"Creating a Legacy" - Edward Cornell's Story

[Sco xY2Jx]

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Generally speaking, a name says a lot for a person and about who they are and who they might one day become. Tommy Cornell is unquestionably one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time and he's still in his prime after going for 17 years. It seems his prime may never actually end and he could go on forever. Not only that but he's running his own company, widely regarded as the second best in the world, only behind the Supreme Wrestling Federation. Further to that he's got a 5 year old kid who is no doubt destined for greatness.

 

Then there's me. The lesser cousin. People hear the surname and expect certain things to happen. Then when those certain things don't happen, disappointment occurs and a sense of 'what-if' manifests itself in my head. 'What-if' I didn't have this surname? 'What-if' I wasn't stuck over here in the UK? 'What-if' I decided that I could better myself and go on to better things than what 21st Century Wrestling was giving me. I'd been busting my gut there for 4 years and wasn't given more than 1 reign with a championship. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an egotistical maniac and I don't believe that my name warrants special treatment. But I know that I'm good at what I do and if I feel I deserve something better, then why shouldn't I go for it? That's when I decided that I had to walk away from Jeff Nova. I admit, the guy had been good to me and had given me a gig for 4 years. But, then again, there had to be more to me than this. After all, what's the point in working in a place when all your competition is gone and there's no reason for you to better yourself? Clifford (Dark Angel) came back recently as he's looking to gradually bring down his career and help out, there was no reason that I couldn't do the same some day. But, for now, I knew that I could do bigger things. I knew that I needed to do bigger things. So it was decided. I was done with 21CW. Now I just had to find the time to tell Jeff... and get in touch with Tommy.

[Sco xY2Jx]

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It was the final pay-per-view of the year at 21CW, 'Crisis Point', and I was scheduled for a rematch against Wade Orson for the UK Title in which he would retain the title. It was at this point I knew I'd made the right choice to leave the company. The fact that I was on a PPA deal meant I could sign with other companies and still be with 21CW, but it wasn't enough. I wanted a permanent contract elsewhere.

The match came and went and we put on a solid show. Nothing spectacular, but enough to keep the fans ticking over. We went back to Gorilla to applause from the crew. I hugged Wade and immediately went back to the locker room. The guys were looking to have a few words but I had other things on my mind. I pulled out my mobile and immediately put in a call to Tommy.

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Tommy; "Hey cuz, what's up?"

Edward; "Hey Tommy. Look, I was wondering if you could do me a favour?"

Tommy; "Are you not on Pay-Per-View, right now? You and Wade isn't it? Anyway, shoot."

Edward; "Do you think your company could handle another Cornell? It's not working out over here."

Tommy; "I'd love to help you out, brother, but we've already got a lot of guys on the payroll here. We're pretty strapped at the moment."

Edward; "Sure. Well, if you change your mind, I'd love to help you out. I'm quitting tonight. Later."

 

I immediately hung up before he could get another word-in. I wasn't meaning to disrespect, Tommy. He knows I wouldn't do that him. I was just disappointed, but I guess it served me right for assuming he'd have a spot for me. At that point, I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and Cliff was standing over me.

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"I understand why you feel it's not working out for you," he said. I had no idea he'd have been listening. "I'm not going to convince you to stay, hell I just got here. But you're hitting your prime, you're a tough guy and you've got a desire running deep in you to be the best you can be. I think I can help you out." Here was a former Wrestler of the Year winner and a man widely regarded as one of the most prolific of a generation who'd known me for a little over a couple of months. He had a match in about 20 minutes and yet he was looking to help. I'd have been foolish not to listen. 'What are you thinking?' I said, cautiously. He looked at me with a strong intensity. "Tommy's a great guy, but if you were to ever go to TCW they'd want to try and mold you into another of him. That's not going to happen because you're a different style. Believe it or not, you don't want to be the next Tommy. You want to be the first Edward. How would you feel about Canada?", he boldy asked me. Honestly, it hadn't crossed my mind. I was too focused on America thinking that's where the holy grail was to entertain the idea of Canada. He went on, "I'm on good terms with the Stones. Dan senior is a great guy and he's passed North of the Border onto Jeremy who is an even better guy. They're about to hit a slight re-building period and could use some new blood. I'll give them a shout tonight and see if I can hook you up, huh?" I was in shock. The intensity of the wrestling style over there was so much more than what I'd experienced before, but I wanted the challenge and to work with the Stones and some of the roster there would be incredible. 'I don't know what to say. If you can set it up, I'm in.' A broad smile came across his face. 'Good. But before I do that, you better speak to Jeff.'

[AceCodey]

WHAT'S THIS! AN EDWARD CORNELL DIARY?!?!

 

Seriously though, following. Forever.

