Post by A.C. Smith on Jun 5, 2013 10:33:40 GMT -4
Our scene opens today on a flashback, one that brings us to a match that took place over a year ago on Overdrive. It’s a Test for the Best qualifying match between A.C. Smith and Delikado, long before either became instantly-recognizable faces on APW’s flagship brand.
It fades to black, but after a few seconds of nothingness, we hear cheers from a packed crowd. We fade back up to another match, this one a four-way ladder match for the last of four Overdrive spots in Test for the Best. Smith begins climbing a ladder that’s been set up in the middle of the ring.
We fade to black on Smith clutching the briefcase several feet above the ring, standing tall over a future Overdrive champion, a future Xtreme Champion, and a man who called himself the innovator of the ladder match. That was a high point in A.C. Smith’s APW career, one that showed the wrestling world that the Big Apple Asskicker still had what it took to succeed on the biggest stages in the sport, but it came after one of the few valleys Smith has had to endure in Action Packed Wrestling.
Now, we shift back to the present. A week after Smith and C.J. Gates battled in an instant classic, the current APW Xtreme Champion has his back against the wall once again, and we see him hitting a heavy bag in what appears to be a public gym with significant force. The Big Apple Asskicker fires away with rights and lefts, and the only thing holding the bag in place is Bobby the Bavarian Man-Bitch, who’s struggling to keep a solid base as his friend keeps hammering the leather.
We zoom out slightly, and we see Stevie the Slovakian Slobberknocker holding a stopwatch in his hand. Smith’s head barely moves as his arms fly about, but Bobby looks over at Stevie, almost as if doing so will make time go faster. Finally, after a few more seconds…
Stevie: “STOP!”
Smith hammers the bag once more with a straight right hand, which he hits just as Bobby releases it. The back goes directly into A.C.’s shorter friend, knocking him backwards and into a rack of free weights near a white wall.
Bobby: “Jesus!”
A.C.: “Should’ve kept ahold of the bag.”
Smith wipes some sweat off his brow with the old, white tank top he’s wearing, momentarily exposing his abs to the camera. He then walks to Stevie, who hands him a bottle of water. Smith nods his head and takes a swig, swallowing it before opening his mouth to speak again.
A.C.: “Alright, I’m good to go.”
Stevie: “For what, exactly? You haven’t even told us why we’re here.”
A.C.: “What fun would that be?”
Bobby: “FUN?! I just hung onto that thing for dear life for three minutes and almost got the wind knocked out of me after. I think we deserve to know why we’re here!”
Voice: “Because of the brother-in-law.”
All three turn their heads, and we see an older, muscular man standing near a water cooler. He’s by no means short, maybe 6’3” or 6’4”, with tattoos on both of his huge biceps and a beard on his chin that’s just starting to go gray. In stark contrast to the slapstick, fun-loving nature of Bobby and Stevie, this guy appears to be all-business.
A.C.: “You must be Roger.”
The man nods.
Roger: “Welcome to my gym.”
A.C. and Roger shake hands.
A.C.: “Nice place you’ve got. Just gave your heavy bag a spin.”
Roger: “I saw. You warmed up?”
A.C.: “Yeah, I’m good.”
Roger: “Guys, can we have a minute?”
Bobby and Stevie are a little confused, but they shrug their shoulders and begin walking away. Roger, though, isn’t finished.
Roger: “You flirt with that receptionist, I’ll break your necks.”
Bobby and Stevie pause, eventually finding stationary bikes to kill time on. Meanwhile, Smith and Roger sit down next to one another on a vacant bench.
Roger: “You break her heart, I’ll find you and cut your balls off. Understood?”
A.C.: “Whoa. Listen, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Roger: “She may be 35 years old, and she may be a couple hundred miles away, but she’s still my baby sister, and she always will be. I have certain responsibilities, and I know how she’s been treated by her past boyfriends.”
Smith stiffens up and looks Roger dead in the eye.
A.C.: “I’m not like that. Never have been, never will be. Your sister and I go way back.”
