It is the wee hours of Thanksgiving night, and many Americans are in a deep slumber after their massive and/or numerous Thanksgiving feasts. Many more are already gathered at the doors of yet unopened stores, or in some cases already crowd the aisles of their local Wal-Mart- which opened at midnight and is remaining open all day for Black Friday. While the earliest Christmas shoppers clamor for the best deals, our champion haunts the dark streets with only his own thoughts in mind. In the darkness of the pre-dawn Black Friday morn, he is dressed somewhat ironically in an all white sweatsuit and white sneakers. As he walks the streets, Josh Konnely silently wonders why people act in the manner that they do at this time of year.

When did Thanksgiving become nothing more than Christmas Prep Day? People wolf down their turkey dinner, then rush outside to hang up the Christmas decorations before the inevitable tryptophan hangover knocks them near unconsciousness.

Once they recover from said unconsciousness, these people then must rush out to the stores to stockpile Christmas presents in advance. Anything from children's toys to high-definition television sets and personal computers and even automobiles have their prices slashed for this post-Thanksgiving weekend. Like ants to a picnic, people ravenously flock to the stores and dealerships to "buy, buy, buy" because Christmas is just less than a month away.

Consumption is an epidemic in my eyes, and the whole world has been infected and consumed. How many people sit at home on Thanksgiving and think to themselves, "wow, Jesus Christ's birthday is coming up next month. Tomorrow I must run out and buy presents for everyone I know, even if I don't like 'em."

What a toxic effect capitalism and consumer economics have had on the birth of our Lord and Saviour. People who do not even believe in God flood the stores and bombard the internet to buy presents for each other because Christmas is less than four weeks away. These people don't even understand or acknowledge the reason for celebrating the holiday, but they still put up their tree and hang their stockings by the chimney with care.

Do these people know where the tradition of Christmas gift giving was born?

It was the Three Kings who saw the star from the Heavens which led them to the place where the Christ child lay born. They brought gifts to the newborn Messiah that the prophets said would one day occur. Gifts of gold, frankinscense and myrrh. Those wise kings brought gifts in the faith that this child, born just weeks before, would be the Lord and Savior of all mankind.

Today, agnostics and atheists exchange gifts with one another in "celebration" of Christmas. They gather together and feed their faces with meat and vegetables and soup, with cake and pie and ice cream. Then they laud one another with lavish presents with no meaning or thought behind them. The gifts are not given in celebration of Christ, or even in the tradition of the mythological Santa Claus whom has helped commercialize the Christmas "holy day." It is greed. It is pride. They give presents to get presents, and to flaunt their own expendable incomes. Such Christmas celebrations are a mockery and a disgrace. To celebrate the birth of the son of a God you do not believe exists is blasphemy if you ask me.

In all fairness, these fools are too blind and ignorant to see the error of their ways. Television and movies and marketing have stripped away the Christianity from Christmas to make it "open to the public." I suppose that's a typically American attitude. Freedom of religion even for those who have none. Freedom to practice religion only when it is convenient for or beneficial to you. "If I can get a plasma screen television out of the deal, we can celebrate Christmas in my otherwise atheistic household."

Of course, the December 25 date is completely arbitrary as it relates to Christianity. The twenty-fifth of December was a significant date to the pagans prior to the formation of the Christian church. It was decided then that Christ was born on that date because it fit in with the pagan beliefs, which thus made it a relatable holy day to those who had not been Jewish. The Christian church has always found ways to manipulate the beliefs of non-members to sway them to convert. It has been an effective missionary tactic throughout the existence of Christianity, and is likely the reason why many of us are a part of the faith today.

But on this Black Friday, as on every Black Friday since its advent, the Christian faith is the farthest thing from too many our minds. Christmas is at the forefront of our thoughts, but Christ himself is conspicuous by his absence. Which brings me back to the question of why Thanksgiving weekend has become so synonymous with Christmas and Christmas shopping. The short answer? Marketing. Mass media marketing has us convinced that we must stuff ourselves with turkey, and then immediately start preparing for Christmas. Despite the fact that the very concept of Thanksgiving was not established until sixteen hundred years after the crucifixion of Christ, this last century has made it "batting practice" or "pre-game warm-ups" for Christmas. The "get everything ready, we wouldn't want Santa Claus to be angry with us" day.

Josh arrives at a small park, where he takes a seat on a stonework bench. He exhales, and the heat of his breath creates a visible cloud of moisture in the November chill.

I suppose that this unexplainable Thanksgiving-Christmas brotherhood should be the least of my concerns right now. This coming Wednesday night, at the ironically named November Reign- which will now be taking place on December 2- I have to find a way to defeat Kyle Murphy and John Schoonover if I am going to keep the SFT Championship. My title reign may be down to t-minus a hundred and twenty hours: or five days, for the simple minded.

The two men who attempt to wrest that title away from me at November Reign are as different as two men can possibly be. I thought Murphy and myself were that different from one another, but I now see that I thought wrong. John Schoonover and Kyle Murphy are the true polar opposites. John Schoonover never talks, and Kyle Murphy never STOPS talking. Schoonover is incapable of speaking, and Murphy is incapable of shutting up.

I myself am a man of few words. John Schoonover is a man of no words: mute since birth. There was a day when they called that "dumb," but in this politically correct era it is considered far too insensitive, even though "dumb" in such context was clearly defined as "without speech."

At any rate, when I get in the ring with John Schoonover I can honestly say it will be the first time I've faced an opponent quieter than myself. In fact, I am a regular chatterbox in comparison.

