Post by A.C. Smith on Feb 26, 2013 23:02:39 GMT -4
THE MORNING AFTER LAST WEEK’S OVERDRIVE
Our scene opens today with Bobby the Bavarian Man-Bitch and Stevie the Slovakian Slobberknocker standing outside a closed door impatiently. Stevie is leaning up against the brown wall of the hallway, while the shorter, pudgier Bobby is standing with his hands on his hips and his feet tapping on the hardwood floors of the hotel suite.
Meanwhile, we hear a steady stream of running water coming from behind the door. Judging by Bobby’s and Stevie’s faces, it’s clear that whoever is occupying the shower has been in there for a while, and it’s also evident that the two men are getting very cranky.
Bobby: “Come on, Ace, you’re showering like a woman!”
Stevie: “Whatever that slop did to you couldn’t be as bad as what catering did to me. That burger went straight through me, and I can’t hold it much longer!”
The shower stops running, and we hear heavy feet hit the floor. The door opens, and peeking out from behind the wood is the Big Apple Asskicker, A.C. Smith, with a quizzical look on his face.
A.C.: “You didn’t have a burger last night. You had a turkey wrap.”
Stevie: “I know. I was just saying that so you’d get out of the goddamn bathroom.”
A.C.: “Hey, you want to come in here and smell what’s going down the shower drain now? Be my guest.”
Bobby takes Smith up on the offer, but barely makes it two steps into the bathroom before stepping out with his right hand holding his nose shut.
Bobby: “Good GOD, what do those pigs eat?!”
A.C.: “Satisfied? Now can I PLEASE dry myself off in private?”
Bobby and Stevie walk away from the door as Smith’s bare right arm reaches across the doorway, pulling down a white towel while his left arm shuts the door most of the way. Still, there’s a crack left by the not-entirely-closed door, and we can hear A.C. speak as the linen wipes across his skin.
A.C.: “Geez. And to think, I thought Buckson Gooch was one of the GOOD guys. Michael Lively stealing my Xtreme Championship and parading around like he won it? That’s one thing. That’s at least something I’d have believed heading into Overdrive. But Gooch going full-on sore loser on me? That, I did NOT see coming.”
Bobby: “Guess you just need to know who your friends are.”
A.C.: “And how do I know you guys don’t have slop buckets waiting for me when I step out of the bathroom?”
Stevie: “You don’t! Guess you’ll just have to trust us!”
Smith lets out a slight chuckle, and we can imagine he’s smirking behind the door the way we’ve seen his lips curl so many times before.
A.C.: “Fortunately, you both know that if you tried something like that, I’d kick both of your asses. Now THAT…that’s a lesson I’m very much looking forward to teaching a certain redneck next week.
I mean, look at me. I was in position to snag one of the biggest wins of my career last week against Biggs and Kurt Noble. Those are guys Buckson Gooch and Michael Lively would never stand a chance in hell of beating, and had that slop bucket not made an appearance at the worst time I could’ve ever imagined, maybe things would’ve been just a WEE bit different.”
Stevie: “Yeah, we know. Hey, there’s always next week.”
A.C.: “And ain’t that the truth. Hey, anyone find out the card?”
Bobby: “Nah, we’ll check right now.”
Bobby and Stevie huddle over a Macbook Pro laptop while Smith steps out of the bathroom, shirtless and with a pair of black gym shorts covering part of his lower body. He walks over to his two comrades, and catches a fleeting look at the monitor.
Bobby: “There we go! You’ve got Legion next week in New Brunswick.”
Smith nods, but his face is otherwise void of any and all emotion as he digests the information.
Stevie: “So what do we know about this guy?”
A.C.: “Honestly? Not too much, and too much at the same time.”
Smith rolls his eyes before sitting down in a recliner next to the couch Bobby and Stevie are laid out on.
A.C.: “Legion’s been around for a while. You name the federation, he’s been in it. He came to APW for Survive and Conquer, but as far as I know, he lost some sort of bet, and as a result he came over here full-time.”
Bobby: “Wait. He didn’t come here on his own accord?”
A.C.: (shaking his head) “Nope. I came here for a defined purpose, and had a plan once I got here. I’m going on my third month with the APW Xtreme Championship, and despite several people thinking they have valid points in calling me some sort of fraud, I’ve made an undeniable impact on APW’s flagship show.
Legion? Not so much. He’s come to the arenas, he’s lost, and he’s collected his paychecks. That’s not someone looking to make an impact. It’s someone going through the motions, as if APW was some sort of backup plan he was never fully prepared to go all-out in executing.”
Stevie: “Who did he lose a bet to, anyway?”
Smith responds to Stevie’s inquiry with a very rare action: He smiles. Not a smirk, not a sarcastic half-smile, but an ear-to-ear grin that signifies a certain delight, almost as if he can’t wait to answer his friend’s question.
A.C.: “Your favorite flat-chested bitch.”
Bobby: “PARKER?!?!?!”
Bobby and Stevie burst out laughing for several seconds, and Smith waits for his compadres to gather themselves before he continues.
A.C.: “Yep. Mind you, I don’t expect everyone to see Aubrey Parker like I do. The people that only know her from her exploits in APW will tell you I must be on one hell of a drug to say anything bad about her. But I know a different Aubrey Parker. The Parker I know is an idiot, a know-nothing who ruined Evan Harrison’s career in ACW and would have done the same thing again if he didn’t have a rare moment of clarity in kicking that bitch to the curb when he signed his APW contract.
Here’s the way I see it. The woman I outsmarted for a solid year and a half in ACW, the woman who somehow has convinced everyone that she should be taken seriously, and the woman who decided she knew more than everyone else in the business after breaking in as Evan Harrison’s hairdresser and fuck buddy, eliminated Legion at Survive and Conquer.