[Sco xY2Jx]

WHAT'S THIS! AN EDWARD CORNELL DIARY?!?!

 

Seriously though, following. Forever.

 

Cheers, man. I'm new to the franchise so I don't know what stories have I have been often done so I can't quite tell if you were being sarcastic. Only wish I knew how to work the posts to get pictures into the posts aswell.

 

But cheers anyway, dude. Appreciate the following.

[Jaded]

Cool stuff! Have just PM'd you about the pictures, hope it helps.

[angeldelayette]

Enjoying the start of the diary. Will Edward Cornell go to NOTBPW by way of Cliff Wilson or will he turn on Cliff and head to Total with his cousin. Decisions, decisions. Keep up the good work.

[Sco xY2Jx]

As we sat in the locker room of the Dundee Arena, you could hear the 10,000 strong crowd cheer as they shuffled out of the arena. All the guys stood about waiting for Adam (Matravers) and Cliff to enter. They had just put on a clinic for 25 minutes in a Match of the Year candidate. Close finishes aplenty, heavy bumps and some great storytelling played it's part in a match where Cliff retained the strap and Adam had never come out of a match looking better in his career. At least that's what I'd been told by Jonathan (Faust) . I hadn't actually watched any of the match. It may have seemed pretty selfish of me but I was too busy playing out different scenarios and getting caught up with thoughts in my head to think about anything else. Whatever happened I was definitely quitting tonight, but there was no guarantee that I would end up anywhere else. Tommy said he wasn't sure if anything could be arranged for me to go to TCW and Cliff hadn't got in touch with Jeremy Stone about NOTBPW yet. So my future was completely indefinite.

At that point he turned to me with a hushed tone...

 

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Jonathan; "Yo Eddy, you alright? You look a bit..."

Edward; 'Distracted? Yeah, I'm fine, dude. Just thinking.'

Jonathan; 'Well whatever it is, just let it settle. It'll all be fine. It's not like you're losing your job or something..'

Edward; 'Yeah... suppose so.'

Jonathan; 'Listen...'

 

What the hell? I'd been hanging around with Jonathan a lot more of late backstage and we'd always got along well, but was the guy inside my head? Was it really that obvious that I was distracted? Maybe that acting training hasn't quite paid off, yet. I focused back to Jonathan at which point I'd realised he'd been talking some more and I hadn't heard a word of it. Maybe I was a bit self centered...

 

Jonathan; '...yeah?'

Edward; 'Sorry, I zoned out. Say that again.'

Jonathan; 'I was just wondering... I know you're not happy here, I can tell. Truth be told, I'm not overjoyed either. You think you could do a brother a favour and maybe have a word with Tommy? See if I can get a gig with TCW?'

Edward; 'Sure, man. I'll put in a call.'

Jonathan; 'Brilliant. Thanks, man. Who knows... maybe we could get there together.'

 

At which point he laughed, although I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. It wasn't a bad idea. Perhaps we could go it together if, and only if, Tommy could hook us up.

A ripple of applause and cheer broke in the locker room as Adam and Cliff entered. The camaraderie was good to see as we all knew that the roster had put on a great show to end the calendar year. The waves parted off of Adam and Cliff and then standing in the doorway were 2 big figures. The first, Harry 'Pit Bull' Brown and the second was the boss himself. Just as Jeff was about to say a few words, I heard my mobile go off and then the jeers from the guys began. I picked up the phone and saw that it was Tommy. I couldn't let it go. "Sorry, boss. I gotta take this. I'll be back in a minute". I quickly headed out the room and answered the call.

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Edward; "Tommy, what's up?"

Tommy; "Why did you hang up on me earlier?"

Edward; "I didn't mean to, cuz. I'm just stressing that's all."

Tommy; "Well stop stressing. I've talked it over with Joel, we've had a few words and I'm gonna bring you stateside."

Edward; "Tommy, that's brilliant. Thank you so much."

Tommy; "But, before you get carried away, I can't bring you on your own. You'll need to bring someone with you, someone you know, someone who you believe needs to catch a break too. Someone you feel you could tag with. I know you haven't had much experience in the tag teams, but nobody over here has really heard of you, so we're gonna have to build you up. And it's easier if you can do it in a good tag-team."

Edward; "You're giving 2 of us a chance in TCW?"

Tommy; "Yeah. So choose your guy carefully, let me know who it is and get him to..."

Edward; "Faust. Jonathan Faust. He's the guy"

Tommy; "Good. Get your asses out on the next flight here, give me a call when you land and we'll sort it all out. Have you spoken to your boss yet?"

Edward; "Jeff? Yeah, I'm just away to speak to him now. Thanks Tommy."

