Post by bryanpayne on May 19, 2010 18:20:41 GMT -4
(Backstage- Post Overdrive)
“What are you playing at Bryan?” I looked up, my lips twisting upwards in a faint smirk marred by the twitch as the doc stitched up the cut on my arm. “Lester is not a guy you can play around with like Ruckus, Stu or ADL…”
I was sitting on a leather covered bench in the backstage area, the doc hunched over working careful stitches into my arm neatly suturing the wound closed. Before I’d gotten into this business the idea that the best men in the world with a needle worked for wrestling companies would never have occurred to me in a million years. But now? Yeah, I understood perfectly. Chairs, pipes, hammers, glass, staples, barbed wire, nails… a nail gun, a fifteen foot fall into a flaming dumpster, run over by a car… you name it; it had damn near been done to me. I don’t think that means I’ve seen all I’ll ever see, but it does mean that very little as the capacity to truly surprise me anymore. You might even say the last year has added a faintly jaded edge to my personality. So be it, I’m cool with that.
“I know what I’m doing.” I said, my eyes looking at Karen levelly as she walked over to the bench and rested a hand on my other arm, her fingers lightly brushing over the tattoo I got in memory of John Henry. I only had one other tat, on my right hip, a freakishly elaborate thing I’d gotten back before John helped get me parole and put me on the straight and narrow. Since I’d gone straight only four people had ever seen the Yakuza tattoo, and one of them was dead.
I watched Karen purse her full red lips and give a slightly indignant flip of her blonde hair. I realized, not for the first time, how stunning she was but it was a distant kind of realization kind of like the one you get when you’re looking back at old photos of a grown up relative and think… ‘well well.. you were quite the looker in your day Aunt Maggie!’ Yeah, like you never thought that… right.
“Do you?” Karen asked again as I hissed at the man who dug the needle in just a touch too much. “Hey.. careful there, that’s his arm not a side of roast fucking beef!”
“Karen… language,” I laughed softly. Yeah, that was ‘Team Payne’ alright, they can yell scream and berate me all they want but the minute someone else tries to do the same they’re all over them faster than I could ever dream of being. I never really understood people who say it’s hard to find good help, maybe it’s just hard to find good help if you treat them like shit. “… and yes Karen, contrary to popular belief, this isn’t my first rodeo.”
“But this isn’t just another match!”
I smiled a little bit and looked away from Karen for a moment. The simple earnest emotion in her reply striking a chord in me; there was only about three years difference in our ages, but I don’t think I’d ever been quite that young. Not growing up the way I had anyway.
“Yes Karen,” I said pausing to shift my head as the doc finished up leaning back and smearing an antiseptic cream over the stitches and nodded at me before wandering off, probably to check on others with pain pills and shots for those that needed them. “That’s exactly what it is. It’s another week, another opponent, another guy who thinks they’re something special.” I looked up at her, my lips seeming not to really have the drive to pull up the rest of the way into a full smile, they stayed in that little smirk position.
“He… he just cut you with a knife!” I watched her stamp her foot slightly, the sound of her heel against the concrete sharp and demanded almost as much attention as the plaintive sound of her voice and startled a passing tech who stumbled away from her looking a little wild eyed.
“And?” I arched an eyebrow, “not the first guy to do it… hell Karen I’ve been shot before, that’s why I selected my hip for the tattoo. He had a pocket knife Karen,” I laughed a little bit and shook my head, “I mean if he had really tried to hurt me with that thing he’s more likely to cut off his own fingers,” I paused to hold up a finger and my smirk turned into a smile for the first time, “which, would have been fairly amusing I’ll grant you. The guy was just trying to get into my head because he’s come across someone who isn’t impressed or intimidated by ‘Level-One.’ This is just another match Karen, with just another wrestler. I’m going to break down film work out like my life depended on it, and when the bell sounds at Mayhem I’m going to go out there and do what I do like nobody else on God’s Green Earth.”
“Why aren’t you taking this more seriously?! I,” she paused her lips held open in a silent ‘o’ for a moment and then curved upwards into a smile of her own, “I’m telling Georgie on you!”
“Go ahead.”
“W-what?” I watched her stumble, this time mentally over my casual acceptance of what she had believed to be an ultimate threat.
“Listen, if any of you know a way for me to train harder or better than I train each and every damn day… by all means enlighten me. If any of you know how accomplish what I have to this point as quickly as I have… enlighten me. If any of you know how to do all of it with one singles loss on their record…enlighten me.” I hopped down off the bench and took a couple of steps towards Karen. “Otherwise… let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving and I want to be in LA by this weekend.”