Roger: “I know. She was your partner before Robert, that no-good ex-husband of hers, got caught fooling around with a stewardess when she was pregnant with Bobby. Why she insisted on naming her son after his father, I’ll never know.”
Suddenly, it looks like Smith’s mouth has been hit with a sour taste.
A.C.: “She didn’t.”
He points to Bobby and Stevie.
A.C.: “See those two guys over there? The guy on the left is Bobby Mendelowitz, and next to him is his cousin Stevie, whose last name I won’t even try to pronounce. They broke Robert’s kneecaps when he tried to go after Roxie all those years ago. They didn’t know her from a hole in the wall, but they were walking by and they did something. I’ve been indebted to them ever since, and they’ve turned into my two best friends in the entire world.”
A pause.
A.C.: “That’s something I’ve never told anyone. Nobody in my business, none of my fans, no one, and it’s information a couple of Robert’s friends at his Manhattan law firm would have paid good money for. But then, Roxie would lose what are basically two uncles for her kids, and you’d lose two guys you’d do well to get to know.
“Got any other concerns?”
Roger looks at Smith once more and shakes his head slowly.
Roger: “Look, you seem to be a decent guy. Everything Roxie’s told me about you says you’re a freaking saint. But I’ve heard the same line about everyone else she’s dated, including several times when she said she was positive Robert had changed. He never did, and nothing could save that marriage. Not counseling, not a second son, nothing. The best thing that could’ve happened to her was the divorce and the move to Baltimore, and now that she’s finally moved on, I don’t want her heart getting broken again. And I am willing to do WHATEVER it takes to ensure that.
“Do I make myself clear?”
Roger extends his hand.
A.C.: “Crystal.”
Smith shakes it, and the two stand up.
Roger: “So you’ve got five guys coming at you this week, and you think you’ve got a target on your back.”
A.C.: “Of course I do. I’m the only guy that goes into this match as a champion, and I’m the only guy left on Overdrive who was in the final four from the show in last year’s Test for the Best tournament. This is my last chance until next year at getting into the bracket and making some noise, and I refuse to go down without a fight.”
Roger: “Well, a couple guys I know said they’d spar with you. Nothing nuts, but enough to get you used to five guys coming at you at one time. Want to get into the ring?”
Smith nods, walking out of our shot. We see him hop up onto an apron and through the ropes, where five muscular men in protective boxing gear are also standing. Four are in corners, while another hangs out between two men on the far side of the ring.
Roger: “Alright, you ready, A.C.?”
Smith nods, and Roger rings a bell he has within arm’s reach.
Two men in opposite corners converge on Smith, who whips the near fighter into the far one. In come two more, and while one gets sent into the mess of people on the far side of the ring, the other bounces off and gets sent over the top rope, off the apron, and down to the floor.
The fifth opponent charges Smith, but Smith ducks near a set of ropes and sends the man flying over. The two men who started the “match” by charging Smith come at him again, but are tripped to the mat by A.C.’s left and right arms. They respond by rolling out of the ring, and the last remaining boxer follows suit.
Smith hasn’t broken a sweat, and Roger looks on in awe. He has no choice but to ring the bell again.
Roger: “Um…wow. You want to grab a beer?”
A.C.: “Yeah, sure. Let me shower and change, and I’ll be out front in about 20 minutes.”
Roger nods. Smith exits the ring, high-fiving Bobby and Stevie as he reaches into his gym bag and pulls out his cell phone. Unbeknownst to A.C., Roger has done the same thing, and they’re both calling the same number at the same time.
Unfortunately for both, their calls will go unanswered, as Roxanne’s phone is off.
“Hi, this is Roxanne, and I can’t take your call right now. Please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!”
BEEP!
“Hey Roxie, it’s Roger. Your boyfriend is NUTS.”
“Hey Roxie, it’s A.C. Your brother is NUTS.”
At the simultaneous utterances of the word ‘NUTS,’ our scene fades to black.
---
“I refuse to go down without a fight.”
We’re in the locker room of Roger’s gym. We hear showers going in the bathroom, but A.C. Smith is already dried off and changed into a white t-shirt and blue jeans that hug his 6’8”, 275-pound figure. The black gym bag we saw earlier is at his feet, halfway zipped up.
