❝I’m tired.
Perhaps the understatement of the year—but I am tired. I’m tired of falling behind and I’m tired of not living up to everything that people have been saying about me for the last year. I have given and given over the course of a year. There’s a lot to be proud of, and there’s a lot to look back on in disappointment. Road To Redemption is still looming and this may be my one and only chance to find myself in the card where I pretty much made myself a star just a year ago. I want to be in that Extreme Elimination Chamber match more than you can imagine, because I have done all that I can to put myself in a position to become a world champion here on Voltage. But I’ll admit—I haven’t been flawless, not at all. The Cody Maverick that the world is accustomed to; the one that is brash, always talking, always determined... he’s begun to silence a bit. I can come to terms with that. It’s something that I have to look myself in the mirror and think about time ... and time ... and time again. My failures are my own fault—though many setbacks may have come through the actions of someone else, I’m not going to sit here and start rattling up a list of times where I should’ve won but didn’t because of this, or times where I got beat, but I still looked great because of this.
At the end of the day, the history books will say that I didn’t win. The history books will say that I failed to dethrone Adam Lucas for the EAW Championship at Bloodsport. The history books will say that I couldn’t lead Team Voltage to victory at Territorial Invasion. The history books will say that I failed to lead Miku Sakai and Jay Jerry Johnson into victory against Drake Armstrong, Hans Grayson and Kai Rabeaux at Wicked Games. And I have to look at all of those records, I have to close my head, and just nod my head, accepting that yes, I just haven’t been up to par whatsoever. It’s funny because through last season, I went multiple marquee events with victory before falling to Veena Adams for the National Elite Championship at The Last Stand. And even after losing to her—my marquee event streak restarted and I kept it pushing. I won at Road To Redemption, I won at King Of Elite, I won at Reasonable Doubt... there was nothing that said I wasn’t a guy worthy of my position. I wasn’t a fringe main eventer by any means—I was in the main event. And I have no interest in dwelling on the past, because so far I have already main evented two marquee events as it is and I would like to keep that streak going. But I need to prove that I deserve it. And who stands across from me is a woman who wants everything just as I do, and a woman who is probably tired of hearing the world say that I am better than her.
Some days I don’t really feel like I’m the man that everyone makes me out to be. And I find that very funny because I have always been the first to re-assure myself and not let anyone talk me down. Even now, that won’t be the case. Miku Sakai can say whatever the fuck she wants about me, I can look myself in the mirror and not be happy with the man in front of that mirror, but that same man is capable of knocking everyone’s skulls into each other if he so pleases, so when it comes down to it...? I am more than ready to bring myself back to life instead of fucking around and allowing Miku to make a fool of me when I have NEVER been willing to be stuck in such a sad position like that. My history with her goes way back. Down to our first ever match on Showdown where we wrestled to a fifteen minute time limit draw, and that match has always been etched into my brain because of what it represented. Miku would end up becoming a thorn in my side for the next couple of months and the fact that I could not straight up beat her in our first encounter bothered me. Especially with all of her vulgar comments, her idiotic praise of herself and her refusal to give me any credit—I couldn’t deny that she was good at getting into her opponent’s head, but there was no way in hell that I would allow someone like her to get the upperhand over me.
Let’s be clear: I have given Miku Sakai more credit this season alone more than I ever want to for the rest of my life. I have had to team with Miku on two different occasions in important matches ... though she always happens to blame me as the captain when this is a team effort and everyone has to hold up their end of the bargain. Truthfully, Miku being eliminated when she did in Territorial Invasion... it’s part of the game. I honestly don’t hold it against her. It’s about strategy, it’s about game planning, and it’s even about sacrifice. I know that Miku doesn’t know much about sacrifice, though. If I was on fire, I know for certain that she wouldn’t even piss on me. And that’s fine. I know that Miku wasn’t going to be a phenomenal team player, but she just needed to be the wildcard to rattle our opponents. She rattled the enough—in my eyes. But the fact that I made it to the final two and overcame a two on one advantage against Rex and Milli to make it a one on one finals wasn’t enough for her. The fact I fought my ass off from start to finish wasn’t enough for her. The fact that I was submitted, I was the one THAT LOST at the very end—it gave Miku the ammo that she needed to shit talk me and disregard everything that I have brought to the table. As a team, we lost on that night, but it was never anything that I bothered me. I’m upset at myself for not getting the job done. But Miku is so damn insecure, she uses my failures to feel better about hers.