“What? What’s in LA?”
“Tim’s first fight,” I said with a slightly heavy sigh.
Karen fell into step behind me as I headed back to the locker room to collect my things so we could hit the road. It wasn’t her fault really and I knew that. Despite what I said to Karen, this wasn’t just another match… I wanted this one more than usual and on some level I realized why… this was what John had been getting me ready for all these years. A true national stage, spotlight, showtime… and here it was my first pay per view since signing with APW and I was going into it against Level One. You know the phrase ‘be careful what you wish for?’ Well, this guy was the ‘reason’ I came to APW, because the guy pulled a fast one on me, not once, but twice. Once at Survive and Conquer… when after he’d already escaped the cage he returned to the ring just to hold me up preventing me from advancing to the final three… and then he got lucky at the Number One Contender Experts event. To this day, even watching the replays I still say my shoulder was up before the three.
Now I had him, right where I wanted him. Foaming at the mouth to get a piece of me; that’s where I like all my opponents, it makes them stupid. They come at me all hot and bothered like that it makes it easy to pull a couple counters and get some arm and knee bars locked in to wear them down take away their strength… There aren’t many opponents who can keep up with me for speed and endurance over the course of a long match… the longer it goes the better my odds, that’s what ordering your whole life around perfect health and fitness translates to… and if I’m able to gas and slow them down a step early in a match, they’re in for a painful experience over the course of that match. The funny part about all of this was… I didn’t even care about a title shot. It wasn’t on my radar, but the idea of denying it to Level One?.... oh yeah, now THAT I wanted.
“Tim’s first fight?!” Karen said the clip clop of her heels as she ran up next to me and tugged my arm. I snarled a bit as the act pulled at the stitches something fierce and she squeaked jerking her hand back as she realized what she’d done, “Sorry… sorry… but since when is Tim getting fights?”
To catch all of you up, the reason Karen is so worried about this is several months back heading into my final PPV in SCW, I’d walked in to find Karen and my baby brother… let’s just call it in a compromising position. I hadn’t been in the least bit amused about it either as the whole week I’d been finding women’s underwear in the weirdest places… my car… my bathroom… my hotel bed… ugh.. it wasn’t a memory I wanted to keep reliving thanks.
“Since now I guess. Don’t worry, I got you a ticket too.” I smirked a little bit, “how is it going between you two anyway?”
“It isn’t… er.. not really.”
Figures. Damn kids.
I sighed just a little bit and nodded as we hit the locker room door and I shoved it open.
“Fair enough.”
“So,” Karen said while I started dumping my stuff into a duffel bag; I wasn’t a neat packer, I traveled light and just shoved stuff where it needed to go and took off, “Are you going to stop by and see your Mother while we’re that close to San Diego?”
I paused for a moment, my eyes drifting upwards to look at Karen from underneath by eyebrows.
“I haven’t decided yet…”
“You should Bryan,” I watched her nod her head a little bit, having to then pause to push her hair back out of her face as it all fell forward, “she refuses to learn English and she’s been kind of lonely since you moved them over here from Japan… now with Tim almost totally out of the house too…”
“God OK OK.. I get it Karen, we’ll go see my Mom ok?”
“Yay!” Karen laughed and clapped her hands twice. “I win!”
“Ugh…”
“You love me and you know it!”
“Just… go pull the car around ok?”
I watched her head out of the locker room and shook my head as a slow rueful smile touched my lips. That was why I kept her around. I was a bit jaded these days, and that energy, that youthful zest for life kept me from getting bitter… I knew what would happen if I got bitter. If that happened the next guy who cut me was going to get a cap in his ass. Huh… no… I couldn’t end my first pay per view by shooting APW’s headliner… however tempting it might be…
(*************)
(Georgie Washington High School, Southern California, Xtreme Wrestling Pride event, attendance 123)
Karen and Bryan made their way to their seats in the rather empty auditorium. It was built to seat about two thousand… fairly large high school, so the back rows were all cordoned off to give the illusion of there actually being more people here than their actually were… and there was no assigned seating, no variable rates. Just paid ten bucks at the door and walked in sat where you liked and waited for the show to start. It brought back a lot of memories for Bryan… of course coming up this way they in Japan the ring was filled with cinderblocks, light tubes and any other implement of pain and destruction someone could find a use for! It amazed him to this day he’d gotten out of there without major catastrophic injury. That’s not to say he didn’t end up in the hospital a few times… he had. But nothing that seriously put his career in jepordy. Part of that was the shape he was in, a lot of guys over the course of traveling and the nightly grind kind of let themselves go physically a bit… Bryan turned it up to a whole ‘nother level. That prevented a lot of the little nagging injuries from becoming anything more.. he just healed faster because of it.