Smith is waiting for his buddies to freshen up, and for the time being, he’s alone with his thoughts in the spacious locker room. As he sits down on a bench between rows of lockers, he eyes the camera and opens his mouth to speak.
A.C.: “Last week, C.J. Gates and I gave the fans of Houston as good a show as they could have asked for. We matched each other move for move and blow for blow, and nobody had any idea who was going to come out on top. Eventually, though, it was Gates, and that puts me in a familiar, yet precarious, spot.
“After a loss to a man I couldn’t respect much more in a technical classic, I go into a six-man battle royal that promises to be the polar opposite, a total free-for-all between a half-dozen men that are here out of necessity rather than their own desires. Five of us are going to be thrown over the top rope and out of the running for this year’s Test for the Best tournament, while one lucky man will advance into the bracket.
“Last year, against all odds, I rose up after being downed by Delikado. I prevailed in a ladder match over three high-quality opponents, and I used the momentum to give Terry Marvin the kind of fight many on the APW roster wish they could put forward. This year, I’ve gone from the hunter to the hunted, and if anyone in this match wants a spot in the Test for the Best field, they’re going to have to go through me to get it.”
Smith greets that statement with a slight smirk and a barely-perceptible chuckle.
A.C.: “Buckson Gooch, Jake Titan, Leon Roberts, Michael Jennings, Dan White, and myself have one thing in common. We all lost our initial qualifying matches last week in Houston. That, though, is where the similarities end, at least as far as I’m concerned.
“I’m the longest-reigning champion currently on the Overdrive brand, going on six months as Action Packed Wrestling’s Xtreme Champion. Even after drawing C.J. Gates, absolutely horrible luck, I was talked about as a contender not just to beat Gates, but to win the whole damn tournament. The stumble last week was just that, a momentary lapse, and this week, I get a great chance to right the ship, one I intend to take full advantage of given the advantages I have over my opponents.”
Smith cracks his knuckles and rolls his wrists, getting all the kinks out before he continues.
A.C.: “Buckson Gooch had plenty of chances at me. He beat me once, but since then, when stakes have been at their highest, he’s failed to make his opportunities count. He fell in both a two-out-of-three-falls match and a triple threat match, the latter at Rasslemania IX.
“Now, he’s somehow arrived at the conclusion that aligning with Evan Harrison, Nathaniel Havok, and Delikado is going to get him where he wants to go. If that place is in a back alley somewhere, bleeding profusely from the knife stuck in his back, he’s well on his way. Whatever he might have stood for previously means nothing since his recent actions have gone against them. He’s all screwed up mentally, and I’ve been in his head for months.
“Jake Titan? Well, if this was a cursing contest, he’d be the Undisputed Champion. When he goes off, you know it. The problem is, instead of getting focused and using whatever energy he has in a positive way, he’s off going on tirades that solve little, mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, and make people question his ability to go up against the heavy hitters APW has on the Overdrive brand.
“Whether he wants to admit it or not is one thing. But I AM the kind of heavy hitter he’s going to struggle with. I’ve dealt with punks who thought their shit didn’t stink for 11 years, and longer than that if we’re counting my time with the NYPD. He’s very impressed with himself, but the line between confidence and arrogance is a very fine one, and if he dances too close to it?”
Smith snaps his fingers.
A.C.: “I’ll make him pay for it.
“Leon Roberts? Well, I don’t know if it was the booze or his own natural thought process, but he thought he could play mind games with Delikado, and he failed MISERABLY. It’s too bad his apparent gambling luck couldn’t translate to the squared circle, otherwise, he’d have been golden.
“Roberts can make all the threats he wants about killing me for no good reason. Again, that crap is nothing I haven’t heard before, and it’s often come from people who are actually capable of carrying that threat out. Guys with guns, knives, Molotov cocktails, the works. If Leon Roberts thinks he brings something unique to the table, something I HAVEN’T seen in 11 years of wrestling? Well, he must be on the fire water again, because that’s just plain stupid.
