Post by Eira on May 2, 2016 22:11:58 GMT -5
((This is the Last Chance Battle Royal secret RP entry for Andy D))
TITLE: Ok, I'll Explain Everything!
I've only got one chance, and this time it’s do or die - Lower Than Atlantis; Damn Nation
Ok, Confession time. First up, I never planned on coming back to PCW. I mean don’t get me wrong, I missed the roar of the faithful, which is still the best audience to wrestle in front of. I missed the electrifying atmosphere during Tuesday Trauma, which I know is now on Thursday. I missed getting beaten up by Grimm, Non Compos Mentis, Kelli Starr and the other... actually no, I don’t miss that in the slightest. So why did I come back I hear you ask?
Well, it pays the bills.
I suppose I should explain where I disappeared to and why before I explain why I came back. The why is easy, no Visa. Ok, so for those of you who don't understand how immigration works, here's a (very) brief explanation. In order to get into the United States (or any country for that matter), you need valid travel documentation (passport) and a reason for stay (visa). Now visa's come in many different shapes and sizes... well actually the actual visa is the same size regardless but I digress. Most people will only encounter a travel visa in their lives, which allows them to visit a country for the purposes of leisure, sightseeing and general touristy stuff for a limited amount of time. In order to actually live & work in the country you require a work visa, which the company you work for has to sign off on (to state that they need you to work for them and they cant really higher local people to do the job). It’s basically the same for the purposes of sports, athletics competition and training or general “Entertainment”, the differences being not important to this explanation in the slightest.
Now you might be wondering why you may have gone to a different country without getting a travel visa, some countries have an agreement of free movement of people between them and as a result, don't need visa's from anybody with proof they're from any of those other countries. A good example of this is Europe. Anybody from any country signed up to the European Union is able to travel, visit & work in any other country also signed up as long as they have a valid passport. This little fact will be useful a little later on.
Now, back to the no Visa issue. See Visa's have time limits on them, i.e. when they expire and you're no longer allowed to be in the country. Now, just because a Visa is due to expire doesn’t necessarily mean you need to leave, as there is a wonderful renewal system. As long as you can prove you meet the criteria for renewal, you can get your visa extended and all is good. The problem with a work visa is that not only do you have to fill in the relevant paperwork but so does your employer. Can anybody see where this is going yet? Now the PCW HR guru's claim it was an "Administrative Error" that meant my paperwork never got filed and my Visa never got renewed. I will not comment on on the conspiracy theories that the Black Hand had anything to do with it.
So, legally I had to bail the country. Sure, I could have stuck it out, stayed illegally and try to force the top brass to sort my visa issues out. But being on national television and a publicly known star only lets some young immigration control cop looking for a big case to be very proactive in getting me deported. So I jumped before I was pushed.
Back to the whole visa rules and regs for a sec, after you leave the country of your current stay, you usually have to wait a set amount of time before you can apply again. So, you may be wondering why I didn’t just apply to come back as soon as I was able to. I mean, its not like my contract was terminated just because the company didn’t help me renew my visa (seriously, at the time my contract was not terminated because they couldn’t handle the unlawful dismissal suit I could throw their way... plus being paid by appearance means they don't lose any money when I'm not there). The reason I didn’t come back as soon as I could was because I got a little distracted doing a favour for a friend.
After I got back to the UK, I crashed with my old mentor Victor Akiyama, who was an old British wrestler known as Terry Aki. Vic's basically family to me these days, but it was still awesome that he put me up for a while. Now, Vic has still has some connections in the business, so after I finished meeting up and hanging out with friends, family and pseudo-family, he hooked me up with a European based company called European Excellence Wrestling. Figured it would be a good place to keep up my skills and since it was touring around the UK at the time, it would still keep me local.
Anyway, one thing led to another and before I knew it I was touring around half of Europe with these guys. Which, as you may recall me stating earlier, I could do without any kind of visa because as we only toured around Europe, and I hold a UK Passport which is a member state of the European Union (for now at least), I can travel freely across everywhere the company was touring. And as tiring as all the touring was (the lack of it is yet another awesome part of being in PCW), I forgot how great it is to go over Europe. I mean, the UK is fun because of just how many shows Vic and his Family attend and cheer me on, along with seeing a couple of other old friends and pseudo-family in the audience at the odd show or two. But other places in Europe are just as fun to go to. In Belgium, there's some great chocolate. In Germany there's some great food and great beer. In Italy the pizza is superb. In Spain, having a siesta in the sun is one of the most relaxing things you can do. And in France there's... French people.
Anyway, enough about the where and the why I was gone, maybe I'll indulge more tales from my travels at a later date. Let's now cover the other major question. If I never planned on coming back to PCW, why did I? I mean, I already said it was to pay the bills, but why move back to the US at all, or even to Greenville specifically? Especially if I was good travelling with the Euro guys and getting decent money from them (which I was on both counts). Well its for the exact same reason as any heterosexual male has done something really stupid...
