IF YOU BELIEVE, THEY PUT A MAN ON THE MOON (MAN ON THE MOON)

A relationship crumbles over time while the wrestling world can end in the span of three seconds.

Rather unfair, isn’t it? All it takes is one mistake, a simple trip and the endless effort put into studying notes, working at the gym and finding a strong, impenetrable mind frame… goes POOF.

Everything vanishes in the snap of three.

Suddenly, the nineteen minutes and twenty-six seconds during which you survived don’t matter. The process is meaningless. The right moves were wrong. The good was actually bad. Death befalls the loser and nobody will remember the level of commitment it took to get there.

Jonathan-Christopher has felt this twice. Extremely demoralizing blows to the journey. A heavily detoured road. Construction ahead and no schedule for its completion. The final destination… that forever moment he has dreamt of, where he and his Amazing Life Partner accomplish her Little Girl Dream of being the best in wrestling, GONE.

He didn’t even have to get pinned for it to happen, either.

The date is April 8th, 2022. The match is for the vacant Five-Star Championship. The talent is Shawn Warstein, Cecilia Ryan, Rezin and Jonathan-Christopher.

Oh, and the Second Name We Do Not Speak.

On the very first Revival of the rebranded product, Jonathan-Christopher found himself in the main event of the Almasy Tournament. This was the first trial through trauma. Culture Shock 2022 was the other.

The Second Man Whose Name Isn’t Spoken. The one who once texted with family, clearly ripping off the wonderful, loving exchanges between ALP and ALP. The man who captured a belt that night. Who flipped the Little Girl Dream on its head.

Since then, it’s been failure after failure. Nightmarish events. Never actually achieving that long term goal.

The goal she needs.

The goal she expects.

The goal she fucking deserves.

This is a new feeling for Jonathan-Christopher, a side of him he’s only beginning to explore. Is it anger? Frustration? He isn’t sure. But it pokes its head into his daily routine. It isn’t a full blown feeling, he’s still sorting through the stages.

Nevertheless, Jonathan-Christopher manifests. Through the mental health support he’s received, and the institution in which he’s resided, he knows trauma can be impossible to escape. Sometimes, perhaps, you just need to sit with it.

And grow incredibly uncomfortable.

So that’s what Jonathan-Christopher does. He sits in his living room, opponent notes in front of him… but he weaves in and out of April 8th. Additionally, he thinks of April 9th. Being in this exact same spot, sitting in the same chair, hearing the love of his life bawl her eyes out inside their bedroom. He struggles to grasp why the five-way loss happened but he wholeheartedly remembers what happened.

Warstein’s neck and head crash off the mat. For a company that’s supposed to take care of its wrestlers, this was a reckless move to go unpunished. It showed a sense of entitlement… of selfishness. How another, who’s supposed to have his own Little Boy Dream, and be captured by the spectacle, could perform offence so endangering. To flip a body over like that with sheer force.

Well.

Warstein folds like an accordion. The Second Man Whom We Do Not Speak hooks a leg. Rezin tries to get there. All Jonathan-Christopher can do… is watch.

Watch his dreams evaporate, his life collapse. And hear the shaking cries from Pretty Pink©.

ONE.

TWO.

THREE.

Three seconds.

POOF.

From here begins a journey of struggles and sadness. Of mental health deterioration and institutionalization. The hopes and dreams from the most supportive person in the world, CRUSHED.

But in the back of Jonathan-Christopher’s mind, he had SOME fight left. It wasn’t much, and yet, it got him to today. Perhaps a chance to make amends, an opportunity to rewrite the journey. He already dismantled Rocky de Leon. Could he take the next step and erase the serious, life altering trauma on The Horizon?

Jonathan-Christopher looks down at his notes, prepared for him by His Person. 76 pages of insight into the wrestling strengths and weaknesses of his opponent. The actual, word-for-word make-no-mistake game plan for how he can take down a giant.

Jonathan-Christopher looks at the name on the folder.

Hayes Hanlon.

And for the first time since he can remember… JC doesn’t just feel a rush of anxiety anymore.

