THE ETERNAL FLAME

Darkness envelops the screen before the haunting guitar melody of “Phoenix Rising” by Annihilator begins playing. An image of a young man with long, flowing auburn hair, white circles, and a splash of red across his forehead, eyes and nose fades in..

Day by day, watching you disappear
Wishing that you were still here beside me

“The Eternal Flame” Jay Phoenix walks slowly down an aisle in an unknown arena with flames dancing skyward on the entrance stage behind him.

On my own, swimming against the tide
There’s nobody on my side but your memory

With a quick move, he jumps to the ring apron and climbs the turnbuckle, holding an arm up to the wildly cheering fans.

Then you’ll rise right before my eyes
On wings that fill the sky
Like a phoenix rising
Like a phoenix rising

Clips of Phoenix’s career begin playing across the screen: winning the PWW and UWF Grandslam Championships; the 4WW, WWA, and RUSH World Titles; the CSWA Presidential Championship…

Wings on fire, tearing into the night
Screaming into the light of another day

Highlights from Primetime Central tournaments are next: the Chris Williams Memorial Cup finals, which see Phoenix hitting the “From the Ashes” shooting star press for the victory; his time in the inaugural GTT tournament; and both the GTT5 and GTT6 events, the latter of which he competed as the masked “Ember…”

Carry me out the hurricane
Into the smoke and flame and we’ll fly away
And we’ll rise right before their eyes
On wings that fill the sky
Like a phoenix rising
Like a phoenix rising

Phoenix’s time in PTC transitions into scenes from his time in PRIME: competing in the Dual Halo and the Jewel in the Crown tournament; an Intense Title match against Sun Tzu and Jonathon Winters at King of Kings 2; a 5 Star Title match against High Flyer…

Higher, higher, hear the thunder roar from above
Fire, fire, fire makes me whole

A Colossus VI contest against Jason Natas is next, followed by battles against Tony Gamble at ReVolution 205 and 2009’s Great American Nightmare; and Phoenix’s final PRIME match against Troy Douglas at 2009’s King of Kings…

And we’ll rise right before their eyes
On wings that fill the sky
Like a phoenix rising
Like a phoenix rising

Finally, the montage switches to a single scene of the Eternal Flame on the stage, soaking in the adulation from the fans with a smile on his face, as a phoenix rises on the PRIME*View behind him.

Wings on fire, tearing into the night
And we’ll fly away

To make a donation in Jay’s name, please visit https://www.myaware.org/donate/donate and/or https://988lifeline.org/donate/