And well, maybe that’s just the story of my “rivalry” with her.
Every step of the way, Miku Sakai has done everything in her power to hold me back from being great at her own benefit—which is part of the game, but her words are so hollow. There was a time where I wasn’t in this company and Miku Sakai’s name meant something. She won championships, she found herself in important matches, she made herself known to the rest of the world. And perhaps there was a time where she was really about to level up and become a great Elitist in this company. But that time has passed and she’s just a very good one, instead. Nothing wrong with that, but Miku can’t let go of who she should’ve been instead of who she is now—perhaps because she doesn’t know who she is now. She’s a disruptor, but she’s not a leader. She doesn’t know how to lead herself back to the top and she takes it out on guys like me. Guys who haven’t seen the same amount of adversity that she’s seen in the past year, because when we faced our adversity at the start of our career? We pushed through it to find ourselves in the position that we’re in now. Miku hates me and I don’t blame her. I represent everything that bothers her about being in this company. And I always saw that as fair game. I always understood that there’s nothing more that she wants than to brag about her success in my face, to feel as if she is superior to me—and I’m not about to let her do that now. Even though I haven’t been as happy, as ready, as prepared to go out there and tear the house down like I have in the past. Even though I haven’t really been the Workhorse that I proclaimed myself to be at the start of this year... even at my worst, I know that I can beat Miku Sakai because my sheer existence makes her sick to her stomach.
Not once have I ever cared about what she thinks of me. It means nothing at the end of the day. Because I’ll deal with a bunch of people who talk like her, act like her, and that’s how the world is. But what gets me is that I don’t know a lot of people who complain as much as Miku Sakai—and are actually as talented as her. There’s a whole world of people who are bitter because they lack the ambition to do anything. They aren’t as good as their contemporaries and so they just take it out on anyone willing to listen. People who gave up on their dreams a long time ago, trying to inflict their nightmares upon those who actually work their ass off. But don’t get me wrong: I know Miku Sakai is a hard worker. I know that Miku Sakai has the ability to become champion and shake shit up in the Extreme Elimination Chamber. So that’s what boggles me when I have to deal with her every single time. The woman that talks all this shit, makes things up, cries about whatever the fuck—isn’t the same one that went to hell and high water to try and kill me and even end my career if it secured her the National Elite Championship at Reasonable Doubt. There’s something greater residing within Miku Sakai, but she doesn’t know how to bring it out because for every bullshit comment made by her, I can’t help but feel that she has resigned to the position that she has found herself in this company.
I would love for Miku to be a rational thinker. I would love for her to reach her potential after years of failing. But I have to clarify that the time is not going to come at F*ck Your Thanksgiving because she has gone about this all wrong. She has made this all about me and my failures instead of self-reflecting. When she kicked me in the dick a couple of weeks back, I should’ve put an end to this ASAP but I wasn’t able to. And a phenomenal opportunity stands in front of the both of us. I just have the hunch that Miku truly doesn’t want it as bad as I do. And if that’s the case? I don’t know what to tell her. I’m not going to lay down and die. I’m not going to give up on everything that I have worked for. Everyone has whispered in my ear, they have shouted in my ear, they have told me that I am bound to become a world champion in this company. And that is what I want the very fucking most. I want to be world champion, and I know that one day I will become world champion.