He also feels something different…

— — — — —

IF YOU BELIEVE
A true love story
An honest friendship
Even the weak can grow stronger
— — — — —
Hall Penthouse Suite
Las Vegas, NV
July 21, 2023
07:00

A bright and early morning for Jonathan-Christopher usually means a removal from bed, so Vickie can get her beauty rest. A trip to the living room, scouting report in hand, follows. Jonathan-Christopher will study the notes. Then it’s two hours of gym and back home by noon, so he and Vickie can converse about the match. In their early PRIME days, they used to wake up together and slow dance to sunrise. This is no longer the case, as time has eaten away and the Lindsay Troy promotion wasn’t the push-over journey they thought it would be. By now, Jonathan-Christopher has learned it takes talent and hard work to reach the top. Talent being more important than effort. He has most certainly put the work in. Scouring over notes he’s been given. He knows what a headlock is, he even knows how to deploy it, but reversing or slipping out of a headlock entirely is another story.

Spectators could say next week’s match is a chance at redemption and recently Jonathan-Christopher had completed a similar narrative. Rocky de Leon is now far beneath Hall’s boots, never to be seen again. Meanwhile, JCH has risen a tier or two. Facing the most prolific wrestler in PRIME. A dreamer, much like he dreams.

Jonathan-Christopher knows he should be scanning over the notes. He should quiz himself on Hayes Hanlon’s moves. The Forever Man has exact, first-hand experience upon wrestling Hayes, as this was recently reflected. So that’s what Jonathan-Christopher should be doing. Except… he isn’t.

He sits there. He has a pen and a blank sheet of paper.

He ponders. Runs through various ideas, thinks he has something but, ultimately, does not. Then he goes back to contemplating.

— — — — —

February 14, 2002

He has put so much work into this, he can’t believe he’s finished. And to think he started it over two months ago.

Never thought this would see daylight.

She’s arrived! He knows the sounds of a taxi by now. It might be dark out and yes, he’s supposed to be asleep already but his mind couldn’t shut off. There was a hard deadline. He wanted this written. Once the clock struck 11:59pm, he had it. He knew how to wrap it up. So he wrote. He wrote quickly, he wrote from the heart. In fact, given his age and current disposition, he thought it captured his feelings quite well.

He hears the front door open so he races down the stairs! By now, he’s good at dodging around the mess. The stack of clothing on the staircase doesn’t slow him. The storage boxes and various bags of chips across the hallway at the bottom are no big deal. Even the bottles of liquid, mostly empty, he could easily avoid. He arrives at the front door and realizes she’s already entered, as the taxi pulls away from their home.

He hears her voice! It’s coming from the kitchen! Paper in hand he scurries into the entrance… but he doesn’t see her. Instead, another body blocks his view.

A tall, lanky man turns around.

“You have a son?” The man’s tone is quite unwelcoming.

“Jesus Christ, is he awake?”

She pops her head out from the side and walks towards him. She kneels down in front of Jonathan-Christopher.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping-”

He knows. He really does. And he feels bad, too! But he was so driven to finish!

“I’m sorry mommy,” he interrupts. He means it as honestly as possible. “I wrote you a poem for Valentine’s Day.”

He’s about to reveal the sheet of paper but the man grabs his mother by the waist, spinning her around and diverting her attention to him, not JC.

“She’s my Valentine, kid,” he states sternly. “Why don’t you do what your mom says and go to bed.”

The stranger looks into his mother’s eyes as she wobbles. A whiff falls into JC’s nose, and it’s a smell he’s more than familiar with. The bottles, the ones he often dodges around their home, they smell like those bottles.

They smell like many of them.

“Jonathan-Christopher, got to bed!”

He hears her voice, although he cannot see her face. He tucks the sheet of paper into his armpit and, not wanting to receive another scolding, slowly paces back to his room. Through the bottles on the ground, past the rolled up bags of chips and cookies, around the copious amounts of clothing laying upon the staircase.

JC finds his room. In the distance, however, he can’t help but hear the stranger’s voice once again.

“I hate children.”

“Don’t worry,” she replies, “you won’t see him when you come over next.”

“I was kind of hoping this would be a one-off thing.”

“It can be whatever you want, baby.”

Jonathan-Christopher enters his room and closes the door with a small tear forming in his right eye.

When would be a good time to show her the poem?

— — — — —

Can you hear me God Hayes Hanlon? It’s me, Jonathan-Christopher.

I always thought your name sounded better the other way around. Regardless, I should speak to my opponent directly and not to a higher power. I am learning to face my fears, so why should I be afraid of you, Hayes?

It’s a good question. You’re a former world champion and you have beaten the very best in PRIME. I have beaten Jacob Mephisto.

You lead with your heart but so to, do I.