It was because of a girl.
Man, this whole thing is becoming one long explanation after another long explanation. And I swear I'm giving you the cliff notes versions. But here's where things get slightly complicated (as opposed to really complicated I guess). Let's start with Halloween 2014, about 2 months before I went back to the UK due to... well see above, I'm not going through all that again. Anyway, since around about September of that year, Donna (who was my neighbour from across the hall in my apartment building), was trying unsuccessfully to get me to meet some new girl who had moved into the building. Now, on Halloween there was a party in the gym that was at the base of the building for both gym members and building tenants. Donna tried to get me to stick around to eventually meet the new girl but I bailed because I was tired out from dealing with immature childish minds at the local hospital's children ward. And the sick kids were just as tiring as the 2Guys foolish antics. Despite bailing on the party I still ended up running into a hot girl dressed as Cleopatra. She not only knew who I was (which I presumed was because of Donna) but she said something to me which made me realise that she knew who I was, and that I knew her too. When I finally put this & her Scottish accent all together, the penny finally dropped. Becks.
Ok, now for the complicated bit, and we go back to New Years Eve 2011. The 2Guys took me into Edinburgh to party it up and after losing them somewhere between bars I ended up bumping into this beautiful, wonderful Scottish girl named Rebecca, a.k.a Becks. And somehow I ended up partying into 2012 with her. Despite going our separate ways that evening we somehow managed to bump into each other the next morning in the same café and ended up spending the next couple of days hanging out. When I got back state side I realised that I never got a phone number, an email address or even a last name. Becks ended up the one that got away.
Or so I thought, as fate decided to smack me in the face with curve ball and have the very same Rebecca move into the very same apartment building I happened to live in at the time. Yeah, like I was going to let that opportunity slip me by this time. Especially since it turned out she was as disappointed we didn’t exchange contact details as I was back then. So the first thing we did was rectify that bit (it also helped we were living in the same apartment building), which we then followed up with hanging out with each other in our spare time, which somehow transferred into dating, which somehow transferred into... well nothing, because I had to leave the country. This time however, we were able to keep in touch despite being an entire ocean apart from each other. Thank you internet.
Actually, full honesty now. There was another reason I didn’t come back to the States sooner than I did. Its not because I didn’t want to be with Becks, because I did, and its not because I expected the universe to kick me in the bollocks and push me off a cliff over the brief bit of happiness I'm now experiencing in my life, because I did. It was actually down to Becks' job. She'd moved across the pond to be apart of a restoration job (as she is trained in both art and antique restoration), but it only started out to last as long as it took to restore some pieces to go on display at a local museum. I figured, since I wasn’t willing to let Becks metaphorically slip through my fingers again, that if she was going to end up travelling back to the UK for work, I would to. And hell, with my line of work I could probably find a place to get punched in the face somewhere in the world if Becks' needed to move anywhere else. But as I was touring around Europe, the opportunity of a more permanent position came up and when Becks was successful, I knew I'd be heading back to Greenville.
Now that we've covered why I went, where I went to and why I came back, lets talk about the future. There is never a better time to come back than during the Icemann Invitational Tournament. The opportunity to have a shot at any title is an option that rarely comes along (only once a year in fact, and then only if you win). The Last Chance Battle Royal is the only place one can get entry into the tournament without an invitation and winning places you into the top 8. Of course winning said match is one of the harder things to actually accomplish in PCW, probably harder than taking the World Title off Grimm (and I know how hard that is personally).
And of course with the "open to anyone" tag on this match, its not just the already announced competitors you have to worry about in this match. Although they are a concern, just looking at some of the names is worrying enough. But because anybody can throw their name in the hat, you never know how many are going to head down to the ring. Hell, sometimes you can get completely surprised by someone suddenly just showing up out of nowhere and being apart of the match.
You know, like I'm doing this year.
I cant focus on the unknown for obvious reason, only work with the known and plan for the unexpected. There are five current known competitors. Last few Last Chance matches have had around 10 people in it, so I need to expect about 5 or 6 more entrants I don't know about. The lucky ones will end up entering the match in the last couple of entrants. The universe seems to be giving me some good luck in my personal life so professionally I'll probably end up first out of the block. So fight through around ten other people, only half of which I know about? Fight through the likes of Showtime, Q, Crazy Boy, which will not be easy. And then there's this new person Creed who I have no idea what he's like to go up against. Oh and lets not forget about Buck Brochamp... he's a major threat. After all you could end up laughing so hard you'd fall over the top rope and eliminate yourself. Plus who knows who's going to come out of the woodwork to try and win the shot to advance in the tournament.
Yeah, I'm probably not winning this one am I?
