Secret Life Of a Pro-Wrestler, Personal Experience Part 11: Path To Greatness!

The Secret Life of a Pro-Wrestler is something many do not know about. It is something that is kept secret. Sort of like a code in a video game that no one can figure out.

That was, until now.

I am taking you through the life of a wrestler from the beginning to the end of his career. You will see his ups and downs, his highs and lows, and his success and failures.

If you have not seen the entire series, I ask that you do. To better understand this one, I ask you to look at Part 10 if you have not already:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/149471-the-secret-life-of-a-pro-wrestler-personal-experience-part-10-fall-from-grace

Now to Part 11

I was just getting back. I knew that people believed in me and wanted me to succeed. It was tough to stay under the pressure a bit though.

People had expectations of me, yet I had only been around a short amount of time. In this business it is all about who you know. Look at Triple H for instance.

I have Eric Escobar, a former FCW World Champion and my friend/mentor. I had started practicing with him early in my career. And he got me the matches that got me noticed.

I faced him and Hennig and those two are the top stars in FCW currently. And since I had a good showing in both the bookers figured they could put me in the 10 man World Title Tournament.

I was suceeding faster than many who came before me. It was like I was in a dream that I could never wake up from. And I really didn't want to.

I had all of this pressure on me still, so I wanted to be the person I thought they wanted.

This is why I took the steroids.

I just wanted to sort of be the guy they wanted and have the respect of the others in FCW too. I had respect from a few, but not the whole lot of them.

It was a mission on mine sort of. I made it my goal to win the FCW World Championship because I knew they even though they wouldn't like me, they had to respect me.

But first on my mind, was the Tag Team Gold. My partner was Eric Escobar, my friend, who I knew would have my back in the ring.

I just got out of rehab and was making my way back. I had been practicing with Escobar for a few weeks since coming back from rehab. I finally had a tag match with Eric as my partner against The New Hart Foundation this week.

Now D.H. Smith and Tyson Kidd are two of the best in FCW, Kidd made his way to ECW and had been doing well.

But FCW asked if he could come down for this match and tag again with his former partner in Smith.

I had no problem with that. If we did well, we could show that we were the best tag team in FCW.

Escobar and I had a full plate ahead of us with NHF as our opponents. We knew they were good. They were former FCW Tag Champions, so they were for real.

Also they had a manager in Natayla to help them out on the outside.

We figured that Escobar would be the powerhouse and I would be the high flyer in the tag team. Even though my strength was getting really good and I could lift up to 300 in body weight, Escobar was still a good bit stronger.

I knew I had more speed and agility in the ring. Also I had a good bit more of ability to hit high flying moves than he did.

So with that said, I would be sort of the Jeff Hardy in the tag team. The one that took the risks and made sure the opponent went down or was too hurt to continue on, which made Escobar's job easier in the ring.

That is kind of the "kayfabe" thing to say, because the opponents would know what was going to happen. But the fact is that Escobar would be the finisher and be the one who gets the win in the end. Of course everyone would know I really helped a lot to get the win.

I was going to debut a new move this week, called the Halo!

I am sure everyone remembers my match with Joe Hennig in FCW. I had to improv and do a Moonsault. People thought I did well at it, but the fact was I had not practiced it for the match.

So I did end up hurting myself.

But I hit the move and was able to do it. I figured that I could call the Moonsault I did The Halo.

It would work in many ways. I could do it with them standing up sort of how Jimmy Wang Yang does. I could do it with them laying on their back, like a regular Moonsault it done.

Or I could do the Ultimo Dragon one, where I do it on the outside. There are many ways I could do it, but those were the ways I knew I could. And people would know it as the Halo, which makes them want to see it I think.

Still I would keep other moves coming.

Escobar and I actually thought of a move we were going to do in this match with the NHF. It would be loved by the crowd and it will be fun to do in the ring.

We had to choreograph with NHF. We were told we would win, which was fine by Kidd and Smith.

You would think they would be egotistical like Hennig. But they were not, which was refreshing.

We wanted to have the moves from the two sides that were fun to watch. Escobar and I wanted to have our match be the best of the night and have people talking.

We knew we could do that with NHF's Kidd and Smith.

Thursday, night of the match

It was finally time to get back in the ring. I had been out for a month, and during this time people may have forgotten about me.

Which is why I needed to remind them who I was.

We had the last match of the night, which meant we had the main event.

No pressure right?

I wanted to live up to the hype the bookers were giving us. I saw John Laurinitus in the back.

He came up to me and said something I will never forget.

"Remember that greatness is not seen through the eyes of those who make it, but in  those who watch it happen. Go out there and make sure they see greatness happen."

Then he walked away and did not say anything else to anyone while he did.

I thought about what he said, but did not know what it meant at the time.

I was up. It was my time to shine.

To show the FCW locker room why I am here. This match, although a tag match, could help me gain the respect I wanted even before I win the FCW World Title I knew I would have one day.

My music hit and I made my way to the ring, I was cheered surprisingly.

They still knew who I was? I thought.

Then Escobar's music hit and of course cheers came for him too.

Then they came out, the New Hart Foundation. Tyson Kidd and D.H. Smith accompanied by Natalya.

The bell rang and the match was under way.

Kidd and myself started out in the ring, many related my agility to his. So to see us face each other was something people wanted I am sure.

I hit a few punches and kicks on Kidd, then he hit some of his patented kicks on me.

He hit me with one that hit very hard to my chin, it was a mistake for him to hit that hard. But I felt as if he broke my jaw for a few minutes.

I managed to get to the side and tag Escobar in. He started hitting him with a few clotheslines and then hit Smith on the side to show him he knew he was there.

Kidd got up really fast and hit a kick to the back of Escobar's head. Which gave him time to reach the side where Smith made his way back up to. Kidd got the tag to Smith and he started hitting a few moves on Escobar.

Escobar managed to hit a European Uppercut, and hit a high impact suplex that felt as if it shook the building.

Natayla got the refs attention, and Kidd came from the outside with a chair. I quickly made my way in the ring to stop him.

I grabbed the chair and threw it out, afterwards I grabbed Kidd and through him out of the ring too. I saw that Smith was making his way back up and Escobar was all ready.

We decided to hit our tag move on him.

I hit a pele that hit death even with the middle of Smith's head and that made him groggy enough to fall towards Escobar who hit an Impaler on him.

I saw Kidd getting back up and I jump onto the ropes and hit the Halo! on Kidd who was on the outside.

The crowd jumped to their feet and starting cheering madly. The ref finally turned back around after shoeing Natalya off. Escobar laid on top of Smith and got the 1, 2, 3.

We beat New Hart Foundation, which was the first on our trip to the Tag Team Gold.

It hit me right when this match ended, the people saw something great out of us. They saw a great match.

Greatness was not seen by myself or Escobar, because we were the ones achieving it. The people saw the greatness out of us. It all started to make since.

Was this my first step to greatness?

Only time will tell.