The failures pile up. The disappointments stay in people’s memory. I can’t erase them, and I don’t want to erase them. Instead, I make new memories, I make new moments, and goddamn it if you don’t think Cody Maverick is a problem in the winter then you’re a goddamn fool. I am ready to do what nobody thought I could do a year ago, but it starts with you, Miku. And this isn’t a time where I feel superbly confident of victory even though I have picked up the biggest win of my career specifically by pinning you—I know that I can beat you, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to outlast what you bring to the table. Because theoretically, the concept of a “Thanksgiving Day Massacre Match” is one that you would thrive in, right? Where you have the power and will to do whatever the fuck you want, and I can’t do a damn thing about it, right?! I can’t be bailed out by the referee. You can cheat and cheat all you want and you can get away with it because in this case, it’s legal! I know Miku is savvy when it comes to finding ways to hurt her opponent. So by no means am I going to assume that this is a foregone concussion...
... but just because you feel comfortable in a space like this doesn’t guarantee shit at the end of the day. I have waged my wars, I have been in these uncomfortable matches. And like always, Miku, you have played your hand early. I know when to brace for impact, I know what you’re going to do over the course of the entire match. Because even with these apparent no disqualification rules, you will still go out of your way to take the easy way out. It’s convenient for you, but it’s not going to be the case for me. I know how to beat you, and it is to make you work. Work harder than you have recently. Just like at Reasonable Doubt, I refused to stay down, I refused to let you win, and I wore you out and caught you with the Sin City Stunner at the very last second.
It doesn’t matter what I put you down with, whether it’s the Sin City Stunner or the High Roller. But know this, I am going to get you. And I am going to put your ass in the ground just like I have in the past. And not simply because I beat you before ... no, that guarantees nothing. But our past is your prisoner. I can’t employ the same strategy 1:1, but I can still bring it to the table, and I can use it to get in your head, along with everything else that I have learned since coming to Voltage—along with the acknowledgment that I need this win and there is no time to rest on my laurels like I have in the past. And though my blood boils with so much disdain for you, I still want your best.
The last thing I’d want is to steamroll right through you, because you’re much better than that.❞
Perhaps the understatement of the year—but I am tired. I’m tired of falling behind and I’m tired of not living up to everything that people have been saying about me for the last year. I have given and given over the course of a year. There’s a lot to be proud of, and there’s a lot to look back on in disappointment. Road To Redemption is still looming and this may be my one and only chance to find myself in the card where I pretty much made myself a star just a year ago. I want to be in that Extreme Elimination Chamber match more than you can imagine, because I have done all that I can to put myself in a position to become a world champion here on Voltage. But I’ll admit—I haven’t been flawless, not at all. The Cody Maverick that the world is accustomed to; the one that is brash, always talking, always determined... he’s begun to silence a bit. I can come to terms with that. It’s something that I have to look myself in the mirror and think about time ... and time ... and time again. My failures are my own fault—though many setbacks may have come through the actions of someone else, I’m not going to sit here and start rattling up a list of times where I should’ve won but didn’t because of this, or times where I got beat, but I still looked great because of this.
At the end of the day, the history books will say that I didn’t win. The history books will say that I failed to dethrone Adam Lucas for the EAW Championship at Bloodsport. The history books will say that I couldn’t lead Team Voltage to victory at Territorial Invasion. The history books will say that I failed to lead Miku Sakai and Jay Jerry Johnson into victory against Drake Armstrong, Hans Grayson and Kai Rabeaux at Wicked Games. And I have to look at all of those records, I have to close my head, and just nod my head, accepting that yes, I just haven’t been up to par whatsoever. It’s funny because through last season, I went multiple marquee events with victory before falling to Veena Adams for the National Elite Championship at The Last Stand. And even after losing to her—my marquee event streak restarted and I kept it pushing. I won at Road To Redemption, I won at King Of Elite, I won at Reasonable Doubt... there was nothing that said I wasn’t a guy worthy of my position. I wasn’t a fringe main eventer by any means—I was in the main event. And I have no interest in dwelling on the past, because so far I have already main evented two marquee events as it is and I would like to keep that streak going. But I need to prove that I deserve it. And who stands across from me is a woman who wants everything just as I do, and a woman who is probably tired of hearing the world say that I am better than her.
