'I've been put through tables. I've been set on fire. I've had my skull ripped open. I've been sliced by barbed wire and glass. None of that really impresses me anymore.'

His voice is about as soft as anyone's ever heard it. Not only is the volume low, but the tone as well.

'I heard about the throat pinch move. I figured, hey, it's nothing more than the ol' tongan death grip. I was wrong. Feeling those thumbs pressing into my windpipe, it wasn't like getting choked by a guy who's doing it in order to catch his breath. It felt like dying. I'm not saying I saw my life flash in front of me or anything, but it's really made me think. And now that I've been thinking, I'm glad it happened.”

The look on his face is one of ‘making lemons from lemonade’ instead of actual gratitude.

'I've seen guys, mostly Harby, blather on about how Mercury is better than ever, how guys are on another level. Fans have asked me if I've stepped up from where I used to be. I figured, I was a force to be reckoned with before Slate barely managed to end my career, so what's there to worry about? Wrong. This kid, Blake, takes a lot of punishment, way more than I expected him to, and in the end he beat me. He looked like he could have gone another five minutes, easy. To be honest I could have too, at least as far as being tired, but with how it went down he'd have gotten the hold on me two or three more times before I could've put him away. This kid, and he's a kid as far as I'm concerned, beat me like that in his first real hardcore match. So if I'm that far down the ranks in that division, how low am I in regular matches?”

This marks the closest TR would ever come to being emo. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.

'I can't blame it on ring rust. I didn't get blown up, I didn't botch anything. I don't see how I survive that hold any more times than I did even on my best night from my first run. So what am I gonna do?”

Something lights up in him. The competitive spirit he inherited at birth clicks on.

'Simple. I need to step up. I gotta get in better shape, I gotta get stronger, I gotta get better. In this sport even little gaps here and there can create a huge gulf in the ring, but I know I can close those gaps. I've got the body, I've got the brains, and most of all I have the heart of a Saxton. I can succeed at whatever I choose to do.

“Now, all that said… Kaiser?”

TR shakes his head.

“I know I know, he’s talented. He’s also going to die. I don’t think anyone seriously doubts that. I’m not going to take it easy, either. I want to finish this as fast as I can, no screwing around. I want to make an example of the little twerp. Kaiser, give me your best shot, don’t wuss out and grab the ropes every five seconds. It’ll be painful but dragging it out will only make things worse. Now go on, make your little funny response and die like a good jobber.”

From emo to cocky in the span of a few minutes. That’s our TR.