“Michael Jennings? Well, he might actually have a clue. He came to Overdrive with something to prove after causing one hell of a ruckus on Meltdown. He doesn’t follow the crowd, and while I don’t necessarily agree with how he conducts himself, I can respect someone who does what he feels he needs to do to take care of business. Not because of ego or any other extraneous reason, but because it's what he believes in. There's something admirable about that.
“However, he's gotten sucked into the whole 'faction warfare' business, and it's clouding his judgment. Here, he's more concerned with letting us know he beat Amy Zing and that he wants nothing to do with this match, one that can put you on the fast track to success seven days after a substantial setback. You could ask him if he's in the right frame of mind to win this match, and I'm sure he'd tell you that he's not. That's not an insult, that's just the way it is.
“While he thinks he beat Amy Zing last week, the facts say otherwise. Deep down, he's not over a defeat he never saw coming, and that's not exactly a recipe for success this week in Dallas.”
Smith shrugs.
A.C.: “And then there's Dan White. Here's a guy that gave me a pretty good fight when we last met, and he came as close as anyone has to taking my Xtreme Championship. That's a long list of people that includes guys like Michael Lively, Delikado, Nathaniel Havok, and Buckson Gooch. When I left the ring that night, I knew I'd see him again at some point, but I have to say, I thought I'd do so when he had something resembling momentum.
“Far as I can see, he didn't care at all about his qualifying match last week. He showed up at the building, got his ass kicked, and left. Now, he's going up against a high-class group of guys who want nothing more than to get back in the tournament by any means necessary, and he can't just flip some sort of switch to get where he needs to be. That's just not the way this business works, and he'd do well to understand that.”
We hear the water in the off-screen showers shut off. After a few seconds, Smith zips up his gym bag and rises to his full 6'8” height.
A.C.: “I'm the most well-known quantity in this match. Every single week, you get me working my ass off to please the best fans in the world. Some weeks, like last Thursday, it's not enough. But just because I came up short to C.J. Gates in what may go down as one of the best matches of my entire wrestling career, doesn't mean I'm down and out.
“Like last year, I fell in my initial qualifying match, and my only recourse was a Second Chance match. Nobody gave me a chance in hell of advancing out of that, but I did. Now, I'm the guy people expect to win and get back in the Test for the Best bracket, and I look forward to living up to the weight the fans have put on my shoulders.
“Nobody is better prepared for this match than I am. Nobody knows what it takes to win this match more than I do. And when the dust settles Thursday night in Dallas, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, will stand a better chance of winning Test for the Best, than the Big Apple Asskicker, A.C. Smith.”
Smith grabs his bag and exits, waiting outside the locker room for Bobby and Stevie to dry off and change. We hear a door close off-screen, and a few seconds later, our scene fades to black.
Delikado then pulls himself up, and gets in position for another kick! Smith groggily gets up, but this time, isn’t able to avoid the kick as Delikado rills him with the Last Call to Cuba (Superkick)!!! Delikado makes the pin…
1
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.
.
2
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3!
Winner: Delikado
Paige: Here is your winner, and advancing in the Test for the Best tournament...Delikado!
Harvey: He may have been smug about it, but Delikado took enough wind out of AC Smith's sails to snatch the win from him!
Chase: Are you implying he stole it? Because's he's foreign? Racist!
1
.
.
.
2
.
.
.
3!
Winner: Delikado
Paige: Here is your winner, and advancing in the Test for the Best tournament...Delikado!
Harvey: He may have been smug about it, but Delikado took enough wind out of AC Smith's sails to snatch the win from him!
Chase: Are you implying he stole it? Because's he's foreign? Racist!
It fades to black, but after a few seconds of nothingness, we hear cheers from a packed crowd. We fade back up to another match, this one a four-way ladder match for the last of four Overdrive spots in Test for the Best. Smith begins climbing a ladder that’s been set up in the middle of the ring.
Chase: AC Smith is all alone! He has it!
Harvey: No! Look!
He is a quarter of the way up when Nick Watson starts pulling himself up the ladder, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. But Mark Mania grabs The SensationalOne from behind and slams Watson to the mat again before climbing the side of the ladder.
