Post by A.C. Smith on Mar 20, 2013 19:01:24 GMT -4
I'm gonna pop some tags
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket
I - I - I'm hunting, looking for a come-up
This is fucking awesome
The lyrics from Macklemore's smash hit resonate in the background as we open up on today's scene. Fittingly enough, it's a thrift shop that sells second-hand goods, including clothes, used electronic devices, and other assorted odds and ends probably found in the back of a storage locker.
Directly after hearing the counter-culture hit, we see three people that also identify themselves as being different from many of those around them. In the middle of the trio is A.C. Smith, wearing the APW Xtreme Championship belt around his waist, and as always, he's flanked by his two best friends, Bobby the Bavarian Man-Bitch and Stevie the Slovakian Slobberknocker.
Bobby and Stevie look a bit taken aback, while Smith is his usual stoic, composed self. The two lackies discreetly eye each other with puzzled looks, thinking their friend can't see them.
A.C.: “Something the matter, boys?”
Bobby: “Well, yeah. Why are we here? We never shop here.”
Stevie: “Yeah. I mean, I don't have expensive tastes or anything, but the clothes I buy generally don't smell like trash.”
A.C.: “You boys know that everything I do, I do for a reason, right?”
Bobby and Stevie nod hesitantly.
A.C.: “Then trust me. Besides, if I didn't take you on as part of my entourage, this is where you guys would HAVE to get all your stuff.”
Smith's lips curl into a half-smile, but Bobby and Stevie seem to know that the Big Apple Asskicker isn't completely joking. Almost instantly, most of their skepticism goes back into hiding.
Bobby: “So why ARE we here, then? It's not like we NEED clothes.”
A.C.: “You're right, we don't.”
Stevie: “Then shouldn't you be somewhere else preparing for Rasslemania? It's your biggest match in APW, and you've got a chance to go out as a champion and show the world how a champion is supposed to carry himself.”
A.C.: “Who says we're not preparing for Rasslemania right now?”
Smith pauses, and he sees Bobby and Stevie are pretty puzzled.
A.C.: “Come with me.”
A.C. walks a step ahead of Bobby and Stevie, and they go to the cashier's station near the store's exit on the other side of the building. Smith eyes the cashier, and it's immediately clear that he knows the teenage girl manning the register.
A.C.: “Emily! How are you?”
Emily: “Hey, A.C.! How is everything?”
A.C.: “Fine so far. Your parents told you I called them, right?”
Emily: “Yep. Your stuff is in the back. I'll get it for you.”
Emily quickly goes into a back room, as if she's eager she finally has something to do on a slow day at her parents' store.
Stevie: “What stuff?”
That question is quickly answered as Emily brings out a huge brown cardboard box filled to the brim. It has to weigh almost as much as she does, and Smith helps her the final few steps before the box gets put on the counter.
Emily: “Here you go. Let me know if you need anything else.”
A.C.: “Thanks, I'll be sure to do that.”
Emily goes back to her post, and the three men team up to bust open the box, which is sealed at the top by several pieces of clear packing tape. Inside is a wide variety of used goods, from the usual (clothes and electronics) to some stuff that's just plain weird.
Bobby: “I think this was some guy's old porn collection.”
Stevie: “And over in this corner are a bunch of old, broken toys.”
Bobby: “What is all this stuff for, A.C.? What's the grand rationale behind all of this?”
A.C. shakes his head.
A.C.: “Forgive me for thinking you guys could figure this out on your own.”
Stevie: “How are we supposed to make a connection between old skin flicks, busted 'Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em' robots, and your match at Rasslemania against Michael Lively and Buckson Gooch?”
A.C.: “Because at one point, everything in this box was cutting-edge. Everyone was talking about them, everyone wanted one of them, and ultimately, everyone looks back and says, 'Why the HELL did I spend so much money on this crap?'