Why did I decide this was a good idea? There's one question I don't have any explanation for, long or otherwise.
TITLE: Ok, I'll Explain Everything!
I've only got one chance, and this time it’s do or die - Lower Than Atlantis; Damn Nation
Ok, Confession time. First up, I never planned on coming back to PCW. I mean don’t get me wrong, I missed the roar of the faithful, which is still the best audience to wrestle in front of. I missed the electrifying atmosphere during Tuesday Trauma, which I know is now on Thursday. I missed getting beaten up by Grimm, Non Compos Mentis, Kelli Starr and the other... actually no, I don’t miss that in the slightest. So why did I come back I hear you ask?
Well, it pays the bills.
I suppose I should explain where I disappeared to and why before I explain why I came back. The why is easy, no Visa. Ok, so for those of you who don't understand how immigration works, here's a (very) brief explanation. In order to get into the United States (or any country for that matter), you need valid travel documentation (passport) and a reason for stay (visa). Now visa's come in many different shapes and sizes... well actually the actual visa is the same size regardless but I digress. Most people will only encounter a travel visa in their lives, which allows them to visit a country for the purposes of leisure, sightseeing and general touristy stuff for a limited amount of time. In order to actually live & work in the country you require a work visa, which the company you work for has to sign off on (to state that they need you to work for them and they cant really higher local people to do the job). It’s basically the same for the purposes of sports, athletics competition and training or general “Entertainment”, the differences being not important to this explanation in the slightest.
Now you might be wondering why you may have gone to a different country without getting a travel visa, some countries have an agreement of free movement of people between them and as a result, don't need visa's from anybody with proof they're from any of those other countries. A good example of this is Europe. Anybody from any country signed up to the European Union is able to travel, visit & work in any other country also signed up as long as they have a valid passport. This little fact will be useful a little later on.
Now, back to the no Visa issue. See Visa's have time limits on them, i.e. when they expire and you're no longer allowed to be in the country. Now, just because a Visa is due to expire doesn’t necessarily mean you need to leave, as there is a wonderful renewal system. As long as you can prove you meet the criteria for renewal, you can get your visa extended and all is good. The problem with a work visa is that not only do you have to fill in the relevant paperwork but so does your employer. Can anybody see where this is going yet? Now the PCW HR guru's claim it was an "Administrative Error" that meant my paperwork never got filed and my Visa never got renewed. I will not comment on on the conspiracy theories that the Black Hand had anything to do with it.
So, legally I had to bail the country. Sure, I could have stuck it out, stayed illegally and try to force the top brass to sort my visa issues out. But being on national television and a publicly known star only lets some young immigration control cop looking for a big case to be very proactive in getting me deported. So I jumped before I was pushed.
Back to the whole visa rules and regs for a sec, after you leave the country of your current stay, you usually have to wait a set amount of time before you can apply again. So, you may be wondering why I didn’t just apply to come back as soon as I was able to. I mean, its not like my contract was terminated just because the company didn’t help me renew my visa (seriously, at the time my contract was not terminated because they couldn’t handle the unlawful dismissal suit I could throw their way... plus being paid by appearance means they don't lose any money when I'm not there). The reason I didn’t come back as soon as I could was because I got a little distracted doing a favour for a friend.
After I got back to the UK, I crashed with my old mentor Victor Akiyama, who was an old British wrestler known as Terry Aki. Vic's basically family to me these days, but it was still awesome that he put me up for a while. Now, Vic has still has some connections in the business, so after I finished meeting up and hanging out with friends, family and pseudo-family, he hooked me up with a European based company called European Excellence Wrestling. Figured it would be a good place to keep up my skills and since it was touring around the UK at the time, it would still keep me local.
Anyway, one thing led to another and before I knew it I was touring around half of Europe with these guys. Which, as you may recall me stating earlier, I could do without any kind of visa because as we only toured around Europe, and I hold a UK Passport which is a member state of the European Union (for now at least), I can travel freely across everywhere the company was touring. And as tiring as all the touring was (the lack of it is yet another awesome part of being in PCW), I forgot how great it is to go over Europe. I mean, the UK is fun because of just how many shows Vic and his Family attend and cheer me on, along with seeing a couple of other old friends and pseudo-family in the audience at the odd show or two. But other places in Europe are just as fun to go to. In Belgium, there's some great chocolate. In Germany there's some great food and great beer. In Italy the pizza is superb. In Spain, having a siesta in the sun is one of the most relaxing things you can do. And in France there's... French people.
Anyway, enough about the where and the why I was gone, maybe I'll indulge more tales from my travels at a later date. Let's now cover the other major question. If I never planned on coming back to PCW, why did I? I mean, I already said it was to pay the bills, but why move back to the US at all, or even to Greenville specifically? Especially if I was good travelling with the Euro guys and getting decent money from them (which I was on both counts). Well its for the exact same reason as any heterosexual male has done something really stupid...
