Roulette......

[Reaver]

Roulette, a game of chance. A game where a player spins a wheel and hopes for the best. Lethal in places like Russia, where a single bullet is placed in the chamber of a six round revolver and spun right before the muzzle is placed on a person's head and they pull the trigger. A game in which the odds of survival are 83% in favor of the person playing the game. Rasslemania is MY game of Roulette where the odds of survival aren't nearly as high.....

Within the deep; dark recesses of the Sky Dome Rogers Center in Toronto, Canada, a cackle of laughter can be heard in the distance. Eerie in nature like a bad horror movie, beckoning for the camera to follow. In searching the empty halls, the giggles get louder as a gleam of light shines through the darkest part of the basement. Swinging back and forth as if to hypnotize anybody who would dare to find it, a shadow lurks underneath. Eyes glowing and teeth popping out from the darkness, it could only mean that Reaver is enjoying his new game of chance. Mike, his very fearful camera guy, is at such at wits end with the demeanor of the newly abrasive side of Knuckles that he decides to walk around with a small cat tucked away in a side bag as if it were an infant of his own.

Reaver stop his laughter and tilts his head at Mike. Shaking it in disappointment, he picks up his newly acquired six barreled revolver and proceeds to empty a box of rounds loosely onto the table. He picks up one and loads it into the chamber, spins it and quickly slams it into place and puts the gun back down. He looks over at Mike who is petting his cat out of comfort.

Reaver: Seriously? No Mike, seriously? I'm trying to play a new game with TJ and I'm stuck starring at THIS? Makes me look REALLY good right about now......

Mike: SHUT UP!! It's creepy enough that I'm down here with you but now you're playing games like this? I needed something to calm my nerves.

Reaver: You did not just tell a guy with a GUN......to shut up. That's why they make drugs like Percocet.

Mike: But I'm not in pain.

Reaver: ….Yet..........

Mike looks at him uncomfortably.

Reaver: Can we continue please?

The light above Reaver continues to swing leaving an “off” feeling about the situation. Something about a mentally unstable man holding a loaded gun doesn't seem safe.

Reaver: Here we are TJ. In the depths of the place where you and I will fight for our very survival. We will fight not as men, but as rabid beasts trying to defend the title in which we hold near and dear. No, I'm not talking about the TapOut Championship. It's something I keep telling you that you've earned and again, had I been put in that same situation then I would have taken advantage too. So do us all a favor and quit belly aching. I'm talking about a title in which I defend on a daily basis. A title in which I was born with and have successfully shown the world regardless of how many matches or fights I've been in. The title of being the most dangerous and most violent.

That's what this match is truly about TJ. It's going to be fought over; much like Rome, much like Sparta, much like the Puritans and it'll be for the oldest sin in the world....PRIDE. It's something that we both have and neither one will give up without a fight to the death. But while you sit there and CLAIM my title, I go out night after night and PROVE that I'm the rightful champion of just that. Don't believe me champ? Go ask the list of high end names who's lives have been changed forever because of me. Go ask Jason Kash where his head is after seven long years of being in the ring against me. Go ask Michael Callahan where his head is after Kash put him in his place which may not have happened without my change in him. Go ask Sally Talfourd where her head was at after Test For The Best who then later became a World Champion once again. Go ask Atken what happened to him after we fought, he became a World Champion. Shane Borderland became a high end contender, Mark Mania was never the same after our “charity event” and the list goes on TJ.

Chris Strike, no longer employed because I put him down like the bitch that he is. Alioth Starre, no longer employed because I put HIM down like the bitch that HE is. Branden Harvey, no where to be found because his world changed after stepping into mine just as you did. Argue all you like TJ, but the facts don't lie and they are all saying that after stepping into the ring with me, win or lose; their lives were never the same again. I could name drop all day but it won't make a lick of difference because you still haven't gotten it through your head....

Reaver cocks the revolver back, places it up to his head and......CLICK! Nothing. Licking his lips in compulsion, Mike jumped just as he squeezed the trigger. The sweat dripping off of Mike's face is proof that this game could go very wrong very fast.

Reaver: HEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHA!!! FUN TIMES!!! Life is a game of chance TJ. Fate, happens whether we want it to or not. I mention Branden Harvey for a specific reason. I'm going to let you in on a little secret that surprised me that nobody bothered to pick up on. It was two years ago at Rasslemania that I faced Harvey in an extreme match that was usually reserved for title fights but we were given the go regardless. In the end, I walked away with my hand raised and poor Branden needed to be carried away on a stretcher covered in blood. Now why is this relevant? Not only was it the first Rasslemania I ever had in APW, but it was also the only win I've ever had on any APW pay per view. Don't believe me? Go ahead and do the research, Johnny Knuckles has NEVER won a match or fight on ANY APW pay per view since Rasslemania VII. Not Shockwave, not Test For The Best, not Christmas Chaos or Mayhem or any pay per view......

Again, why is this relevant? It's not about the win/loss record for me TJ and never has been. What it's really been about is defending MY title of most dangerous and most violent. My job was simple, go in and hurt somebody. That's it. I did my job in EVERY SINGLE MATCH I'VE EVER HAD!! It's the whole reason why people who have faced me have a different look in their eyes. Look at yourself in the mirror TJ. You have that look too. That look and feeling of losing parts of your own humanity. You didn't lose it, I took it away. It's because I truly AM the most dangerous and most violent man on Asylum, IN APW! I proved it night after night by beating legends, contenders, champions. Mark Mania and Buckson Gooch felt it and now fully understand that Asylum is the premier brand of APW all thanks to me, not you.