Michael Lively and Buckson Gooch will be in a box like this someday. At one time, everyone in Action Packed Wrestling thought both of them were going to be something special. They've both done some good stuff, but heading into the granddaddy of them all, Rasslemania IX in Toronto, it's not THEM with the momentum, it's me.”
Bobby and Stevie lean up against the counter and get as comfortable as possible, knowing a deeper explanation is coming. Smith doesn't let them down.
A.C.: “Michael Lively has won almost everything there is to win in APW. He's a Hall of Famer, for crying out loud. But when he came to Overdrive, he made the single-worst decision of his entire career. He pissed me off by targeting people who couldn't fight back. And since then, that Hall of Famer and Grand Slam champion has taken on a new role as my personal punching bag.
He and Delikado both had a chance to take my Xtreme Championship the week before Survive and Conquer, in a hardcore three-way match much like the one fans around the world are salivating over leading up to Rasslemania. Did I panic? Did I clam up with an audience of millions watching around the world? No. I came out on top, giving me valuable momentum heading into Survive and Conquer.
How did I use that momentum? Well, I had a pretty good night in London, if I do say so myself. It took Rex Evans, who lasted longer than anyone else in terms of time, to eliminate me from the battle royal. But just as important was what I accomplished earlier that night. Michael Lively threw everything he had at me, and it wasn't enough. Through blood, sweat, and tears, I beat him again, and that SHOULD have been when Lively took the hint and tried to pick on someone else.”
Smith shakes his head.
A.C.: “But no. Instead, he kept his nose in my business. He stole this belt, a prize I hold as close to my heart as anything I've ever won over the course of my 11-year career in this business. He cost me a fall against Buckson Gooch in a two-out-of-three falls match a few weeks ago. And now, leading up to the biggest night in professional wrestling, he's somehow convinced himself that he has a chance to do what he couldn't do earlier this year: Beat me, on my terms, for my Xtreme title.
His problem, though, is that while he thinks the landscape has changed, it's all remained the same. Just because he stole my belt, and just because he helped Gooch take one fall from me, doesn't mean he's better than I am. The last time I checked, I'm still the Xtreme Champion, not Lively, and the last time I checked, I came back from a fall down to beat Gooch and retain that title, despite Lively's best efforts to screw me over.”
Bobby: “I agree, the guy's obviously got a screw loose.”
Stevie: “It's almost like he thinks he's BETTER than you.”
A.C.: “Exactly, and that's something I take huge exception to. When someone beats me cleanly, I acknowledge it. As much as I detest what Terry Marvin and Level-One stand for, and as much of a fight as I gave both of them in my encounters with them, they came out on top. I don't shove that under the rug. As much as I think they're assholes, on the nights we met, they were better than me.
Michael Lively, on the other hand, has had several chances to beat me, and he hasn't. Quite frankly, he's never come close, and that's not a shock.
He hasn't learned a damn thing since I stood up to him several months ago when he first came to Overdrive. He's still the same condescending bully who doesn't realize that, since he's picking on someone his own size for a change, he doesn't have anything resembling an edge in ANY department. Mentally, I'm sharper than he is, and physically, I'm capable of overpowering him, as I've shown on a number of occasions.
Why should anyone with half a brain think that Rasslemania will be any different? Lively has given people no reason to think otherwise, and I'm the same Big Apple Asskicker that's proudly held this Xtreme Championship since the Meltdown Supershow in late-December.
Nobody since John Dionysus has helt this belt for as long as I have, and that's not a coincidence. Dionysus, like me, added legitimacy to a title that so many had tried to drain out of it. I've made no secret that I'm not about to let Michael Lively do the same thing that Evan Harrison and Nick Watson did. It's also no secret that Lively has no idea how to counter that mindset. Because of that, instead of ending Rasslemania as a champion, he'll end it here, in this box, with the fads of bygone generations that had greater expectations and fell far short of them.”
Bobby: “Wow. Deep stuff.”