Some days I don’t really feel like I’m the man that everyone makes me out to be. And I find that very funny because I have always been the first to re-assure myself and not let anyone talk me down. Even now, that won’t be the case. Miku Sakai can say whatever the fuck she wants about me, I can look myself in the mirror and not be happy with the man in front of that mirror, but that same man is capable of knocking everyone’s skulls into each other if he so pleases, so when it comes down to it...? I am more than ready to bring myself back to life instead of fucking around and allowing Miku to make a fool of me when I have NEVER been willing to be stuck in such a sad position like that. My history with her goes way back. Down to our first ever match on Showdown where we wrestled to a fifteen minute time limit draw, and that match has always been etched into my brain because of what it represented. Miku would end up becoming a thorn in my side for the next couple of months and the fact that I could not straight up beat her in our first encounter bothered me. Especially with all of her vulgar comments, her idiotic praise of herself and her refusal to give me any credit—I couldn’t deny that she was good at getting into her opponent’s head, but there was no way in hell that I would allow someone like her to get the upperhand over me.
Let’s be clear: I have given Miku Sakai more credit this season alone more than I ever want to for the rest of my life. I have had to team with Miku on two different occasions in important matches ... though she always happens to blame me as the captain when this is a team effort and everyone has to hold up their end of the bargain. Truthfully, Miku being eliminated when she did in Territorial Invasion... it’s part of the game. I honestly don’t hold it against her. It’s about strategy, it’s about game planning, and it’s even about sacrifice. I know that Miku doesn’t know much about sacrifice, though. If I was on fire, I know for certain that she wouldn’t even piss on me. And that’s fine. I know that Miku wasn’t going to be a phenomenal team player, but she just needed to be the wildcard to rattle our opponents. She rattled the enough—in my eyes. But the fact that I made it to the final two and overcame a two on one advantage against Rex and Milli to make it a one on one finals wasn’t enough for her. The fact I fought my ass off from start to finish wasn’t enough for her. The fact that I was submitted, I was the one THAT LOST at the very end—it gave Miku the ammo that she needed to shit talk me and disregard everything that I have brought to the table. As a team, we lost on that night, but it was never anything that I bothered me. I’m upset at myself for not getting the job done. But Miku is so damn insecure, she uses my failures to feel better about hers.
And well, maybe that’s just the story of my “rivalry” with her.
Every step of the way, Miku Sakai has done everything in her power to hold me back from being great at her own benefit—which is part of the game, but her words are so hollow. There was a time where I wasn’t in this company and Miku Sakai’s name meant something. She won championships, she found herself in important matches, she made herself known to the rest of the world. And perhaps there was a time where she was really about to level up and become a great Elitist in this company. But that time has passed and she’s just a very good one, instead. Nothing wrong with that, but Miku can’t let go of who she should’ve been instead of who she is now—perhaps because she doesn’t know who she is now. She’s a disruptor, but she’s not a leader. She doesn’t know how to lead herself back to the top and she takes it out on guys like me. Guys who haven’t seen the same amount of adversity that she’s seen in the past year, because when we faced our adversity at the start of our career? We pushed through it to find ourselves in the position that we’re in now. Miku hates me and I don’t blame her. I represent everything that bothers her about being in this company. And I always saw that as fair game. I always understood that there’s nothing more that she wants than to brag about her success in my face, to feel as if she is superior to me—and I’m not about to let her do that now. Even though I haven’t been as happy, as ready, as prepared to go out there and tear the house down like I have in the past. Even though I haven’t really been the Workhorse that I proclaimed myself to be at the start of this year... even at my worst, I know that I can beat Miku Sakai because my sheer existence makes her sick to her stomach.