Harvey: Smith it at the top again!
Chase: Come on Mark! He is almost there!
AC Smith reaches for the belt. He pauses and blocks a shot from Mark Mania. Smith’s right hand locks around Mark’s throat! He lifts Mark Mania up. AC Smith starts to fall off the ladder as he lifts Mania over his head with both hands and tosses Mark to the ground into a huge Gorilla Press Slam. Before he falls Smith grabs the briefcase to steady himself. Mark’s body bounces off the mat and the ladder nearl topples but AC holds tight to keep it steady! He reaches up higher and unhooks it!
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Nicky Paige: Here is your winner, AC Smith, “The Big Apple Asskicker!”
Smith’s music cues up as he remains at the top of the ladder.
Harvey: AC Smith is going in the tournament!
Chase: He nearly killed Mark Mania! Did you see that?
Harvey: Yes I did. And that was beautiful.
Harvey: No! Look!
He is a quarter of the way up when Nick Watson starts pulling himself up the ladder, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. But Mark Mania grabs The SensationalOne from behind and slams Watson to the mat again before climbing the side of the ladder.
Harvey: Smith it at the top again!
Chase: Come on Mark! He is almost there!
AC Smith reaches for the belt. He pauses and blocks a shot from Mark Mania. Smith’s right hand locks around Mark’s throat! He lifts Mark Mania up. AC Smith starts to fall off the ladder as he lifts Mania over his head with both hands and tosses Mark to the ground into a huge Gorilla Press Slam. Before he falls Smith grabs the briefcase to steady himself. Mark’s body bounces off the mat and the ladder nearl topples but AC holds tight to keep it steady! He reaches up higher and unhooks it!
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Nicky Paige: Here is your winner, AC Smith, “The Big Apple Asskicker!”
Smith’s music cues up as he remains at the top of the ladder.
Harvey: AC Smith is going in the tournament!
Chase: He nearly killed Mark Mania! Did you see that?
Harvey: Yes I did. And that was beautiful.
We fade to black on Smith clutching the briefcase several feet above the ring, standing tall over a future Overdrive champion, a future Xtreme Champion, and a man who called himself the innovator of the ladder match. That was a high point in A.C. Smith’s APW career, one that showed the wrestling world that the Big Apple Asskicker still had what it took to succeed on the biggest stages in the sport, but it came after one of the few valleys Smith has had to endure in Action Packed Wrestling.
Now, we shift back to the present. A week after Smith and C.J. Gates battled in an instant classic, the current APW Xtreme Champion has his back against the wall once again, and we see him hitting a heavy bag in what appears to be a public gym with significant force. The Big Apple Asskicker fires away with rights and lefts, and the only thing holding the bag in place is Bobby the Bavarian Man-Bitch, who’s struggling to keep a solid base as his friend keeps hammering the leather.
We zoom out slightly, and we see Stevie the Slovakian Slobberknocker holding a stopwatch in his hand. Smith’s head barely moves as his arms fly about, but Bobby looks over at Stevie, almost as if doing so will make time go faster. Finally, after a few more seconds…
Stevie: “STOP!”
Smith hammers the bag once more with a straight right hand, which he hits just as Bobby releases it. The back goes directly into A.C.’s shorter friend, knocking him backwards and into a rack of free weights near a white wall.
Bobby: “Jesus!”
A.C.: “Should’ve kept ahold of the bag.”
Smith wipes some sweat off his brow with the old, white tank top he’s wearing, momentarily exposing his abs to the camera. He then walks to Stevie, who hands him a bottle of water. Smith nods his head and takes a swig, swallowing it before opening his mouth to speak again.
A.C.: “Alright, I’m good to go.”
Stevie: “For what, exactly? You haven’t even told us why we’re here.”
A.C.: “What fun would that be?”
Bobby: “FUN?! I just hung onto that thing for dear life for three minutes and almost got the wind knocked out of me after. I think we deserve to know why we’re here!”
Voice: “Because of the brother-in-law.”