A.C.: “I try.”
The three men chuckle as Emily comes back into the frame.
Emily: “You guys finding everything OK?”
A.C.: “Yeah, we're perfect.”
Stevie: “Random question, but how do you know our buddy here?”
Emily: “Brian Garrison is my uncle.”
Bobby: “Brian Garrison?! The old cop?!”
Emily: “Yep. He retired, and he bought this shop. My dad is his brother, and he and his wife run it.”
Stevie: “Wow. You learn something new every day. Thanks.”
Emily smiles and leaves, and our attention goes back to A.C. and his friends.
Stevie: “Brian was a good guy. Got me out of some shit parking tickets.”
Bobby: “Horrible way he had to retire. Got sloppy and made his quota public.”
Smith shakes his head, and he’s obviously very familiar with the situation.
A.C.: “He was good to me, too. It’s just too bad he got jaded. That turned out to be a career-ender for him. And that…THAT, leads me to my OTHER opponent this Sunday night, Buckson Gooch.
For a while, Buckson Gooch seemed like the ideal guy. He saw things the way I did, which is that hard work and determination can take you far in this business. He treated me with respect, at least at the outset, and we had some really good matches.
He beat me once, I beat him once, and I was looking forward to some point down the road where we’d meet in a rubber match. I’d have had no problem doing so once I finished taking care of Michael Lively, and I figured a guy with common sense would understand that.
Unfortunately, Buckson Gooch doesn’t have all that much common sense.”
Smith rolls his eyes, scoffing a bit under his breath before he moves on.
A.C.: “He came out during my match with Biggs and Kurt Noble, something he had no right interjecting himself in, and cost me the match with a well-timed use of the slop bucket. Then, when I confronted him about it, he acted like it was my fault, and the week after THAT, he got to YOU guys after you’d done your duty and taken the Xtreme title from Michael Lively.
None of that sounds like the Buckson Gooch I came to respect a few months ago. It sounds like someone who beat me once, thought the title was a formality when we met in that two-of-three-falls match, and couldn’t deal with the realization that it’d take much more than his effort that night to beat me. Hell, since then, he’s even lost to Lively, who I thought I’d sent into a tailspin the likes of which had never been seen before!
At his best, Buckson Gooch has shown he can beat me. The problem is, he hasn’t been at that point in weeks. Gooch allowed greed to take over instead of riding what got him to his win over me, and the Buckson Gooch I’m facing at Rasslemania is a far cry from the one who pushed me to my limit several weeks ago. I no longer like him, I no longer respect him, and if you’d told me I’d be saying that stuff to you guys a few months ago, I’d have said you were crazy.”
Bobby: “Talk about crazy, Gooch is wrestling TWICE at Rasslemania, and the three-way is the second of the two matches!”
Stevie: “I understand wanting to prove a point on the big stage, but REALLY?”
A.C.: “It’s a classic case of a little man trying to be a big man. As much as he might try to hide behind some image he created for himself, this isn’t Buckson Gooch, devoted Southern father with high moral values, fighting for all that’s great and heroic in trying to win two matches at Rasslemania. This is a man who’s become obsessed with titles and shiny gold objects like the one I’m carrying around my waist right now, and his better judgment is clouded by that greed.
There’s a reason greed is one of the seven deadly sins. In this case, it turned a perfectly fine, promising wrestler into someone who got consumed by something that was too big for him. Regardless of the feelings I once had for Buckson Gooch from a professional standpoint, the truth, something that’s very important and that Buckson Gooch can’t afford to ignore, is that he bit off WAY more than he could chew, on multiple fronts.
Maybe Gooch and his tag team partner will win before the three-way match for the APW Xtreme Championship. Maybe they won’t. But either way, that match is going to take a TON out of him, whether Gooch wants to admit it or not. I can understand why Gooch did what he did, because if he goes down as the man who won two matches back-to-back on a single Rasslemania card, he’ll be a made man in the wrestling world.
