How to Survive Running Away with the Circus – Opening Act

By Banner Hemweigh

Recently my editor called me into his office with a proposal. Go check out professional wrestling, and tell me what you see. I was naturally appalled and offended. I’m a football girl; there was no way I’m going to enjoy what I see. But with an open mind, open attitude, and a gracious tour guide, I was able to navigate the traveling circus that is professional wrestling, and come out with the bare bone facts about this pseudo sport.

Here are the facts. The Hypokritis Wrestling Exposition is the biggest professional wrestling promotion in the world, and boasts a billion dollar budget. Through merchandising, pay per view sales, and live events on an international scale, they have managed to leave behind the bargain basement approach that was once the staple of professional wrestling. This is high velocity, high gloss, high impact entertainment creating a different kind of celebrity as is demonstrated by the many websites, magazines, and diverse fan base it holds.

With that in mind, I begin to feel out the rest. My first issue is the one that everyone tends to focus on. It’s fake. Yes and no. The outcomes are predetermined, but the hazards are quite real. I believe its best explained by the current HWE heavyweight champion, Dominique ‘Dangerous’ Dutton, also known as 3D by wrestling fans. 3D is the stage name of Keith Daniels, a man who has lived his life in this business making the best of what he finds. Upon expressing my views about the validity of the action in the sport he calmly says, “You can’t trick gravity.” Point taken.

With that main deterrent gone, I can now get into the mechanics of this activity, which is in fact a sport. I know; I was surprised to discover this as well. But my able tour guide, Keith Daniels, who is an art enthusiast, ex-stunt driver, and 9 credits shy of a Bachelors of Art in History, was very specific about the definition of the word sport. And it applies to this sport completely.

What I found was a lot of talented individuals with a dedication to one thing and one thing alone, a great show. The basis of the sport is a show; an athletic competition that is meant to appeal on more than one level. Like any show, the truth of the affair is behind the scenes. There are stories of triumph and tragedy, chaos and discord, constant lobbying for space and screen time. Pushing for better stories, better angles, and always, better merchandise. It’s like Hollywood on steroids, in some cases literally, and without the security of a standardized union job.

Over the next 5 days I will be detailing my journey with the biggest traveling circus the world has ever seen. Through the eyes of a vaunted legend, the reigning champ, and the inheriting daughter of an empire, I’ll pull back the curtain, and reveal the magician for all to see.

From Make Mine a Heel by Suenammi Richards
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"I liked this story. I'm not a big romance fan, but first this writer knows her stuff about football, Texas culture, and pro-wrestling. Second, the romance sucked me in. I wanted these two to get together because I genuinely liked them. This story is a Powerslam for any romance/sports fan!"
@alchemyofscrawl - Coral Russell

"I have to say I am a professional wrestling fan so this book really caught my interest as soon as I read the description. I very much enjoyed this book and definitely most likely will be reading it again at a late date."

-Geeky Girl Reviews

"This isn't a garden variety romance novel featuring sports or wrestling. Ms. Richards has provided the reader with plenty of colorful characters that are dealing with sad, if not tragic, circumstances (racism, child abandonment, ethnic prejudice, drug abuse, etc.). I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book."

-The Book Diva

The Weight of My Own Arrogance

No one needs your attention to be in love with you, certainly not me

I don't need your words, or your thoughts, I don't need your body or your mind

I don't need your care or devotion, your presence, not a thing that belongs to you

I don't have to back up my feelings with cold hard facts that prove that loving you is worth its salt

No one needs your consideration to be in love with you, certainly not me

I don't seek your acknowledgment or bearing, I'm not expecting your charm or cunning

I don't seek your motivations and your logics, your plots and plans

I don't seek a clever scheme or trap, some pitiful ruse to give me a good reason to have fallen for you

No one needs your permission to be in love with you, certainly not me

I don't have to clear it with you, make sure it suits your needs or answers your prayers

I don't have to have the right key and see if it suits, just the right fit

I don't have to qualify it, quantify it or even see it through if you're not holding me accountable

No one needs your love to be in love with you, certainly not me

Need I say more, of all the things I don't need, I don't need that most of all

Nothing I say changes the tides, opens the gates or bridges the gaps

All is left unanswered, unclaimed, untapped

And yet not a single thing has changed, obviously certainly not me

The Phoenix

Sometimes, at those times, I know where this road will lead

And then times, after the time, I realize that I never knew,

Perhaps, by chance, a time will come that tells it’s own story

Mayhap by circumstance the story will prove true, after a time

Poet, yes, prophet, maybe, human being always

The story of the journey of a soul through time

The definition of grace and age that only time itself can define

Visions of the future, plagued by guilts of the past

A past that still remains unclear itself, but time has given it wings

It floats by me in instances of everyday life, in the eyes of an old woman

In the laughter of a child, the concern of a parent

The ramblings of a lunatic that makes sense to the parts of me that still listen

To the rustle of wind, howling of it through leaves and branches

A growth of immeasurable worth, have I always been this understanding

Have I always been this naïve, this out of control of the fates that guide me?

And in the end there he stands:  is it him/ or what I want to believe is him?

A shadow of a human being I helped create, I helped destroy

Can I make him whole again; will that ever be his own desire his own will?

Without him wanting, without him needing completion, I will never achieve my destiny

So time again rules over all, time will tell, as always, what God has in store

Can he be whole; the question plagues my mind and every waking hour

Was this what I truly asked for what I thought would complete my journey?

In the wrecked sorrow of his heart, in the shadowed void of his soul,

Is there no presence or even a need for life, for light, for rebirth?

The Phoenix is there hidden beneath the pain, biding it’s time to grow and share it’s unending warmth.

It’s light flickers behind his eyes in moments of unguarded expressions.

In gestures of selfless sacrifice, in voices alive with love

Can this bird be freed, can the unattainable power it holds be liberated for all to bathe in

And sometimes, in those times, I know that it cannot

And then times, after the time, I know that there is no choice, it will be freed

Will it’s freedom spell his destruction, seed my rebirth

Will it’s power seal his fate and justify mine,

Perhaps by chance, his ache has become mine, and I myself I am pulled to lie beside the bird

Desperately filling it’s lungs with my own air; shamelessly fanning it’s fire with my own

Surrounded by darkness, numbed by a cold that should not exist.

Mayhap by circumstance, it will rise, through the grace of God and the blind heart of a fool that didn’t know that there are no second chances

Faith stands, bringing with it the power from the Creator, holding in His All-Knowing hand the seeds to eternal bliss

Bringing with it the awe-inspiring power of love, let’s wait for time to catch up

For it waits for no one, but when it comes, the Phoenix will rise, it will flame, and it will burn