All three turn their heads, and we see an older, muscular man standing near a water cooler. He’s by no means short, maybe 6’3” or 6’4”, with tattoos on both of his huge biceps and a beard on his chin that’s just starting to go gray. In stark contrast to the slapstick, fun-loving nature of Bobby and Stevie, this guy appears to be all-business.
A.C.: “You must be Roger.”
The man nods.
Roger: “Welcome to my gym.”
A.C. and Roger shake hands.
A.C.: “Nice place you’ve got. Just gave your heavy bag a spin.”
Roger: “I saw. You warmed up?”
A.C.: “Yeah, I’m good.”
Roger: “Guys, can we have a minute?”
Bobby and Stevie are a little confused, but they shrug their shoulders and begin walking away. Roger, though, isn’t finished.
Roger: “You flirt with that receptionist, I’ll break your necks.”
Bobby and Stevie pause, eventually finding stationary bikes to kill time on. Meanwhile, Smith and Roger sit down next to one another on a vacant bench.
Roger: “You break her heart, I’ll find you and cut your balls off. Understood?”
A.C.: “Whoa. Listen, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Roger: “She may be 35 years old, and she may be a couple hundred miles away, but she’s still my baby sister, and she always will be. I have certain responsibilities, and I know how she’s been treated by her past boyfriends.”
Smith stiffens up and looks Roger dead in the eye.
A.C.: “I’m not like that. Never have been, never will be. Your sister and I go way back.”
Roger: “I know. She was your partner before Robert, that no-good ex-husband of hers, got caught fooling around with a stewardess when she was pregnant with Bobby. Why she insisted on naming her son after his father, I’ll never know.”
Suddenly, it looks like Smith’s mouth has been hit with a sour taste.
A.C.: “She didn’t.”
He points to Bobby and Stevie.
A.C.: “See those two guys over there? The guy on the left is Bobby Mendelowitz, and next to him is his cousin Stevie, whose last name I won’t even try to pronounce. They broke Robert’s kneecaps when he tried to go after Roxie all those years ago. They didn’t know her from a hole in the wall, but they were walking by and they did something. I’ve been indebted to them ever since, and they’ve turned into my two best friends in the entire world.”
A pause.
A.C.: “That’s something I’ve never told anyone. Nobody in my business, none of my fans, no one, and it’s information a couple of Robert’s friends at his Manhattan law firm would have paid good money for. But then, Roxie would lose what are basically two uncles for her kids, and you’d lose two guys you’d do well to get to know.
“Got any other concerns?”
Roger looks at Smith once more and shakes his head slowly.
Roger: “Look, you seem to be a decent guy. Everything Roxie’s told me about you says you’re a freaking saint. But I’ve heard the same line about everyone else she’s dated, including several times when she said she was positive Robert had changed. He never did, and nothing could save that marriage. Not counseling, not a second son, nothing. The best thing that could’ve happened to her was the divorce and the move to Baltimore, and now that she’s finally moved on, I don’t want her heart getting broken again. And I am willing to do WHATEVER it takes to ensure that.
“Do I make myself clear?”
Roger extends his hand.
A.C.: “Crystal.”
Smith shakes it, and the two stand up.
Roger: “So you’ve got five guys coming at you this week, and you think you’ve got a target on your back.”
A.C.: “Of course I do. I’m the only guy that goes into this match as a champion, and I’m the only guy left on Overdrive who was in the final four from the show in last year’s Test for the Best tournament. This is my last chance until next year at getting into the bracket and making some noise, and I refuse to go down without a fight.”
Roger: “Well, a couple guys I know said they’d spar with you. Nothing nuts, but enough to get you used to five guys coming at you at one time. Want to get into the ring?”
Smith nods, walking out of our shot. We see him hop up onto an apron and through the ropes, where five muscular men in protective boxing gear are also standing. Four are in corners, while another hangs out between two men on the far side of the ring.
Roger: “Alright, you ready, A.C.?”
Smith nods, and Roger rings a bell he has within arm’s reach.
Two men in opposite corners converge on Smith, who whips the near fighter into the far one. In come two more, and while one gets sent into the mess of people on the far side of the ring, the other bounces off and gets sent over the top rope, off the apron, and down to the floor.