But the facts are that that’s next to impossible. I’m a veteran of a ton of different one-night, last-man-standing tournaments. And even with a little bit of a break between matches, those nights absolutely KILL you. By the end of the evening, you’re walking on spaghetti legs, drowning in sweat, and wondering how the hell you’re going to WALK when you’re as blown-up as you’ve ever been in your life, let alone actually wrestle a match against one of the best wrestlers on the planet. And I’m supposed to think Buckson Gooch won’t be affected AT ALL by having two matches IN A ROW?”
Smith’s eyebrows finish that sentence halfway up his forehead to accentuate his point. The bushy brows return to their normal point after a quick pause, and the Xtreme Champion opens his mouth to speak once again.
A.C.: “In just a couple of weeks, Buckson Gooch went from one of the most real, down-to-earth guys on the APW roster to someone I see right through and want nothing more than to destroy. His quest at two wins in one night may be perceived by some as an admirable one. They’re wrong, and so is he.
It’s foolish, but it fits the theme of his recent actions. If he wanted a rubber match before I was done putting Michael Lively out to pasture, all he had to do was ask, and I’d have gladly given him one. Instead, he repeated Lively’s mistakes of the past few months and put himself squarely in my crosshairs. He cost me my match against Biggs and Kurt Noble with that blasted bucket, and he knocked you guys out cold when all you were doing was giving Lively his just desserts by retrieving my belt.
When Gooch is on his game, he’s capable of huge things. But he’s so far from that point that it’s laughable, a lot like those items in that box you guys have in front of you. Instead of being the $50 t-shirt Macklemore raps about, he’s the 99-cent fur coat with blood and piss stains down the back of it that won’t come out in the wash. And contrary to everything Gooch has come to believe, that look will NEVER be fashionable.”
Smith pauses, nonchalantly leaning on the counter.
A.C.: “That answer your question?”
Bobby: “…actually, yes.”
Stevie: “Is this stuff ours? If it isn’t already, I kinda like the robots in here!”
A.C.: “They can be yours. Pay the lady!”
Bobby and Stevie walk to the cash register as Smith focuses on the camera one last time.
A.C.: “Michael Lively and Buckson Gooch will say a lot this week about how this match can only unfold one way, with them emerging victorious and taking my Xtreme Championship. They’re wrong, as they’ve been for the past several weeks.
Unlike Michael Lively, I’ve actually made the most of my opportunities in our prior meetings. I’m not walking into a bad situation blind, convinced that the situation will change simply because I want it to. I’m not Buckson Gooch, a sore loser who got close to what he wanted, couldn’t get over the hump, and instead of looking in the mirror, blamed the guy who didn’t bend over backwards to make him happy.
I’m the APW Xtreme Champion, the longest-reigning one in about a year. I got that way by being me, being someone the best fans in the world can count on night-in and night-out to leave it all in the ring, regardless of extraneous circumstances. I’m not some fake asshole with a home in Sin City, and I’m not the OTHER fake asshole masquerading as a good old boy when he’s anything but.
I’m A.C. Smith, the one and only Big Apple Asskicker and one of the best Xtreme Champions in the HISTORY of this fine company. I didn’t get that billing by accident, and at Rasslemania, the same qualities that made me a champion will shine through once again on the biggest stage possible.
Michael Lively and Buckson Gooch? They’ll be exposed as the second-rate frauds they are, because that’s what the truth says they are. They’ve got aspirations of being where I am right now, in a penthouse with everything they’ve ever wanted. Instead, though? They’ll end up on some shelf, valued accurately as damaged goods. And when I walk by, in search of a bargain?
Well, THAT’LL be fucking awesome.”
Bobby and Stevie walk away from Emily and the register, and Smith joins them as the trio exits the store. We hear the hook once again as the camera begins a slow fade to black.
