Shadows.

Jay Stevens, having once again fought his way to the Semi-Finals of the Northern Pro Wrestling Cruiserweight Cup, has returned to his home base in Southern California to prepare for battle ahead of the "Heart of Halifax" event. A night where he will once again try to reach the apex and finally add his name to the list of victors.

I need to stop second-guessing myself.

As day turns to night, he finds himself alone once again. Self-imposed isolation to enjoy a reprieve from the outside noise, but leaving him with nothing to focus on but the endless din of his own thoughts.

It really gets me nowhere. I thought for a long time that the self-doubt was what was keeping me motivated to work harder, train harder, become better, be better.

But really all it's done is make me push off things until "tomorrow". And the "tomorrow" after that.

Fear of failure? Fear of success? Both. Neither. It really doesn't matter. I've proven I can do this. I belong. Others recognize it, I'm learning to recognize it too.

I have what it takes to be a champion. To be the champion.

I've held the Northern Pro Cruiserweight Championship. I wore the belt, etched my name forever in history. But I won it under dubious conditions.

I've once again made it to the Semi-Finals of the Cruiserweight Cup. I've been here before.

Twice.

Getting closer to the brass ring each time.

Maybe that's what plagues me. What makes my mind race late at night when all the noises stop and it's just me and the shadow and the shadow is telling it's[/b] side of the story.

The thought that I can't get up and over the hill. The Cup that keeps evading my grasp. The Cup is what brought me to Northern Pro originally and it's also what brought me back to make this my home.

But this is the time. The moment where the past and the future intersect and I close one door while kicking another wide open.

It starts with… an unknown. A variable I wasn't expecting. Eddie Havok and I both secured our spots in the Semi-Finals being the only two men truly focused on winning. He knows I have his number though. I almost took his arm home to put up on the mantle, too.

And the other three? Do or die. I felt that pressure against Julius Fristick but I overcame. Win or leave. I've learned to love that pressure. But it's a labor and I'm not convinced the others are prepared for that.

Vincent Wolf comes from SWAT and has clawed his way to the Wild Card spot not because he is succeeding, but due to the failures of others. Donzig and Steve Awesome can't control themselves long enough to focus so Wolf just had to survive. And he did.

Xiaolong is impressive in the ring, I've already defeated him once, but he's still on the cusp of finding his place. He had momentum in beating Garcia, but no one expected him to win that match, not even Xiaolong himself. Lightning in a bottle is hard to capture a second time and nearly impossible with the element of surprise now gone.

And Rob Garcia, the current Cruiserweight Champion. His arrogance will obviously be his downfall. For all intents and purposes he should be the frontrunner just by virtue of the fact that he is the champion. But all he's shown so far is that he can lose and the belt isn't as firmly in his grasp as he would think. And with an ego like that? I know it's eating him alive.

I hope to face Rob Garcia in the Semi-Finals so I can put the notion of him being the best Cruiserweight in NPW to sleep once and for all. Then I beat Havok in the Finals, take his arm and the Cruiserweight Cup in one fell swoop and prove that I am the absolute best wrestler in Northern Pro Wrestling.

It's good to visualize the victories.

Because I am going to win.

There's nothing the shadows can say to change that.