Bodyslam

INTERLUDE TWO: In My Hands, It's a Pipe Bomb.

A/N: this interlude is not part of the story itself, but it may lend some context & background to it and my writing process for those interested.

Several chapters back, in "Work the Stick," Mitch had a big moment in the ring where he cut a lengthy, attention-getting promo in a worked shoot (or pipebomb) style. He broke the proverbial fourth wall; he spoke as though he was throwing kayfabe (wrestling secrecy) out the window. 

In that promo he said: A wise man once said "In anyone else's hands this is a microphone. In my hands it's a pipe bomb."

The wise man he was quoting is a wrestler by the name of CM Punk, and most of this Mitch's in-ring and wrestling persona is based heavily on him. 

Punk was a skinny, straight-edge kid from Chicago when he started wrestling in backyards and small feds back in the late 90s. He was rough, brash, and never tall or muscular enough to catch the attention of the big national companies of the time. 

Thing is, though, Punk oozes charisma. He can control a crowd of thousands with a single facial expression, with the raise of an eyebrow. And he's a great wrestler. And fans responded to that. He gained a huge following on the independent circuit and, soon enough, began wrestling with a smaller national fed called Ring of Honor. RoH did wrestling differently than what was being done on TV and they had a large following because of it. Punk quickly became one of their huge stars.

In 2005 he got an offer from the only remaining large national fed, the WWE. He signed the contract. 

He became a megastar. He called himself the Best in the World, the Voice of the Voiceless. He entered the ring to the song "Cult of Personality" and, true to that, he had a huge cult following of fans. 

People loved, and still love, CM Punk. Like, a lot. 

As his time with WWE went on, though, he grew disillusioned.  They're a publicly traded megacorp well known for not putting the interests or the health of their wrestlers first, or even tenth. Punk fought his ass off to keep from stagnating in the roster. 

Ten years ago, he cut the prototypical Pipe Bomb promo - he tore management a new asshole, he tore the fans a new asshole, he railed against the backstage bullshit until his mic was cut. He went on to portray a (true to life) anti-establishment type character, one tired of the politicking and nepotism in the business. 

And who can't relate to wanting to buck the system? Who hasn't wanted to tell of a shitty boss, who hasn't gotten passed over for a promotion because someone's cousin wanted the job or because someone kissed ass better than you did? CM Punk was the embodiment of that person, and he got to literally fight back against that bullshit. 

Behind the scenes Punk was dealing with injury after injury. And in wrestling, the show must go on. It's hard to get enough time off to heal even if you want to take the time away.

In 2014, CM Punk walked away from wrestling. 

He'd been dealing with a MRSA infection (common in wrestling, unfortunately) that was reportedly mis-managed by WWE doctors, he was physically banged up, and he had no real control over the character he'd spent fifteen years cultivating. His retirement was a shock, and it left a hole in the wrestling world that never really felt filled. 

He said he'd never wrestle again, because he'd never be willing to work with WWE again.

Two years ago a new wrestling fed began giving the WWE some real competition.

AEW - All Elite Wrestling - grew from a group of guys who worked their way up from nothing and made something new. They wrestled differently, they conducted themselves differently, they had a wildly different vision of what professional wrestling should be. They caught the eye of a billionaire who's been a wrestling mark since he was a child, and the Elite made a deal to start a wrestling company. They got a TV deal. They got a bigger TV deal. They got an expanded TV deal. They got international TV deals.

And tonight, CM Punk returned to a wrestling ring after 7 years.

I've been working on Bodyslam off & on for 4 fuckin' years now. It started with a music video; it became this entire project that grew and grew in my brain. So much of it I wrote with a moment like this in mind.

And here it is. And boy, I love wrestling and I love writing.