cage, a chessboard, and even a sketch of the Roman colosseum. We also see other images, an empty parking lot, a small city park, a hospital bed, an empty classroom, a prison cell, a courtroom, a dining room with the table all set for four. The screen even lingers on a black screen.
What does a battlefield look like?
We fade back in once more for a closeup of a man’s head and shoulders. The head and shoulders sink slightly before another series of images appear.
What does a fighter look like?
Like the previous time, these start with traditional images, a boxer, a luchador, a member of the military, even a samurai. The images continue; a child hooked up to an IV, a sweating factory worker, a visibly exhausted mother with her baby. The family flashes again on the same man’s head and shoulders as they rose to the level they had started. Lower he goes again, fade to black, again.
What does the enemy look like?
One final quick montage plays. This time the images are more symbolic, even including cartoon drawings. The images include a dollar sign, a devil, two glowing monster eyes in the dark, cancer cells, a gavel, a cardboard beggar help sign, two lions fighting, and a pyramid organizational diagram. Once more, we join the same head and shoulders. The camera zooms out to reveal that he had been squatting weights on his shoulders. He finally lifts the metal bar with weights on the ends off his shoulders and back into place.
My name is Eli Atlas and I’m coming to Project: Honor. Ain’t it something too. My first appearance will be at Unbreakable Resolution. I’ve got one for you, I will not stop fighting. I haven’t yet and goddamn, I’m not planning on it in ‘21, or ‘22, or ‘23, or, or...
Eli sits down, back against the ring skirt of an empty ring.
Where you fight, who you fight, why, and how you fight may be different every time but it’s clear when it is you do. Somebody’s fighting something, somewhere, all the time. Someone is braving the cold without a home. Somebody else is doing a job they hate to earn cash they need to survive. Someone might be working up the nerve to stand up to a bully that gave them hell.
On the wall that Eli faces is a mural of a portion of the Rocky Mountains that run through the very state he was in.
Do I want to show up on my first night and come out on top? Do I want to shock the world? It would be fucking great to! Hell yeah! Do I like my odds? Who the hell would? But look, I understand that some battles feel impossible. Some brave ass heroes are sitting in beds, on a shitload of medications, fighting their own bodies to stay alive. There are some of us out there whose fiercest rival is their own mind. We spend every day making the choice not to run away but to face our darkest voice and fight. Does everyone make it? Does everyone survive? No.
Eli pauses, a very serious, somber expression on his face.
So in hindsight, Is me going into a mystery arena to fight and outlast everyone the most important battle anyone will ever face? Not even close. Am I going to sit here and guarantee you a victory? That this match is the beginning of an undefeated career? I can’t do that. I can’t promise you that every match I compete in I’ll win. I am no god and will never claim to be.
Atlas rises to his feet and stands on the apron, looking out, facing the camera. There’s a tee shirt in the corner of the ring.
I am where I am because of every battle I’ve fought. Every victory, every defeat, and every person who’s had a hand in any of them. I continue on, carrying all the honour, all the pain, all the lessons on my shoulders. Life is just a series of uphill battles and scaling mountains. Come Unbreakable Resolution, all sorts of fighters will meet in one place and run wild like it’s another gold rush. Maybe, just maybe, against all odds I’ll pull it off. Maybe I will move the mountain, but I guaran-damn-tee I’m gonna push like hell.
Eli looks over at the tee in the corner, smiling before putting it on. It’s a simple top with the Project: Honor logo across the front.
I joined up with Project: because I became a professional wrestler to well… honour every single fallen soldier who has fought their mental health. Please do seek out help if you need it. Call a hotline, phone a friend, speak up. Sometimes, with mental health and life, it’s unfair. So take a break and kick back, even for a little bit. Whether you share in my success, or take comfort in my failure, let me lift your spirits. Outlasting opponents in wrestling matches week-to-week? This is my war. Surviving life?
Eli turns his back, on the back of the shirt, across the shoulders are four short words. A large semi-colon is drawn down the spine.
This is our war.
What does a battlefield look like?
The screen fades to darkness and back again. We fade back in with a pan of a wide open field and then back out again.