The fifth opponent charges Smith, but Smith ducks near a set of ropes and sends the man flying over. The two men who started the “match” by charging Smith come at him again, but are tripped to the mat by A.C.’s left and right arms. They respond by rolling out of the ring, and the last remaining boxer follows suit.
Smith hasn’t broken a sweat, and Roger looks on in awe. He has no choice but to ring the bell again.
Roger: “Um…wow. You want to grab a beer?”
A.C.: “Yeah, sure. Let me shower and change, and I’ll be out front in about 20 minutes.”
Roger nods. Smith exits the ring, high-fiving Bobby and Stevie as he reaches into his gym bag and pulls out his cell phone. Unbeknownst to A.C., Roger has done the same thing, and they’re both calling the same number at the same time.
Unfortunately for both, their calls will go unanswered, as Roxanne’s phone is off.
“Hi, this is Roxanne, and I can’t take your call right now. Please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!”
BEEP!
“Hey Roxie, it’s Roger. Your boyfriend is NUTS.”
“Hey Roxie, it’s A.C. Your brother is NUTS.”
At the simultaneous utterances of the word ‘NUTS,’ our scene fades to black.
---
“I refuse to go down without a fight.”
We’re in the locker room of Roger’s gym. We hear showers going in the bathroom, but A.C. Smith is already dried off and changed into a white t-shirt and blue jeans that hug his 6’8”, 275-pound figure. The black gym bag we saw earlier is at his feet, halfway zipped up.
Smith is waiting for his buddies to freshen up, and for the time being, he’s alone with his thoughts in the spacious locker room. As he sits down on a bench between rows of lockers, he eyes the camera and opens his mouth to speak.
A.C.: “Last week, C.J. Gates and I gave the fans of Houston as good a show as they could have asked for. We matched each other move for move and blow for blow, and nobody had any idea who was going to come out on top. Eventually, though, it was Gates, and that puts me in a familiar, yet precarious, spot.
“After a loss to a man I couldn’t respect much more in a technical classic, I go into a six-man battle royal that promises to be the polar opposite, a total free-for-all between a half-dozen men that are here out of necessity rather than their own desires. Five of us are going to be thrown over the top rope and out of the running for this year’s Test for the Best tournament, while one lucky man will advance into the bracket.
“Last year, against all odds, I rose up after being downed by Delikado. I prevailed in a ladder match over three high-quality opponents, and I used the momentum to give Terry Marvin the kind of fight many on the APW roster wish they could put forward. This year, I’ve gone from the hunter to the hunted, and if anyone in this match wants a spot in the Test for the Best field, they’re going to have to go through me to get it.”
Smith greets that statement with a slight smirk and a barely-perceptible chuckle.
A.C.: “Buckson Gooch, Jake Titan, Leon Roberts, Michael Jennings, Dan White, and myself have one thing in common. We all lost our initial qualifying matches last week in Houston. That, though, is where the similarities end, at least as far as I’m concerned.
“I’m the longest-reigning champion currently on the Overdrive brand, going on six months as Action Packed Wrestling’s Xtreme Champion. Even after drawing C.J. Gates, absolutely horrible luck, I was talked about as a contender not just to beat Gates, but to win the whole damn tournament. The stumble last week was just that, a momentary lapse, and this week, I get a great chance to right the ship, one I intend to take full advantage of given the advantages I have over my opponents.”
Smith cracks his knuckles and rolls his wrists, getting all the kinks out before he continues.
A.C.: “Buckson Gooch had plenty of chances at me. He beat me once, but since then, when stakes have been at their highest, he’s failed to make his opportunities count. He fell in both a two-out-of-three-falls match and a triple threat match, the latter at Rasslemania IX.
“Now, he’s somehow arrived at the conclusion that aligning with Evan Harrison, Nathaniel Havok, and Delikado is going to get him where he wants to go. If that place is in a back alley somewhere, bleeding profusely from the knife stuck in his back, he’s well on his way. Whatever he might have stood for previously means nothing since his recent actions have gone against them. He’s all screwed up mentally, and I’ve been in his head for months.