 

The relief spread over me like wildfire. I was going to TCW. The buzz was incredible. But I'd realised that the locker room was very quiet. Very quiet throughout the duration of the call, in fact. This wasn't a good sign. I opened the door and the entire roster of guys were staring at me with a mixture of disbelief and curiousness. None more so intently than Jeff Nova. I'd caught a glimpse of Cliff who just shook his head slightly. I shot a quick look to Jonathan and I could see he was concerned. Then Jeff spoke.

Jeff; "Let's go to the office, now. And bring Jonathan with you."

He turned and walked past me. Jonathan was looking me dead in the eye as he came towards me. Then he brushed past me aswell. This wasn't going to end as I'd hoped...

[Jaysin]

I don't get into Cverse diaries too much, but I like the idea of this. Definitely going to follow this.

[ritwik]

Looks great. Please update

[Sco xY2Jx]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="ritwik" data-cite="ritwik" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="34949" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Looks great. Please update</div></blockquote><p> Sorry man, next update is coming tomorrow at some point. I've just been swamped with work, Christmas related things, I don't have the full game yet and I didn't think people were too interested as of yet to be honest. Just simply because there are so many awesome, interesting dynasties going on. <em>(I feel I'd be better suited to a Real World Mod Dynasty, truth be told. More immersive and comfortable for me to write about.)</em> But an update is coming, my friend. Thanks for following. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Sco xY2Jx]

We walked into the make shift office that was ultimately just a table with a laptop on it and a few chairs. I knew this wasn't going to go down well but I didn't have anything to fear so there was no reason to be nervous. However, Jeff was an intimidating guy and, even to the biggest of men, he could put a level of fear into them. Perhaps this why Jonathan had his eyes to the ground until spoken to.

 

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Jeff; "So, are you gonna tell me what all this about or are you going to continue to keep in the dark about what's going on?"

Edward; "Look, boss... I'm sorry that you heard it the way you did but..."

Jeff; "Actually, you stay quiet for a second, please. I'd like to hear what Jonathan's take on this is."

 

He was clearly milking this for all it was worth and relishing every second. The fact that he was playing puppet master was music to his ears. However, I doubt he'd be as pleased to know that we'll be leaving. After this little introduction to this 'meeting', I couldn't wait to tell him I was leaving.

 

Jonathan; "Before you came into the locker room I had asked Eddy for a favour, just for enquiries sake. I asked him to see if he could hook me up with TCW."

Jeff; "I see. And by the sounds of it, the enquiry seems to have gone well. What exactly did you cousin say, Ed?"

Edward; "He said that he wants us on a flight out as soon as possible. I'm sorry you had to hear like this, but we're leaving Jeff."

Jeff; "Well, there you go then, Jonathan. It's been decided for you. You're leaving... Thanks for your service then, boys. Good luck."

 

Then he arose from his chair, shook our hands and simply walked out of the room. The two of us stood in disbelief at what just happened. It started off rocky, but he was cordial about it. Admittedly it was very short and we didn't get to say much about it, but that was how our time at 21CW ended. I didn't get to give him a peice of my mind as he never gave me a reason too. He just accepted our decision and that was that. Jonathan turned to me as a huge grin spread across his face. Then he said, "Let's get our things then. America is calling, Eddy." And he was right. It was. We returned to the locker room. Got our stuff together and said a quick farewell to the guys. At this point I went straight up to Cliff.

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Edward; "Look, Cliff, I really want to thank you for what you said earlier. About getting in touch with the Stones. I was really considering it."

Cliff; "It's fine, Ed. You didn't know much about the phone call and you weren't expecting it all so suddenly, right? I know how it works. That's the US style, brother. It's hectic. They don't hang about and it's exhausting. You're in safe hands though. Your cousin is the best in the business."

Edward; " I appreciate hearing that. And, again, thanks."

Cliff; "It's fine. Honestly. You're better suited to TCW anyway. Although can I just say one thing?"

Edward; "Of course."

Cliff; "Over here, you're quite a big fish and in a very small pond. Over there, it's a pond the size of the atlantic and no-one will have heard of you. Just because you share the same surname as your cousin, don't expect all the perks that come with that name. I've been tipped off that TCW are hiring a lot of new faces too, so you're gonna have to work your ass off. Good luck."

 

And with that he shook my hand and the Dark Angel left the building. I stood, drinking in everything he'd just said. Was I being presumptious about my chances in TCW just because I had the Cornell name? With many thoughts running through my head I grabbed Jonathan, bid farewell to a few more of the guys, grabbed a taxi and off we went to Glasgow Airport to head stateside.

[kanegan]

Great to see another diary about Edward Cornell.

 

I have also started a dynasty where Edward plays the central character.

 

I will be following to watch another view about Edward.