I'm gonna pop some tags
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket
I - I - I'm hunting, looking for a come-up
This is fucking awesome
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket
I - I - I'm hunting, looking for a come-up
This is fucking awesome
The lyrics from Macklemore's smash hit resonate in the background as we open up on today's scene. Fittingly enough, it's a thrift shop that sells second-hand goods, including clothes, used electronic devices, and other assorted odds and ends probably found in the back of a storage locker.
Directly after hearing the counter-culture hit, we see three people that also identify themselves as being different from many of those around them. In the middle of the trio is A.C. Smith, wearing the APW Xtreme Championship belt around his waist, and as always, he's flanked by his two best friends, Bobby the Bavarian Man-Bitch and Stevie the Slovakian Slobberknocker.
Bobby and Stevie look a bit taken aback, while Smith is his usual stoic, composed self. The two lackies discreetly eye each other with puzzled looks, thinking their friend can't see them.
A.C.: “Something the matter, boys?”
Bobby: “Well, yeah. Why are we here? We never shop here.”
Stevie: “Yeah. I mean, I don't have expensive tastes or anything, but the clothes I buy generally don't smell like trash.”
A.C.: “You boys know that everything I do, I do for a reason, right?”
Bobby and Stevie nod hesitantly.
A.C.: “Then trust me. Besides, if I didn't take you on as part of my entourage, this is where you guys would HAVE to get all your stuff.”
Smith's lips curl into a half-smile, but Bobby and Stevie seem to know that the Big Apple Asskicker isn't completely joking. Almost instantly, most of their skepticism goes back into hiding.
Bobby: “So why ARE we here, then? It's not like we NEED clothes.”
A.C.: “You're right, we don't.”
Stevie: “Then shouldn't you be somewhere else preparing for Rasslemania? It's your biggest match in APW, and you've got a chance to go out as a champion and show the world how a champion is supposed to carry himself.”
A.C.: “Who says we're not preparing for Rasslemania right now?”
Smith pauses, and he sees Bobby and Stevie are pretty puzzled.
A.C.: “Come with me.”
A.C. walks a step ahead of Bobby and Stevie, and they go to the cashier's station near the store's exit on the other side of the building. Smith eyes the cashier, and it's immediately clear that he knows the teenage girl manning the register.
A.C.: “Emily! How are you?”
Emily: “Hey, A.C.! How is everything?”
A.C.: “Fine so far. Your parents told you I called them, right?”
Emily: “Yep. Your stuff is in the back. I'll get it for you.”
Emily quickly goes into a back room, as if she's eager she finally has something to do on a slow day at her parents' store.
Stevie: “What stuff?”
That question is quickly answered as Emily brings out a huge brown cardboard box filled to the brim. It has to weigh almost as much as she does, and Smith helps her the final few steps before the box gets put on the counter.
Emily: “Here you go. Let me know if you need anything else.”
A.C.: “Thanks, I'll be sure to do that.”
Emily goes back to her post, and the three men team up to bust open the box, which is sealed at the top by several pieces of clear packing tape. Inside is a wide variety of used goods, from the usual (clothes and electronics) to some stuff that's just plain weird.
Bobby: “I think this was some guy's old porn collection.”
Stevie: “And over in this corner are a bunch of old, broken toys.”
Bobby: “What is all this stuff for, A.C.? What's the grand rationale behind all of this?”
A.C. shakes his head.
A.C.: “Forgive me for thinking you guys could figure this out on your own.”
Stevie: “How are we supposed to make a connection between old skin flicks, busted 'Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em' robots, and your match at Rasslemania against Michael Lively and Buckson Gooch?”
A.C.: “Because at one point, everything in this box was cutting-edge. Everyone was talking about them, everyone wanted one of them, and ultimately, everyone looks back and says, 'Why the HELL did I spend so much money on this crap?'