“Jake Titan? Well, if this was a cursing contest, he’d be the Undisputed Champion. When he goes off, you know it. The problem is, instead of getting focused and using whatever energy he has in a positive way, he’s off going on tirades that solve little, mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, and make people question his ability to go up against the heavy hitters APW has on the Overdrive brand.
“Whether he wants to admit it or not is one thing. But I AM the kind of heavy hitter he’s going to struggle with. I’ve dealt with punks who thought their shit didn’t stink for 11 years, and longer than that if we’re counting my time with the NYPD. He’s very impressed with himself, but the line between confidence and arrogance is a very fine one, and if he dances too close to it?”
Smith snaps his fingers.
A.C.: “I’ll make him pay for it.
“Leon Roberts? Well, I don’t know if it was the booze or his own natural thought process, but he thought he could play mind games with Delikado, and he failed MISERABLY. It’s too bad his apparent gambling luck couldn’t translate to the squared circle, otherwise, he’d have been golden.
“Roberts can make all the threats he wants about killing me for no good reason. Again, that crap is nothing I haven’t heard before, and it’s often come from people who are actually capable of carrying that threat out. Guys with guns, knives, Molotov cocktails, the works. If Leon Roberts thinks he brings something unique to the table, something I HAVEN’T seen in 11 years of wrestling? Well, he must be on the fire water again, because that’s just plain stupid.
“Michael Jennings? Well, he might actually have a clue. He came to Overdrive with something to prove after causing one hell of a ruckus on Meltdown. He doesn’t follow the crowd, and while I don’t necessarily agree with how he conducts himself, I can respect someone who does what he feels he needs to do to take care of business. Not because of ego or any other extraneous reason, but because it's what he believes in. There's something admirable about that.
“However, he's gotten sucked into the whole 'faction warfare' business, and it's clouding his judgment. Here, he's more concerned with letting us know he beat Amy Zing and that he wants nothing to do with this match, one that can put you on the fast track to success seven days after a substantial setback. You could ask him if he's in the right frame of mind to win this match, and I'm sure he'd tell you that he's not. That's not an insult, that's just the way it is.
“While he thinks he beat Amy Zing last week, the facts say otherwise. Deep down, he's not over a defeat he never saw coming, and that's not exactly a recipe for success this week in Dallas.”
Smith shrugs.
A.C.: “And then there's Dan White. Here's a guy that gave me a pretty good fight when we last met, and he came as close as anyone has to taking my Xtreme Championship. That's a long list of people that includes guys like Michael Lively, Delikado, Nathaniel Havok, and Buckson Gooch. When I left the ring that night, I knew I'd see him again at some point, but I have to say, I thought I'd do so when he had something resembling momentum.
“Far as I can see, he didn't care at all about his qualifying match last week. He showed up at the building, got his ass kicked, and left. Now, he's going up against a high-class group of guys who want nothing more than to get back in the tournament by any means necessary, and he can't just flip some sort of switch to get where he needs to be. That's just not the way this business works, and he'd do well to understand that.”
We hear the water in the off-screen showers shut off. After a few seconds, Smith zips up his gym bag and rises to his full 6'8” height.
A.C.: “I'm the most well-known quantity in this match. Every single week, you get me working my ass off to please the best fans in the world. Some weeks, like last Thursday, it's not enough. But just because I came up short to C.J. Gates in what may go down as one of the best matches of my entire wrestling career, doesn't mean I'm down and out.
“Like last year, I fell in my initial qualifying match, and my only recourse was a Second Chance match. Nobody gave me a chance in hell of advancing out of that, but I did. Now, I'm the guy people expect to win and get back in the Test for the Best bracket, and I look forward to living up to the weight the fans have put on my shoulders.
“Nobody is better prepared for this match than I am. Nobody knows what it takes to win this match more than I do. And when the dust settles Thursday night in Dallas, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, will stand a better chance of winning Test for the Best, than the Big Apple Asskicker, A.C. Smith.”
Smith grabs his bag and exits, waiting outside the locker room for Bobby and Stevie to dry off and change. We hear a door close off-screen, and a few seconds later, our scene fades to black.
