Four Years (Really Ain't That Long If You Think About It)

[Darren "The Bomber" Hughes]

AP, Staten Island, New York - A two-car motor vehicle accident on I-278 late last night ended with two injuries and one fatality.



NYPD and NYFD officers responded to a call at 12:04 AM about six miles west of the Verrazano Bridge. A 1983 Cadillac El Dorado had collided with a 2004 Kia Optima. The driver's name was witheld due to ongoing investigation into the accident; however, it is widely believed that alcohol was involved.



Darren Hughes, 33, of Staten Island, was pronounced dead on the scene. An unnamed occupant of his vehicle is reported to be in critical condition at Staten Island University. Preliminary crash reports, supported by eye-witness testimony, states that Hughes was traveling "roughly 100-110 miles an hour" when the Kia entered the highway, and merged in front of Hughes traveling the wrong direction "going about half the speed he was." Hughes was unable to stop in time, and struck the Kia along with the guardrail. Details on the exact cause of death, as well as the extent of Hughes' injuries, are unknown at this time.



Hughes, a professional wrestler of nine years. was known to his fans as "The Bomber". He competed in many companies, the most prominent being Catholic Pands Wrestling, Rocky Mountain PRO, and Pure Class Wrestling. He held several titles throughout his career, and was well-known for overcoming two knee surgeries in his short career. He was best-known for his tenure alongside Madman Szalinski and Ariel Shadows in several organizations, some merely as an off-camera personality. Darren also came into ownership of Cheap White Foam Studios, a public online media company founded by Szalinski.



Darren had not been wrestling since January of this year. In his last public interview on February 24th, Darren expressed a large disdain in general for professional wrestling, stating that "I'm working on a family now. I don't have time for the drama anymore. I used to think it was my life's dream to be a wrestler, turned out it was all just a nightmare. I'm glad I got to see the things I saw and met the people I've met, but overall, I'm just over it, man. It's time to put that stuff aside and focus on the stuff that means something in the long run, you know? You can only land on your head so many times before you eventually start to think that retirement with the wife and the kids sounds really nice."



He is survived by a daughter, Rachelle, 3 (mother's name Julie Hughes, divorced) and many of his closest childhood friends, including members of the Wu-Tang Clan, as well as many colleagues from around the pro wrestling world.



Service times and schedule will be announced at a later date.

It has been four years.

Four years since that article was published.

A lot has happened during that time. Bruce Jenner became Caitlyn, and now he wants to be Bruce again. Another terrorist group in the Middle East started making cheap attacks against the Western world. Obama got re-elected, and now there's a good chance that we're going to elect Donald Trump. I guess Gary Busey didn't get enough delegates. 

Wrestling promotions by the dozens have came and gone. I hear that UTA place got really big, then collapsed under its own weight. Just like every other company that gets too big for its britches. Then other companies like WARPED have made a resurgence, coming back with a vengeance. 

And some companies, like Pure Class, haven't changed at all. 

Some starts burned out, while others went supernova. I hear someone took that "GOD DAMN SON" line and turned it into a multi-million dollar catchphrase. I don't think anybody will ever know the true origin of that, nor that Madman Szalinski stole it.

Who cares? We steal things from each other all the time, us human beings. How many of us see a joke online, then repeat it like we just made it up in the shower this morning? It doesn't matter who came up with it. What matters is that for your current audience, you're the one telling it. They don't care that you're an unoriginal joke thief. They're just happy to be entertained. 

Four years later, and I stand at the mausoleum in Staten Island where Darren Hughes was laid to rest. 

Man, you've missed so much. 

I don't know if you'd have wanted to be a part of this new world. They argue over what bathroom transsexuals should use, but ignore the two leaking nuclear power plants and the nuclear waste disposal site about to blow over. Come to think of it, that's always been true. We've always tried to hide from the issues and skirt around them. We just don't face our problems anymore. 

I see a lot of that now. A lot of people who just refused to deal with their problems. 

Maybe I was one of those people. 

But not anymore. I refuse to hide. I refuse to run. I refuse to not do what I want to do with my life. I refuse to wear a hoodie and sunglasses in eighty degree heat just so I'm not spotted going to my girlfriend's house. I refuse to carry three fake ID cards so my real identity can't ever be found. I refuse to not stand up and face what I have done. 

I just had to come here one final time, to see this tomb for myself before I made my decision.

I just hope nobody's gonna be that pissed off when they find out I'm still alive.