Michael Lively and Buckson Gooch will be in a box like this someday. At one time, everyone in Action Packed Wrestling thought both of them were going to be something special. They've both done some good stuff, but heading into the granddaddy of them all, Rasslemania IX in Toronto, it's not THEM with the momentum, it's me.”
Bobby and Stevie lean up against the counter and get as comfortable as possible, knowing a deeper explanation is coming. Smith doesn't let them down.
A.C.: “Michael Lively has won almost everything there is to win in APW. He's a Hall of Famer, for crying out loud. But when he came to Overdrive, he made the single-worst decision of his entire career. He pissed me off by targeting people who couldn't fight back. And since then, that Hall of Famer and Grand Slam champion has taken on a new role as my personal punching bag.
He and Delikado both had a chance to take my Xtreme Championship the week before Survive and Conquer, in a hardcore three-way match much like the one fans around the world are salivating over leading up to Rasslemania. Did I panic? Did I clam up with an audience of millions watching around the world? No. I came out on top, giving me valuable momentum heading into Survive and Conquer.
How did I use that momentum? Well, I had a pretty good night in London, if I do say so myself. It took Rex Evans, who lasted longer than anyone else in terms of time, to eliminate me from the battle royal. But just as important was what I accomplished earlier that night. Michael Lively threw everything he had at me, and it wasn't enough. Through blood, sweat, and tears, I beat him again, and that SHOULD have been when Lively took the hint and tried to pick on someone else.”
Smith shakes his head.
A.C.: “But no. Instead, he kept his nose in my business. He stole this belt, a prize I hold as close to my heart as anything I've ever won over the course of my 11-year career in this business. He cost me a fall against Buckson Gooch in a two-out-of-three falls match a few weeks ago. And now, leading up to the biggest night in professional wrestling, he's somehow convinced himself that he has a chance to do what he couldn't do earlier this year: Beat me, on my terms, for my Xtreme title.
His problem, though, is that while he thinks the landscape has changed, it's all remained the same. Just because he stole my belt, and just because he helped Gooch take one fall from me, doesn't mean he's better than I am. The last time I checked, I'm still the Xtreme Champion, not Lively, and the last time I checked, I came back from a fall down to beat Gooch and retain that title, despite Lively's best efforts to screw me over.”
Bobby: “I agree, the guy's obviously got a screw loose.”
Stevie: “It's almost like he thinks he's BETTER than you.”
A.C.: “Exactly, and that's something I take huge exception to. When someone beats me cleanly, I acknowledge it. As much as I detest what Terry Marvin and Level-One stand for, and as much of a fight as I gave both of them in my encounters with them, they came out on top. I don't shove that under the rug. As much as I think they're assholes, on the nights we met, they were better than me.
Michael Lively, on the other hand, has had several chances to beat me, and he hasn't. Quite frankly, he's never come close, and that's not a shock.
He hasn't learned a damn thing since I stood up to him several months ago when he first came to Overdrive. He's still the same condescending bully who doesn't realize that, since he's picking on someone his own size for a change, he doesn't have anything resembling an edge in ANY department. Mentally, I'm sharper than he is, and physically, I'm capable of overpowering him, as I've shown on a number of occasions.
Why should anyone with half a brain think that Rasslemania will be any different? Lively has given people no reason to think otherwise, and I'm the same Big Apple Asskicker that's proudly held this Xtreme Championship since the Meltdown Supershow in late-December.
Nobody since John Dionysus has helt this belt for as long as I have, and that's not a coincidence. Dionysus, like me, added legitimacy to a title that so many had tried to drain out of it. I've made no secret that I'm not about to let Michael Lively do the same thing that Evan Harrison and Nick Watson did. It's also no secret that Lively has no idea how to counter that mindset. Because of that, instead of ending Rasslemania as a champion, he'll end it here, in this box, with the fads of bygone generations that had greater expectations and fell far short of them.”
Bobby: “Wow. Deep stuff.”
A.C.: “I try.”
The three men chuckle as Emily comes back into the frame.