What does a battlefield look like?
The screen flashes up a few images of places. The montage includes traditional battlefields such as a ring, a cage, a chessboard, and even a sketch of the Roman colosseum. We also see other images, an empty parking lot, a small city park, a hospital bed, an empty classroom, a prison cell, a courtroom, a dining room with the table all set for four. The screen even lingers on a black screen.
What does a battlefield look like?
We fade back in once more for a closeup of a man’s head and shoulders. The head and shoulders sink slightly before another series of images appear.
What does a fighter look like?
Like the previous time, these start with traditional images, a boxer, a luchador, a member of the military, even a samurai. The images continue; a child hooked up to an IV, a sweating factory worker, a visibly exhausted mother with her baby. The family flashes again on the same man’s head and shoulders as they rose to the level they had started. Lower he goes again, fade to black, again.
What does the enemy look like?
One final quick montage plays. This time the images are more symbolic, even including cartoon drawings. The images include a dollar sign, a devil, two glowing monster eyes in the dark, cancer cells, a gavel, a cardboard beggar help sign, two lions fighting, and a pyramid organizational diagram. Once more, we join the same head and shoulders. The camera zooms out to reveal that he had been squatting weights on his shoulders. He finally lifts the metal bar with weights on the ends off his shoulders and back into place.
My name is Eli Atlas and I’m coming to Project: Honor. Ain’t it something too. My first appearance will be at Unbreakable Resolution. I’ve got one for you, I will not stop fighting. I haven’t yet and goddamn, I’m not planning on it in ‘21, or ‘22, or ‘23, or, or...
Eli sits down, back against the ring skirt of an empty ring.
Where you fight, who you fight, why, and how you fight may be different every time but it’s clear when it is you do. Somebody’s fighting something, somewhere, all the time. Someone is braving the cold without a home. Somebody else is doing a job they hate to earn cash they need to survive. Someone might be working up the nerve to stand up to a bully that gave them hell.
On the wall that Eli faces is a mural of a portion of the Rocky Mountains that run through the very state he was in.
Do I want to show up on my first night and come out on top? Do I want to shock the world? It would be fucking great to! Hell yeah! Do I like my odds? Who the hell would? But look, I understand that some battles feel impossible. Some brave ass heroes are sitting in beds, on a shitload of medications, fighting their own bodies to stay alive. There are some of us out there whose fiercest rival is their own mind. We spend every day making the choice not to run away but to face our darkest voice and fight. Does everyone make it? Does everyone survive? No.
Eli pauses, a very serious, somber expression on his face.
So in hindsight, Is me going into a mystery arena to fight and outlast everyone the most important battle anyone will ever face? Not even close. Am I going to sit here and guarantee you a victory? That this match is the beginning of an undefeated career? I can’t do that. I can’t promise you that every match I compete in I’ll win. I am no god and will never claim to be.
Atlas rises to his feet and stands on the apron, looking out, facing the camera. There’s a tee shirt in the corner of the ring.
I am where I am because of every battle I’ve fought. Every victory, every defeat, and every person who’s had a hand in any of them. I continue on, carrying all the honour, all the pain, all the lessons on my shoulders. Life is just a series of uphill battles and scaling mountains. Come Unbreakable Resolution, all sorts of fighters will meet in one place and run wild like it’s another gold rush. Maybe, just maybe, against all odds I’ll pull it off. Maybe I will move the mountain, but I guaran-damn-tee I’m gonna push like hell.
Eli looks over at the tee in the corner, smiling before putting it on. It’s a simple top with the Project: Honor logo across the front.
I joined up with Project: because I became a professional wrestler to well… honour every single fallen soldier who has fought their mental health. Please do seek out help if you need it. Call a hotline, phone a friend, speak up. Sometimes, with mental health and life, it’s unfair. So take a break and kick back, even for a little bit. Whether you share in my success, or take comfort in my failure, let me lift your spirits. Outlasting opponents in wrestling matches week-to-week? This is my war. Surviving life?
Eli turns his back, on the back of the shirt, across the shoulders are four short words. A large semi-colon is drawn down the spine.
This is our war.