Countdown To The Murder City Showdown

The beauty of life is the struggle it becomes. Because then it's easy to "remember when." Then it's better to look ahead.

Stopping to smell the roses isn't what this is about. We're not here to bask in limelight, or to gloat, or to wait another day—no one in our camp waits for tomorrow. We're here to engage; to challenge; to change perspectives and to broaden horizons.

You'd be mistaken if you are to see this Friday's contest between the Motor City Machine Guns and the Age of the Fall as just another pro wrestling dream match. Sure, obvious inter-promotional implications have raised the stakes high enough; not to mention it’s Jimmy Jacobs vs. Alex Shelley in the heart of Detroit, but what I think is sort of flying under the radar about Tag Wars 2008’s main event, is its social relevance. Let me lay the groundwork…

On one side, the Guns are arguably the most popular and successful up and coming tag team in the business. They're good looking, they're athletic, and they happen to stand for nothing but tired bullshit. With them it's all fashion and flashy combos. Every week Shelley has a new hair cut to go with his calculated clever comment. Where's the substance in being stuck in that condition? Sell another t-shirt, boys. Stagnate on another quiet Thursday night...

And then the pitch changes. As Shelley and Sabin try feverishly to fit in with today’s over produced, faux counter culture, they end up looking like fools to the kids who believe in everything after looking the part. So by default the true counter culture rejects them. They…WE reject the notion that they carry any torch representing change in society. We're the ones breaking ground! We're the ones changing lives! And how? By starting with our own.

We didn't reinvent this approach; we're carving our own cracks in the sidewalk. The same cracks Shelley and Sabin, and everyone in wrestling tiptoe around, because they’re all so afraid of falling off, of hitting bottom. In case you've been under a rock for the last decade, you haven't missed much: THIS BUSINESS IS THE UNCHANGED. WWE sure isn't making any waves. TNA--and its prized Machine Guns--aren't faring any better. Even good ol' Ring of Honor has hit a glass ceiling.

Enter Age of the Fall. We’ve arrived offering answers. We are handing out solutions. It's as simple as flesh and blood. It starts with you. And it starts with action.

So, this Friday in Detroit, when years of bad blood compound into Shelley vs. Jacobs—one more time; when it’s Us vs. Them—one more time, with our backs against the wall; like always, make sure to notice the look in my eyes. They’ll tell the story of the pariah, of the kid with a trampled dream.

Because it's about more than a single match for me.

It's about timing.

It's about being unafraid.

It's about a sociological shift.

This Friday, AOTF vs. MCMG...

is for those who have heart.