It's MY blood and sweat and sacrifice that has put Asylum at the top, and you have the audacity to go around claiming MY TITLE!? Fate has brought us together TJ and you thought you could puff your chest out and claim what you couldn't earn without the help of someone else. Match after match, you fell deeper and deeper into the lie that you started to believe it yourself. Now I'M the bad guy cuz' I called your bluff? Pathetic. “Pride goeth before a fall....” Never forget your proverbs TJ, and your sinful pride will be your downfall.

Reaver cocks the gun again and.....CLICK!! Nothing. Mike jumps again as he puts his cat for comfort. The light is somehow; still swinging side to side as Reaver laughs louder and louder.

Reaver: HEHEHEHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHO!!!! ISN'T THIS FUN TJ!!! I have no idea what will happen. You can try to plan things in life but what's the point if they always fail? Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I ever caught it. Ya' know I just.....DOOOOO things. President Jeff has plans, Reginald Smith has plans. They're schemers trying to control their little worlds. I'm not schemer. I try to show people like them how PATHETIC their attempts to control things really are. So when I tell you that this wouldn't be as personal if you didn't attack me first then you know that I'm telling you the truth. Don't pretend that you didn't, with all those snarky comments and quips about who I really am. You attacked my persona verbally, so I reciprocated physically.

It's those same schemers that put you where you are right now TJ. You WERE a schemer, you HAD plans and look where that got you? Confused, afraid, alienated. Just like how you made me feel months ago. Payback is a bitch aint' it? And all I did was do what I do best and took all of your plans and turned it on itself. Look what I did you, to Asylum with a few drops of my own blood and a lot of everybody elses hmm? What I've noticed is that nobody panics when everything goes “according to plan”. Even if the plan is horrifying. Kinda like my shoot I did on Chris Strike which later put me into a Suicidal Championship contenders spot. Reginald panicked and as I said once before, “Closed mouths don't get fed”. If I said to Jeff that he better let me take out Stephan Raab or else I will go to Overdrive and burn it down, nobody panics because it's all “part of the plan”. But if I said I was going to kill Reginald, everybody loses their minds.

I introduce a little....anarchy. If you upset the established order, then EVERYTHING becomes....chaos. I am an agent of chaos but you know that little thing about chaos? It's fear. The same fear that I already instilled into you in recent weeks TJ. That same fear that has you doubting yourself. This Rasslemania, this pay per view means so much more for me because I have a lot more to lose. Sure, you might lose the TapOut Championship but I would lose MY title of who I am, who I've been my whole life. I can't let you take away from me who I am, somebody tried that and they failed miserably. So this sad attempt of you claiming what is rightfully mine is nothing more than this......

Reaver: You beating a dead horse. You think you're the first to steal my hard work? My lively hood? You certainly won't be the last TJ but understand that I will fight you TO THE DEATH to keep what is mine. What I've earned over the span of my life. It's even at that point where you use my OWN STUFF against me. Your shoot using MY WORK to try to boost yourself as if you did something. Not exactly the TJ I know and love but you're getting desperate and it shows. You can't contain or control your fears anymore TJ and the end is nearing closer and closer for you. Don't talk like “one of them” you're NOT. Even if you wanna' be. To them, you are just a freak....like me. The fans need you right now, but when they don't; they will cast you aside.......like a leper.

All these “rules” of being a TapOut Champion and you think they'll save you? It's these same rules that you'll have to break in order to beat me, in order to get the REAL truth. The only sensible way to survive on Asylum is without rules. Later tomorrow night, you will have to break these rules, to play these games by stepping back into MY WORLD in order to keep both titles. Life is a game and now it's time for YOU to spin the wheel. HEHEHEHAHAHAHA!!!

Once again, he cocks back the gun and........CLICK!! Nothing. The tension in the room startles Mike enough to make his cat jump out of his pouch and onto the table. Reaver puts the run down and points it away from the animal.

Reaver: Really Mike? This is not a place for animals.

Mike: I told you, my nerves needed to be calmed down and this helps.

Reaver: *sigh* This is highly unprofessional.

Mike: Don't talk to me about unprofessional John, you bring a loaded gun.....

Reaver: MY NAME IS REAVER!!!!

Without skipping a beat, Reaver slams his fists out of anger onto the table which makes the gun go off, BANG!!

Mike and Reaver and flown from their seats as the cat splatters up against the wall. Mike in Shock as Reaver laughs his ass off.

Mike: WHAT THE FUCK!! DID YOU JUST BOONDOCK SAINT MY CAT!?

Reaver: I guess his nine lives were up? HEHEHAHAHA!!

Mike: YOU SICKO!!

Reaver: I didn't make him jump on the table asshole. I guess he wanted to play Roulette too....HEHEHAHAHAHA!!!

Mike: Poor Whiskers.....

Reaver: Don't worry, he's still here.....and over there.....and a little over there......and up there.....

Mike: SHUT UP!!

Reaver: Too soon? Next time, don't bring a cat to a gun fight, the odds were NOT in his favor...HEHEHAHAHAHA!!!!

Mike begins to sob while Reaver continues his maniacal laughter as the scene fades.





Disclaimer: There were no actual animals harmed in the making of this promo. I swear........