Emily: “You guys finding everything OK?”
A.C.: “Yeah, we're perfect.”
Stevie: “Random question, but how do you know our buddy here?”
Emily: “Brian Garrison is my uncle.”
Bobby: “Brian Garrison?! The old cop?!”
Emily: “Yep. He retired, and he bought this shop. My dad is his brother, and he and his wife run it.”
Stevie: “Wow. You learn something new every day. Thanks.”
Emily smiles and leaves, and our attention goes back to A.C. and his friends.
Stevie: “Brian was a good guy. Got me out of some shit parking tickets.”
Bobby: “Horrible way he had to retire. Got sloppy and made his quota public.”
Smith shakes his head, and he’s obviously very familiar with the situation.
A.C.: “He was good to me, too. It’s just too bad he got jaded. That turned out to be a career-ender for him. And that…THAT, leads me to my OTHER opponent this Sunday night, Buckson Gooch.
For a while, Buckson Gooch seemed like the ideal guy. He saw things the way I did, which is that hard work and determination can take you far in this business. He treated me with respect, at least at the outset, and we had some really good matches.
He beat me once, I beat him once, and I was looking forward to some point down the road where we’d meet in a rubber match. I’d have had no problem doing so once I finished taking care of Michael Lively, and I figured a guy with common sense would understand that.
Unfortunately, Buckson Gooch doesn’t have all that much common sense.”
Smith rolls his eyes, scoffing a bit under his breath before he moves on.
A.C.: “He came out during my match with Biggs and Kurt Noble, something he had no right interjecting himself in, and cost me the match with a well-timed use of the slop bucket. Then, when I confronted him about it, he acted like it was my fault, and the week after THAT, he got to YOU guys after you’d done your duty and taken the Xtreme title from Michael Lively.
None of that sounds like the Buckson Gooch I came to respect a few months ago. It sounds like someone who beat me once, thought the title was a formality when we met in that two-of-three-falls match, and couldn’t deal with the realization that it’d take much more than his effort that night to beat me. Hell, since then, he’s even lost to Lively, who I thought I’d sent into a tailspin the likes of which had never been seen before!
At his best, Buckson Gooch has shown he can beat me. The problem is, he hasn’t been at that point in weeks. Gooch allowed greed to take over instead of riding what got him to his win over me, and the Buckson Gooch I’m facing at Rasslemania is a far cry from the one who pushed me to my limit several weeks ago. I no longer like him, I no longer respect him, and if you’d told me I’d be saying that stuff to you guys a few months ago, I’d have said you were crazy.”
Bobby: “Talk about crazy, Gooch is wrestling TWICE at Rasslemania, and the three-way is the second of the two matches!”
Stevie: “I understand wanting to prove a point on the big stage, but REALLY?”
A.C.: “It’s a classic case of a little man trying to be a big man. As much as he might try to hide behind some image he created for himself, this isn’t Buckson Gooch, devoted Southern father with high moral values, fighting for all that’s great and heroic in trying to win two matches at Rasslemania. This is a man who’s become obsessed with titles and shiny gold objects like the one I’m carrying around my waist right now, and his better judgment is clouded by that greed.
There’s a reason greed is one of the seven deadly sins. In this case, it turned a perfectly fine, promising wrestler into someone who got consumed by something that was too big for him. Regardless of the feelings I once had for Buckson Gooch from a professional standpoint, the truth, something that’s very important and that Buckson Gooch can’t afford to ignore, is that he bit off WAY more than he could chew, on multiple fronts.
Maybe Gooch and his tag team partner will win before the three-way match for the APW Xtreme Championship. Maybe they won’t. But either way, that match is going to take a TON out of him, whether Gooch wants to admit it or not. I can understand why Gooch did what he did, because if he goes down as the man who won two matches back-to-back on a single Rasslemania card, he’ll be a made man in the wrestling world.
