Make an Example

It was a long drive from Boise to Daly City. I saw Reno which made me sad and I saw Sacramento which filled me with civic pride. But it was somewhere just outside of Winnemucca, as I gazed at the glorious landscape of our favored nation that I decided to make an example of Sage Pontiff.

I have watched wrestling all my life and oft in times of tumult it was the only friend I had. I have watched great fighters cut great promos and I have heard vicious men say they planned to make an example of someone. I have also heard people say they plan to make an example of me but my life and its ups and down don’t matter anymore. Just the ring. Everytime, every single time that someone said they would make an example of someone else it was to discuss some impending savagery. A savage beat down. A lesson to make someone learn their place.

I want to make a different kind of example out of Sage Pontiff. Watching the show last week from backstage I felt ashamed of myself for my poor introduction. But then I felt more ashamed watching the main event. Men clubbing each other, outsiders running in and running around the ring like a bunch of wild bulalias. This was not sport! This was not wrestling! This was not the American way: Hard work. Fair play. Honesty.

I will pin you Sage Pontiff. I will pin you with a clean roll up after a series of fairly delivered and hopefully well executed moves. I will jump off no ropes, I will engage in no trickery. If you fall I will help you back up to continue the match and afterwards, we will shake hands, like sportsmen. That’s what you deserve, what the fans deserve. What the Cow Palace deserves with its grand history of agricultural programming and Journey concerts. It’s what my mother deserves, watching me from wherever she is.

Hard work. Fair play. Honesty. I look forward to a clean fight Mr. Pontiff. One we can both be proud of. At revolution 52 I will make an example out of you. A good example for all to follow. A beacon in the darkness. The American way.