They like your story better. The people view your journey as pure. Because outsiders don’t understand what Vickie and I mean to each other, they push away my narrative. As if it’s some fool’s gold, or built in a world that doesn’t resemble true and honest caring for each other.

Hanlon, it does.

See, I have come from an upbringing filled with a sadness and emptiness I am only now starting to understand. Vickie… she fills every void. My heart FLOODS with happiness and fulfillment. I’m not sure what I would be doing in life without her. I wrestle for her, so her dreams are mine since I didn’t have any dreams to begin with.

But when you pinned Warstein, you ultimately took our dreams away. You hurt two ever tender people in the process. Not just one.

And they call you the good guy.

Everything that’s happened to me after April 8th, 2022 is your fault. I can see this now. It’s ON YOU we pivoted to a tag team direction with my best friend Darin Zion and ultimately lost at the hands of two berries. It’s ON YOU I quoted Sage Pontiff and got rePRIMEanded by management. It’s ON YOU we were the first kicked off Survivor. Dear God, that took months for my honey buns to get over.

FLAMBERGE.

Pontiff.

Stanislav.

Serious setbacks to the journey YOU steered us towards. And yet I never bled more than when you shot the first bullet at Culture Shock.

I think about that night on April 8th. Do you? I’m sure you have a much different way to look at it. If I was successful, my woman would’ve been the happiest daisy in the world! We’d have overcome every challenge in our way because I’d have gained her trust inside the squared circle. It’s the only aspect of our partnership she STILL needs to feel secured in. Furthermore, a loss to Pontiff doesn’t matter because I won her gold. FLAMBERGE? We simply dust our hands and laugh at his overly tough guy demeanor.

It comes back to you, Hayes. I have played weaker than since I believed I am weaker than.

Yes, I still lack skills, toughness and confidence. But my heart is pure, my tone is genuine and my love is everlasting.

It’s going to get me through this match.

I erased the PTSD Rocky de Leon caused. I forget I defeated Cancer Jiles, too. The same man you did.

It’s an undertaking. But Hayes, I am different now. Step-by-step. Fueled by the ever-loving nature of my woman, I’m unlocking a stronger emotion in my being. Anxiety remains, of course. I am a mere mortal, Hanlon. Although anxiety means you CARE about your disposition. And I care with the pits of my life!

A win against you puts me extremely close to something of substance.

What do you think?

So I will take this anxiety from within and I will use it to my advantage. This sense of wrong, a notion of justice, and an opportunity to have our story told will drive me to victory.

I rewrite the wrong.

I step out from my trauma.

AND I BECOME CHAMPION!

It’s time Jonathan-Christopher gave you a setback. I hope Survivor returns and you can be voted off first.

You’d deserve nothing less.

— — — — —

Hall Penthouse Suite
Las Vegas, NV
July 21, 2023
15:10

He talked a bigger game than normal. Trying to foster this newfound emotion, Jonathan-Christopher refuses to travel down the same path. In preparation for Ivan, he wore a bear suit and cosplayed for his partner. With Cancer Jiles, he dressed in a white wig and t-shades. Yet for Rocky de Leon, he got down to business. And that’s what Jonathan-Christopher has to do next Friday. Let these new internal feelings drive him through the journey he and Vickie were always meant to travel.

Jonathan-Christopher sits at his living room table, stack of notes in front. He has been here since the crack of dawn and, by now, Vickie has left to complete a list of daily chores. Oh, married life. Oddly mundane but when she comes home, she will gladly leap into his arms. The past few weeks, Vickie has been content. Dare Jonathan-Christopher say… thrilled at the outcomes. Now, if only JC could peel the words off these scouting reports and implement them perfectly, he’d never lose.

You see, Vickie has a brilliant wrestling mind. She has a wonderful way to break down a wrestler’s pros and cons. For example, Hayes’ Northwest Necktie. First, Jonathan-Christopher needs to be wary of his neck being worked on throughout the entirety of the match, as this can also be a prelude for The Epoch. A weak neck leaves Hall vulnerable and vulnerability brings Vickie sadness. Second, if Jonathan-Christopher ever so much as finds Hanlon’s hands around his neck, he needs to find the ropes A-SAP.

This is merely a snippet of the laid out plans Vickie constructs. She makes it sound so easy but the reality is she readies her man with the most vital knowledge possible.