But the facts are that that’s next to impossible. I’m a veteran of a ton of different one-night, last-man-standing tournaments. And even with a little bit of a break between matches, those nights absolutely KILL you. By the end of the evening, you’re walking on spaghetti legs, drowning in sweat, and wondering how the hell you’re going to WALK when you’re as blown-up as you’ve ever been in your life, let alone actually wrestle a match against one of the best wrestlers on the planet. And I’m supposed to think Buckson Gooch won’t be affected AT ALL by having two matches IN A ROW?”
Smith’s eyebrows finish that sentence halfway up his forehead to accentuate his point. The bushy brows return to their normal point after a quick pause, and the Xtreme Champion opens his mouth to speak once again.
A.C.: “In just a couple of weeks, Buckson Gooch went from one of the most real, down-to-earth guys on the APW roster to someone I see right through and want nothing more than to destroy. His quest at two wins in one night may be perceived by some as an admirable one. They’re wrong, and so is he.
It’s foolish, but it fits the theme of his recent actions. If he wanted a rubber match before I was done putting Michael Lively out to pasture, all he had to do was ask, and I’d have gladly given him one. Instead, he repeated Lively’s mistakes of the past few months and put himself squarely in my crosshairs. He cost me my match against Biggs and Kurt Noble with that blasted bucket, and he knocked you guys out cold when all you were doing was giving Lively his just desserts by retrieving my belt.
When Gooch is on his game, he’s capable of huge things. But he’s so far from that point that it’s laughable, a lot like those items in that box you guys have in front of you. Instead of being the $50 t-shirt Macklemore raps about, he’s the 99-cent fur coat with blood and piss stains down the back of it that won’t come out in the wash. And contrary to everything Gooch has come to believe, that look will NEVER be fashionable.”
Smith pauses, nonchalantly leaning on the counter.
A.C.: “That answer your question?”
Bobby: “…actually, yes.”
Stevie: “Is this stuff ours? If it isn’t already, I kinda like the robots in here!”
A.C.: “They can be yours. Pay the lady!”
Bobby and Stevie walk to the cash register as Smith focuses on the camera one last time.
A.C.: “Michael Lively and Buckson Gooch will say a lot this week about how this match can only unfold one way, with them emerging victorious and taking my Xtreme Championship. They’re wrong, as they’ve been for the past several weeks.
Unlike Michael Lively, I’ve actually made the most of my opportunities in our prior meetings. I’m not walking into a bad situation blind, convinced that the situation will change simply because I want it to. I’m not Buckson Gooch, a sore loser who got close to what he wanted, couldn’t get over the hump, and instead of looking in the mirror, blamed the guy who didn’t bend over backwards to make him happy.
I’m the APW Xtreme Champion, the longest-reigning one in about a year. I got that way by being me, being someone the best fans in the world can count on night-in and night-out to leave it all in the ring, regardless of extraneous circumstances. I’m not some fake asshole with a home in Sin City, and I’m not the OTHER fake asshole masquerading as a good old boy when he’s anything but.
I’m A.C. Smith, the one and only Big Apple Asskicker and one of the best Xtreme Champions in the HISTORY of this fine company. I didn’t get that billing by accident, and at Rasslemania, the same qualities that made me a champion will shine through once again on the biggest stage possible.
Michael Lively and Buckson Gooch? They’ll be exposed as the second-rate frauds they are, because that’s what the truth says they are. They’ve got aspirations of being where I am right now, in a penthouse with everything they’ve ever wanted. Instead, though? They’ll end up on some shelf, valued accurately as damaged goods. And when I walk by, in search of a bargain?
Well, THAT’LL be fucking awesome.”
Bobby and Stevie walk away from Emily and the register, and Smith joins them as the trio exits the store. We hear the hook once again as the camera begins a slow fade to black.
I'm gonna pop some tags
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket
I - I - I'm hunting, looking for a come-up
This is fucking awesome