It was because of a girl.
Man, this whole thing is becoming one long explanation after another long explanation. And I swear I'm giving you the cliff notes versions. But here's where things get slightly complicated (as opposed to really complicated I guess). Let's start with Halloween 2014, about 2 months before I went back to the UK due to... well see above, I'm not going through all that again. Anyway, since around about September of that year, Donna (who was my neighbour from across the hall in my apartment building), was trying unsuccessfully to get me to meet some new girl who had moved into the building. Now, on Halloween there was a party in the gym that was at the base of the building for both gym members and building tenants. Donna tried to get me to stick around to eventually meet the new girl but I bailed because I was tired out from dealing with immature childish minds at the local hospital's children ward. And the sick kids were just as tiring as the 2Guys foolish antics. Despite bailing on the party I still ended up running into a hot girl dressed as Cleopatra. She not only knew who I was (which I presumed was because of Donna) but she said something to me which made me realise that she knew who I was, and that I knew her too. When I finally put this & her Scottish accent all together, the penny finally dropped. Becks.
Ok, now for the complicated bit, and we go back to New Years Eve 2011. The 2Guys took me into Edinburgh to party it up and after losing them somewhere between bars I ended up bumping into this beautiful, wonderful Scottish girl named Rebecca, a.k.a Becks. And somehow I ended up partying into 2012 with her. Despite going our separate ways that evening we somehow managed to bump into each other the next morning in the same café and ended up spending the next couple of days hanging out. When I got back state side I realised that I never got a phone number, an email address or even a last name. Becks ended up the one that got away.
Or so I thought, as fate decided to smack me in the face with curve ball and have the very same Rebecca move into the very same apartment building I happened to live in at the time. Yeah, like I was going to let that opportunity slip me by this time. Especially since it turned out she was as disappointed we didn’t exchange contact details as I was back then. So the first thing we did was rectify that bit (it also helped we were living in the same apartment building), which we then followed up with hanging out with each other in our spare time, which somehow transferred into dating, which somehow transferred into... well nothing, because I had to leave the country. This time however, we were able to keep in touch despite being an entire ocean apart from each other. Thank you internet.
Actually, full honesty now. There was another reason I didn’t come back to the States sooner than I did. Its not because I didn’t want to be with Becks, because I did, and its not because I expected the universe to kick me in the bollocks and push me off a cliff over the brief bit of happiness I'm now experiencing in my life, because I did. It was actually down to Becks' job. She'd moved across the pond to be apart of a restoration job (as she is trained in both art and antique restoration), but it only started out to last as long as it took to restore some pieces to go on display at a local museum. I figured, since I wasn’t willing to let Becks metaphorically slip through my fingers again, that if she was going to end up travelling back to the UK for work, I would to. And hell, with my line of work I could probably find a place to get punched in the face somewhere in the world if Becks' needed to move anywhere else. But as I was touring around Europe, the opportunity of a more permanent position came up and when Becks was successful, I knew I'd be heading back to Greenville.
Now that we've covered why I went, where I went to and why I came back, lets talk about the future. There is never a better time to come back than during the Icemann Invitational Tournament. The opportunity to have a shot at any title is an option that rarely comes along (only once a year in fact, and then only if you win). The Last Chance Battle Royal is the only place one can get entry into the tournament without an invitation and winning places you into the top 8. Of course winning said match is one of the harder things to actually accomplish in PCW, probably harder than taking the World Title off Grimm (and I know how hard that is personally).
And of course with the "open to anyone" tag on this match, its not just the already announced competitors you have to worry about in this match. Although they are a concern, just looking at some of the names is worrying enough. But because anybody can throw their name in the hat, you never know how many are going to head down to the ring. Hell, sometimes you can get completely surprised by someone suddenly just showing up out of nowhere and being apart of the match.
You know, like I'm doing this year.
I cant focus on the unknown for obvious reason, only work with the known and plan for the unexpected. There are five current known competitors. Last few Last Chance matches have had around 10 people in it, so I need to expect about 5 or 6 more entrants I don't know about. The lucky ones will end up entering the match in the last couple of entrants. The universe seems to be giving me some good luck in my personal life so professionally I'll probably end up first out of the block. So fight through around ten other people, only half of which I know about? Fight through the likes of Showtime, Q, Crazy Boy, which will not be easy. And then there's this new person Creed who I have no idea what he's like to go up against. Oh and lets not forget about Buck Brochamp... he's a major threat. After all you could end up laughing so hard you'd fall over the top rope and eliminate yourself. Plus who knows who's going to come out of the woodwork to try and win the shot to advance in the tournament.
Yeah, I'm probably not winning this one am I?
Why did I decide this was a good idea? There's one question I don't have any explanation for, long or otherwise.