Christ, Legion came in on his high horse, thinking he owned the place, and he got his pants dragged down by Aubrey Parker. Me? I spent the night retaining the Xtreme Championship and turning heads with my performance, and it took Rex Evans, the guy who lasted 96 minutes in the battle royal, to knock me out.
Sure sounds like I got the better end of things, doesn’t it?”
Smith shakes his head.
A.C.: “I can’t figure this out. People have been beating down the doors to come to Action Packed Wrestling. Meltdown’s become one of the best shows on TV not just because of who backs it, but because it’s filled with a ton of really hungry young guys who are trying to catch a break, as well as a couple of veterans looking for one last ride on wrestling’s biggest stage.
Legion got a chance to cut the line. He got his break after Survive and Conquer, and unlike the guys from Meltdown who earned their trips to Overdrive and Asylum, he somehow got his by getting his ass kicked by Aubrey Parker. And what has he done with that chance? Absolutely, positively NOTHING.”
The smile that was on Smith’s face earlier is gone as he shakes his head once again. This time, the head-shaking is accompanied by several rolls of his brown eyes.
A.C.: “Last night, he had a chance to do some damage against Michael Lively. If anyone was vulnerable to something bad happening to them from bell to bell, it was Lively. You know, the guy I pinned cleanly not once, but twice, despite whatever revisionist history he’s putting forth this week while parading around with stolen property in the form of my APW Xtreme Championship.
And what did Legion do with his chance? Again, the answer is absolutely, positively NOTHING. He showed up, got his ass kicked by someone who’s a shell of his former self, and he left before he could answer to the boys in the back and the guys on Meltdown who would’ve at least put up some sort of a challenge.”
Stevie: “Christ, we’ve wrestled one match in all the time we’ve known you, and WE would have at least done more than Legion did!”
Smith nods.
A.C.: “Trust me, I know. Legion should be thanking his lucky stars for the break he got, and instead he’s pissed any and all momentum he ever had away heading into someone who poses a MUCH bigger challenge than Michael Lively ever will.
If he’s got the guts to speak in front of a camera this week to all the people he let down by shitting the proverbial bed here in Moncton, he better be prepared to answer one question. How, precisely, could anyone in their right mind expect Legion to bounce back from a devastating loss to Michael Lively against the guy that couldn’t have pinned him any cleaner, and couldn’t have pinned him any cleaner TWICE?”
Bobby: “Maybe he’s not in his right mind and has convinced himself last night didn’t matter.”
Smith shrugs his broad, muscular shoulders, conceding that Bobby may have a point.
A.C.: “That may very well be the route he goes. But the further he goes down it, the more I like my chances next week in New Brunswick. Unlike Legion, I care about the way things get done here in Action Packed Wrestling. And one thing I’ve learned in my 10 months here is that you get absolutely NOWHERE by denying your past, things that are buried in your psyche regardless of whether or not you want them there.
I’ve said it before, I’m unlike a lot of people in my chosen line of work because I embrace that philosophy. You’ll hear no revisionist history from me when I get behind a microphone or in front of a TV camera, and that’s because I learn from everything I do.
Maybe I got beat last night. Maybe I was perilously close to a second win over Biggs, maybe I could have gotten one over on Kurt Noble, and maybe things would have been different had Buckson Gooch kept his nose out of my business. But that’s not the way things went down. I’m a man, and regardless of what could have happened last night, the truth is that I got beat. But because of the way I’m reacting from it, I know I’ll be better for it in the long run.
Legion? Who the hell knows how he’s going to react to what happened last week? He’s already here in APW against his will, and he’s certainly shown little to no initiative to this point since joining the Overdrive brand. If it hasn’t already been drilled into his head that that’s not a good way to go about your business on the biggest stage possible, I’ll do my best to drive it home next Thursday night.”
Smith stands up to his full 6’8” height, and he kicks around his long, toned legs to stretch them out.
A.C.: “I’m not going to be intimidated by Legion because of what he’s done elsewhere. He’s probably won as many titles as Ric Flair in a ton of different promotions against a ton of different people, but next week, none of that matters at all, whatsoever. In APW, it’s all about what you do against the guys on your brand, guys with similar mindsets who want the exact same things you do.
Me? I’m bringing prestige back to the Xtreme Championship, that pest known as Michael Lively be damned. I’m showing people that someone with honor and integrity CAN, in fact, be successful, contrary to what guys like Terry Marvin and Level-One have to say. And along the way, I’ve had more than my share of big wins. I’ve beaten Lively twice. I’ve knocked Biggs out. I’ve beaten the current number-one contender for the APW Undisputed Championship, C.J. Gates.
What’s Legion done? He lost a bet. And then he lost any intimidation factor he had when he got steamrolled by Lively. Do I respect what he did elsewhere? Sure. But I respect everyone I go up against on a weekly basis. That’s just how good Overdrive is. And I refuse to allow myself to be scared of someone who, quite frankly, wouldn’t scare Mr. Dangerous with his most recent performance, let alone one of the few Overdrive wrestlers who has earned the right to call himself a champion.
I’m stoked for Thursday night, boys. And it’s about time for us to head to New Brunswick. Give me a second to get changed so we can head for the airport. Grab your bags!”
Bobby and Stevie spring up off the couch, grabbing their suitcases and heading out the main door separating the suite from the hotel hallway. Meanwhile, Smith goes to his suitcase and pulls out several articles of clothing, including blue jeans and a long-sleeved red shirt. He goes back into the bathroom, and he shuts the door as our scene fades to black.