Schoonover says nothing through actual speech, but his actions scream out where his throat is unable to do so.

Kyle Murphy, on the other hand, the argument could be made that he is all talk and no action- at least lately. The former five-time World Champion lingers around on his reputation alone, living on his past while accomplishing very little if anything in the present. He is a shell of his former self. It seems he hasn't won a match all year. Yet here he stands, main eventing November Reign and challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship. What a blessed life he must have.

The scene fades into the darkness.

"NEVER BACK DOWN IN THE FACE OF ANGER!"

The scene reopens with the voice of Kyle Morrison blaring across the loudspeakers at a wrestling show in Kyoto, Japan. It is now Monday night, and the crowd is just settling in for the puroresu wrestling event common in Japan. They boo as "Perfect Insanity" by Disturbed begins to play. Josh Konnely emerges with a microphone in hand and the SFT Championship over his shoulder. Konnely ignores the discontent audience as he casually walks down to the ring. He climbs the steps and between the ropes. His music cuts out, and finally he speaks.

"I realize you all are amped up for tonight's wrestling show, but as I'm sure you all know, SFT pay-per-view is returning to Tokyo in forty-eight hours. As the SFT Champion, I am responsible for playing ambassador and delivering something of an address to the people of Japan. Also, needless to say, I have a few words for the men who will be challenging me for said title.

So to appease you all and let this show get on the road, I will attempt to keep this brief.

As those of you who follow SFT surely know, I have been a divining rod of morality since debuting there. I have done this because the world has lost its way. America is admittedly a major culprit, but the world as a whole has lost its sense of decency. I have attempted and will continue to attempt to be the guide that leads everyone out of the darkness and into the light.

Many people may not understand the things I say and do. They don't see that I am something of a modern-day prophet. I preach the unpleasant truths of our reality, the things so many people choose to ignore.

Some people might call me crazy. However, crazy by definition means that someone refuses to or is incapable of identifying what is real. They are not able to mentally grasp the reality around them.

Now here is the sad part: every word I have spoken in my career has been one hundred percent TRUE. The messages I deliver are stories of REALITY. I HAVE that firm grasp on reality. All the morbid and disturbing things I have shown to the world are things that either can or have happened in the real world. It is the true nature of mankind that I present to us. You can choose to see it, or you can choose to close your eyes. You can like it, or you can hate it. But deep down inside, each and every person knows that what I present is indeed reality.

Since I am here in Japan, I will try to sum up that "nature of mankind" I am always talking about. Each and every person in America and across the world is driven by the self-indulgent desire to be BETTER than someone else. Mankind is motivated by greed and pride and vanity to be the best. Everyone wants the best job, the best car, the biggest house. Every man and woman on this planet is consumed with this insatiable need to be better than everyone else.

This planet is a steaming, festering pile of filthy men and women trying to scratch and claw there way above one another. It is one massive mountain of bodies, every person trying to move up and hopefully reach the top. It is pride. It is vanity. It is greed. It is SIN, and the devil watches us in delight.

We continuously hurt, maim, slaughter and kill one another to be better than each other in our own minds. It is PATHETIC, and it makes me SICK.

Every SINGLE PERSON on the face of this PLANET is out for one thing and one thing only: they want to move up in the world's proverbial mountain, and nobody gives a crap about the people crushed beneath their feet.

Now, this World Heavyweight Championship belt says that I am at the top of the mountain in our little corner of the world that is called Strike Towers. Some might believe I am proud of that fact. But what joy is there in being at the top of a pile of crap? Unless you are a fly, there is none.

Take no offense, SFT. I do not imply that the wrestlers are crap. As I've just explained, human nature is vain and prideful sin. Humans in our nature are crap, and we can only strive to see the light.

I seek to guide us all to that light, and I don't mind hurting those who refuse.

John Schoonver, I know you were born mute- unable to speak- but recently you've been even more silent than usual. You haven't blown anybody up or lit anyone on fire, or made people shoot each other up. Nothing at all. What has happened to you? Have you seen my work and gone running in fear of your punishment? Or perhaps you have seen the error of your ways and decided to right the ship?

Hopefully I will see you in Tokyo in forty-eight hours. I know I won't hear you.

As for Kyle Murphy- 'The Superior One'- you are the perfect example of man's natural self-indulgence, greed and vanity. You've made an entire career of professing how much better you are than everyone else. You LIVE for being able to call yourself 'SUPERIOR.' You would likely DIE without your self-proclaimed perfection and 'superiority.'

Here is a little bit of REALITY for you, Murphy: when it comes to moral decency and character, I will ALWAYS be 'SUPERIOR' to you. Your pride and vanity are your life. You represent everything I despise about the human race. At November Reign, I will make sure I walk out with this World Heavyweight Championship. In doing so, I will take away your 'Superiority.' I will eliminate your 'Standard.' I only hope that you are able to live with the reality that you have been stripped of everything you have lived for these last ten years.

Schoonover and Murphy, you two may be different in every way, but after November Reign you will finally have something in common: you will both have been destroyed and defeated by the moral compass of Strike Towers, 'The Butcher of Bridgeport' Josh Konnely. Sleep well these next couple of nights, you two. Your execution date has been set, and it is December 2, 2009. Your Green Mile awaits."

Josh drops the microphone and "Perfect Insanity" hits again. The Japanese fans applaud politely, though not very cheerfully. Konnely climbs out of the ring and the scene fades to black.