At times, JC’s eyes can’t help but loom over to the ESPN production equipment, still left idle in their hallway. Two months ago, when Vickie thought they were on route to the Tropical Turmoil match and an opportunity for a World Championship bout, she grew excited and contacted her father. Her well-off father, with plenty of ties in the sports and entertainment industry. She talked him into building a production team so their journey could be held on camera and broadcast to the world, in the most breathtaking ESPN 30 For 30 imaginable.

This has since been put on hold until Jonathan-Christopher can get there.

And then… whatever novel, beneficial emotions JC was feeling beforehand slowly slide away. That sense of tension, tightness and torment return. The big A of Anxiety reappears its ugly head.

He’s taken back to April 8th 2022. He’s taken back to April 9th, 2022. Right HERE. On this seat. Hearing his woman cry so loudly inside their bedroom-

FULL STOP.

These thoughts are on repeat so change course! Jonathan-Christopher has a trick up his sleeve. A very clever little trick. Last year at Colossus, the Hall’s received world renowned praise for their grand entrance, a personalized remix to “Another Night” by The Real McCoy, performed by Vickie and Tristan-Crispin.

Little known fact… written by Jonathan-Christopher.

So Hall puts aside the Hayes Hanlon documents. In order to calm his mind, reclaim the more beneficial emotions he’s going through, well, he’s going to dive into a side hobby he enjoys.

Writing musical lyrics.

Write, he does. He scribbles at a furious pace. The odd moment glancing over to the stack of tripods and video cameras, laying quiet in their bags. If Rocky de Leon was step one, defeating a World Champion like Hayes Hanlon would be step two. You know, it doesn’t matter how many steps there are. This time, Jonathan-Christopher Hall is going to blaze that path and reach the end of the journey. Trauma be dammed, there’s no turning back. Driven by a love honest and pure, he is going to make sure Vickie reclaims her Little Girl Dream.

This time it’s Hayes’ spotlight that bursts into a million pieces.

Deep down, Jonathan-Christopher hopes Hanlon suffers like he did. Deep down, Jonathan-Christopher wants Hayes to rot in a trauma-induced hell. To fall apart and never recover. Living on The Event Horizon soon becomes a nightmare when the horizon never meets. And Hayes will have Jonathan-Christopher to thank for his downfall.

He’s owed a receipt.

Now all JC has to do is provide it.

— — — — —

to the tune of
“MAN ON THE MOON” by REM

Lacing my boots as I fight for my wife (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
The Event Horizon in a wrestling match (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
Working through trauma as I thump on my chest (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
Gonna leave him hanging like a bloody mess (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
Don’t resist her, I need a kiss (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
I’ll make you pray for heaven and I’ll live in bliss (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)

So Vickie, did you hear about this one?
Tell me that I’ll eat him for lunch
Hey Vickie, I will break his damn pelvis, “YEAH BABY”
I’m gonna be real clutch!

If I beat Hayes, I’ll get a title shot soon (title shot soon)
If I beat Hayes, I’m gonna make him grieve
Then take him to school

Starting off my journey like I thought we would (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
He’s gonna take a beatin’ and it won’t be good (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
His head was mangled by my really tight grasp (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
Gonna make the crowd nonstop fucking gasp (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)

So Vickie, did you hear about this one?
Tell me that I landed the punch
Hey Vickie, I will break his damn pelvis, “YEAH BABY”
I’m gonna get it done!

If I beat Hayes, I’ll get a title shot soon (title shot soon)
If I beat Hayes, I’m gonna make him grieve
He’ll look like a fool

Here’s a massive win that makes me a believer (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
Here’s a little roast for “ The Hammerin’ ” (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
Here’s some blood loss that equals a liter (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
‘Cause Jonathan-Christopher’s gone wrestling (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)

— — — — —

Epilogue

April 9th, 2022

She is crying so much.

Oh my God she is crying!

Poor Jonathan-Christopher sitting in the living room, hands folded on the table, head down, eyes closed, unable to get last night’s Hayes Hanlon victory out of his head.

Even poorer Vickie, inside the bedroom, distraught beyond belief. Cannot be consoled. Her world undone. The agony she feels, she needs space.

The bedroom walls leak with blood rifling cries. But then there’s Vickie, resting at the edge of their bed. She screams, weeps, moans… yet without any ACTUAL tears. Rather, her facial expressions suggest an entirely different emotion.

She isn’t upset. Her world hasn’t untangled. And the last thing she’s feeling is distraught.

But all Jonathan-Christopher can do is see through his ears.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s all she wants him to see…