Not once have I ever cared about what she thinks of me. It means nothing at the end of the day. Because I’ll deal with a bunch of people who talk like her, act like her, and that’s how the world is. But what gets me is that I don’t know a lot of people who complain as much as Miku Sakai—and are actually as talented as her. There’s a whole world of people who are bitter because they lack the ambition to do anything. They aren’t as good as their contemporaries and so they just take it out on anyone willing to listen. People who gave up on their dreams a long time ago, trying to inflict their nightmares upon those who actually work their ass off. But don’t get me wrong: I know Miku Sakai is a hard worker. I know that Miku Sakai has the ability to become champion and shake shit up in the Extreme Elimination Chamber. So that’s what boggles me when I have to deal with her every single time. The woman that talks all this shit, makes things up, cries about whatever the fuck—isn’t the same one that went to hell and high water to try and kill me and even end my career if it secured her the National Elite Championship at Reasonable Doubt. There’s something greater residing within Miku Sakai, but she doesn’t know how to bring it out because for every bullshit comment made by her, I can’t help but feel that she has resigned to the position that she has found herself in this company.
I would love for Miku to be a rational thinker. I would love for her to reach her potential after years of failing. But I have to clarify that the time is not going to come at F*ck Your Thanksgiving because she has gone about this all wrong. She has made this all about me and my failures instead of self-reflecting. When she kicked me in the dick a couple of weeks back, I should’ve put an end to this ASAP but I wasn’t able to. And a phenomenal opportunity stands in front of the both of us. I just have the hunch that Miku truly doesn’t want it as bad as I do. And if that’s the case? I don’t know what to tell her. I’m not going to lay down and die. I’m not going to give up on everything that I have worked for. Everyone has whispered in my ear, they have shouted in my ear, they have told me that I am bound to become a world champion in this company. And that is what I want the very fucking most. I want to be world champion, and I know that one day I will become world champion.
The failures pile up. The disappointments stay in people’s memory. I can’t erase them, and I don’t want to erase them. Instead, I make new memories, I make new moments, and goddamn it if you don’t think Cody Maverick is a problem in the winter then you’re a goddamn fool. I am ready to do what nobody thought I could do a year ago, but it starts with you, Miku. And this isn’t a time where I feel superbly confident of victory even though I have picked up the biggest win of my career specifically by pinning you—I know that I can beat you, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to outlast what you bring to the table. Because theoretically, the concept of a “Thanksgiving Day Massacre Match” is one that you would thrive in, right? Where you have the power and will to do whatever the fuck you want, and I can’t do a damn thing about it, right?! I can’t be bailed out by the referee. You can cheat and cheat all you want and you can get away with it because in this case, it’s legal! I know Miku is savvy when it comes to finding ways to hurt her opponent. So by no means am I going to assume that this is a foregone concussion...
... but just because you feel comfortable in a space like this doesn’t guarantee shit at the end of the day. I have waged my wars, I have been in these uncomfortable matches. And like always, Miku, you have played your hand early. I know when to brace for impact, I know what you’re going to do over the course of the entire match. Because even with these apparent no disqualification rules, you will still go out of your way to take the easy way out. It’s convenient for you, but it’s not going to be the case for me. I know how to beat you, and it is to make you work. Work harder than you have recently. Just like at Reasonable Doubt, I refused to stay down, I refused to let you win, and I wore you out and caught you with the Sin City Stunner at the very last second.
It doesn’t matter what I put you down with, whether it’s the Sin City Stunner or the High Roller. But know this, I am going to get you. And I am going to put your ass in the ground just like I have in the past. And not simply because I beat you before ... no, that guarantees nothing. But our past is your prisoner. I can’t employ the same strategy 1:1, but I can still bring it to the table, and I can use it to get in your head, along with everything else that I have learned since coming to Voltage—along with the acknowledgment that I need this win and there is no time to rest on my laurels like I have in the past. And though my blood boils with so much disdain for you, I still want your best.
The last thing I’d want is to steamroll right through you, because you’re much better than that.❞
