Monkey Flip: NOVA 4/15/13

With Fluid Karma on Sunday, Alex is a nervous wreck.  Despite Scotty’s assurances, he can’t help but feel the scripted kendo championship title loss as personal.  He knows he shouldn’t be selfish.  He knows it’s all fake.  He knows he’s held the belt since last September, which already represents the longest championship reign in the promotion’s short history, longer even than Colt Carson’s run as the NOVA champion, which ended last month.

One of the many problems Alex finds in not taking it personally is that he’s dropping the title to Oliver Pine.  Oliver Pine’s first iPPV for the company is in fact Fluid Karma.  Oliver started with NOVA not long after January’s Idolwild, which saw a massive influx of talent reflecting the early success of the company.  A lot of the boys saw Idolwild as a threat, all those big names suddenly here to steal the spotlight, and yet Alex now sees that the real threat wasn’t from the ones anyone would have known but the ones that might be able to use NOVA to build their name, much as Alex has been doing.  Oliver is about to do exactly that.

Oliver isn’t so bad himself.  They’ve worked out together, been on the road doing house shows, preparing for Sunday’s match.  Alex has been teaching  Oliver a lot of what it means to have a good kendo match.  It’s not just whacking each other bloody.  Alex has only been learning this himself in recent months, but there’s a real art to it, as much as there’s an art to all of professional wrestling.  Part of him is very happy to be sharing what he’s learned.  Part of him is scared shitless that he’s about to lose what has only just made him special.

It’s a valid concern.  A lot of those boys are already feeling vindicated about Idolwild.  Instead of becoming more successful with the wider exposure, business has been down.  It was apparent at Pink Mist, with such a limited card.  It will be that much more limited at Fluid Karma, where three matches will only have an hour fans will be able to stream on the Internet.  It’s not such a great price they’ll be paying for this privilege, either.  Everyone on the card will have to be at the top of their game.

This is only making Alex nervous.  Usually he’s not bad at making a good impression.  Clearly he has already proven he can deliver in a high pressure situation with NOVA.  Yet when he actually feels nervous…

When he was a boy, Alex was constantly a bundle of nerves.  He could never relax.  He was not very impressive in school, or the few athletic activities he pursued.  It was only when he got older, and worried less about everyone that he knew judging him, that he began to thrive.  He found serenity in being surrounded by strangers.

Now that he’s worried about being judged by his peers again, the nerves have returned.  Oliver seems fine, but then anyone who makes a living as a professional wrestler ought to have a certain amount of bravado, real or imagined.  Alex isn’t sure which one Oliver possesses.  Some of the boys have a hard time separating their real lives from their professional ones.  Alex usually tries to steer clear of the latter.  Of course at the moment he doesn’t have a choice.

Scotty is telling him not to worry.  It’s easy for him to say.  He’ll be teaming with Carson for the card’s tornado title match, which promises to be a crowd pleaser, with Carson matching comedic instincts with Clete Kubeck for the first time, the opening match.  Alex and Oliver will have to follow, and then current NOVA champion Phil Brodeur defending against Damian Goch.  Alex isn’t worried about Brodeur or Goch.  He knows both of them can deliver.  He’s worried about himself.  He’s worried about Oliver.  He can’t make any assurances about his match.  If he fails in putting Oliver over, that will not only spoil one of three matches for the night, but tarnish the start of Oliver’s reign, and put a bad note at the end of his own.

He’s petrified about all of that.  He fully expects that even one bad showing after all the success he’s recently enjoyed will ruin everything.  The company is struggling.  What’re the odds that it will continue to support him if he fails it in the hour of its greatest need?  It’ll be back to obscurity.  How will he ever survive it again?