September 21, 2026
Paradise Ridge
Long Island, NY

Life comes at you fast.  It seems like the twins were born five minutes ago instead of five years ago.  How the hell am I 26 years old and retired from the ring?  How the hell is Frankie about to get his drivers license?  How the hell are Livvy and Talon really in kindergarten?  Somewhere along the way, I blinked… and I’ll never forgive myself for it.

Livvy is smart, witty, funny, demanding as hell.  Talon is a little ball of fluff.  He's a sweethearted boy and easy to raise.  Frankie? He's now an aspiring dirt bike racer and I have a hauler in the driveway loaded and ready for the weekend for his last race of his season.  He hasn't won yet, but he gets better and better every race and I'm very proud of the young man he's turning into.

Fact is, professionally speaking, I did everything I ever wanted to do: eclipsed my father, won the Universal title, won championships every place I’ve ever stepped foot, wear a Hall of Legends ring, fuck, I even had my own personal jobber (lookin’ at you Chris Chaos,) rebuilt and revamped Warfare as General Manager, directed the rebuild of the company we all love as COO… yeah… I’m satisfied with my career.

Like me, love me or hate me, I did the best I possibly could and I gave the company an entire year of my life when I would rather have spent it here with my children.  Love my decisions or hate them, the men and women I put in place and the policies I installed set this company up for future success.  I left the XWF in much better condition than when it fell into my lap.

”Daddy?” came the little voice behind me.

I took off my reading glasses and laid them on my desk, then spun around my desk chair, my eyes falling upon the five year old girl that somehow looks nothing like me and exactly like me at the same time.  ”What’s up, baby girl?”

”Will you read me a story?” she asked.

”Give daddy a half hour and I’m all yours,” I replied with a smirk.  ”How about until then you go upstairs and read with Talon?” I suggested.

The sassy look she gave me, damn near gave me a shudder as I could swear I saw my ex-wife Lauren in her eyes for a minute.  ”T.J. can’t read, he’s stupid,” she barked at me.

What can I say?  He’s my son, I love him more than anything and he’s a sweet kid, but Livvy’s right and he’s definitely kinda dumb and I know better than to argue with Livvy when she’s right.  ”Be nice to your brother,” I demanded… in my pushover dad sort of way.

”Don’t want to,” she replied as she began walking away.  ”You’ll have to carry me upstairs,” she called out.

”Diva!” I called back without any real heat behind it.

”Yep!”

Chuckling to myself and shaking my head, I spun back around and put my reading glasses back on my face and stared blankly at the computer screen for a few moments.

Dear Dolly,

I’m sorry I couldn’t be there in person to witness your Hall of Legends induction.  Just know that, like always, my soul is one with yours and wherever yours is, mine follows.  Pericles said that “what you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

When we were kids, before I met you, before I trained hard, before my ego and entitlement took over my late teenage life, I tuned into Warfare and saw this little thing, a girl, that really had no business in a wrestling ring taking the piss from grown ass men and flinging it back.  I was enamored, enthralled, insert adjective here.  Not only did this little girl spit fire with the best of the best, she was damn good in the ring.  Way better than she should have been at the ripe old age of 13 or 14 years.

They say not to meet your heroes.  I met mine.  And she's the best friend I've ever had.  The good she does that no one sees, that no one talks about is even more impressive to me than the in-ring Dolly Waters that we know and love.

She sat back and watched her two best friends eclipse her professionally.  While she never said anything or let on that it made her feel some type of way that Corey and I had both grown and developed into global superstars, we both knew that everything we became… was because Dolly Waters had the balls as a child to compete and beat grown ass men.  Without Dolly Waters, maybe there's never a Corey Smith or a Thaddeus Duke.

Everything she did early in her career she did with little to no self confidence, little to no belief in herself.  Everyone around her knew better.  Everyone around her had the confidence in her that she didn't have in herself.  Everyone around her believed in Dolly Waters when Dolly Waters didn't believe in herself.  She'll never admit it out loud, but her two best friends believing in her drove her to the top of the industry.

Her resume is impressive.  Imagine how incomparable her resume would have been if she had the confidence and belief in herself that everyone else has.

The proudest, best moment of my career wasn't winning the Universal title, wasn't running the company we all love, wasn't winning the tag and Universal titles on the same night in back to back matches.  No, the proudest moment of my own career was when I sat in the big chair high in the Sky Box in Kentucky as Dolly Waters finally overcame herself, her doubts, her lack of confidence and joined the ranks of distinguished Universal Champions.

No one deserved to wear that title more than Dolly Waters. No one deserved the adulation of the XWF Universe more than Dolly Waters.

I was so damn proud of Dolly Waters that I physically invaded the IT offices at XWF Headquarters to update the website myself… Dolly Waters… XWF Universal Champion.

She never thought she'd win it.  We had that conversation on more than one occasion and I could see it in her eyes the way she wanted it but never believed she'd win it.

After a long and stellar and storied career… Dolly Waters hangs it up.  It's a bittersweet thing to me.  There is no more deserving person to grace the Hall of Legends than the incomparable Dolly Waters.  From a slummy trailer park to professional wrestling royalty.

Your legacy isn't defined by golden trinkets or championships or your several deserving “of the month” awards.  It's defined by the thousands and thousands of girls and kids that see Dolly Waters and choose to look higher, reach further and never let anyone tell them it can't be done.  An entire generation of kids won't be held down, held back, and won't listen when someone says “you're just a kid.”

To my sister, my best friend and yeah… my soul mate… congratulations on a career that will never be replicated. Congratulations as you take your rightful place in the Hall of Legends.

Welcome Home,
Thaddeus

Sitting back, I wiped a tear from my eye.

”Daddy, it's been thirty-two minutes!” Livvy called out, causing me to chuckle.

”I'm coming your Highness,” I called back, then switched off the computer.