To also be fair they weren’t really even seats, just oversized wooden steps with too much varnish and stains you just tried not to think about and were glad you wore jeans to something like this. They’d spent most of the last two hours backstage, funny how quick word got around a place like this that someone like Bryan was here. He’d been giving autographs to guys older than himself who were still trying to catch a break and answering questions too… oh the questions.
He reached up and adjusted his shades against his face as he paused a moment to glance over at Karen who was checking her make up with one hand while texting on a black berry with the other. Amazing… he’d have laid money she couldn’t chew bubble gum and WALK at the same time because he’d seen her do the stupidest things while just trying to talk and here she was doing two totally different thanks… wait.. how on earth did you carry on a text conversation… WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE SCREEN?! He grunted softly and the faint sound of button depressions stopped for a moment as she tilted her head over at him.
“I heard that.”
“I’m sure you did,” Bryan suppressed a little smile as he looked down to the ring. It had obviously seen better days, the ropes were frayed, the actual rope showing beneath worn coverings and sagging in the middle… wouldn’t be much spring in those for anything fancy. There also wasn’t much give on the mat, he’d guess they didn’t have the full set of springs underneath which basically meant all the falls where going to be that much rougher… not that they were soft in the best of times, but in this case there wasn’t going to be a whole lot of difference between getting DDT’d in the ring or out on the basketball court floor. All in all it made him a little nostalgic. He thought, not for the first time, about maybe pooling his money with some investors when he was finally done in the ring and maybe taking a small show like this under his wing, trying to build something his way… but shit, that was ten, fifteen, maybe twenty or more years down the line..
He blinked as the compact make up case clicked shut and he looked over to Karen’s freshly touched up face and chuckled. “I’m innocent I tell you,” was all he said and offered a peace offering by tilting the small bag of cheap popcorn they’d bought over in her direction.
“Mmmhmm.. sure you are,” she said as she stuck a hand down inside the bag and snaked out a few pieces of the waaay over salted stuff, “Bryan, no offense but you weren’t even born innocent.”
True enough. And while they were on the subject of popcorn who in their right minds would serve it at a wrestling event? Didn’t they know what was about to happen? It was like some kind of stage melodrama where everyone in the crowd was going to start hurling bags of popcorn at the bad guy… hey maybe that was the point… heh, that was kinda cool.
So, this was where Tim had decided to have his first fight… well, to be fair the kid had at least had the sense to let the trainer he’d saddled him with help him get booked for the first time… he did have to give him credit for that. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find Tim fighting in some underground blood sport thing trying to prove something to Bryan or anyone else… that he didn’t need ‘Big brother’ looking out for him anymore. And that was all fine and dandy until the day came the kid got arrested again for boosting another car. Yeah, if you’d missed that episode boy did you miss a lot….
“Welcome Ladies and Gentleman!” Came the announcer’s voice over the crappy sound system accompanied by a high pitched whine that had half the crowd covering their ears until the guy turned down the pick up volume on his mic. “Welcome to Xtreme Wrestling Pride. We have quite a show for you tonight, but first let me introduce a special guest this evening..”
“Oh fuck me… I told them not to do this..” sighed Bryan softly covering his face with his hand for a moment. He groaned and then spread his fingers apart just a little at the sound of a girlish giggle that sounded positively EVIL.
“I told them to do it!”
“Bitch…”
“HEY!”
“Bryan Payne of Action Packed Wrestling! Stand up and say hello Bryan..”
Bryan stood up with as much good grace as he could muster, smiling and waving to the people who cheered. They were wrestling fans so it was a good third to a half of the audience knew who he was even here. The other half other half of the crowd was mostly family or friends of those in the event and probably didn’t know who the hell he was… small favors. He retook his seat then and tossed a handful of popcorn at Karen who squeaked slapped at him a bit and then started picking popcorn out of her long hair with a look.
“I’m telling Georgie on you!”
“Please do.”
“And now folks for our first bout of the evening… introducing first…from San Diego California….” The announcer started. Karen and Bryan paused in mid motion, their eyes drawn to the horrible sight that awaited them, mouths sagging open and hung agape in a state of pure shock.
“Oh…” said Karen, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.
“…standing at five feet… nine inches…”
“….my… “ interjected Bryan smoothly…
“DR.. PAYNE!”
“God…” finished Karen her voice barely a whisper.
Standing at the top of the ramp was Tim himself, dressed in a white lab coat, green kitchen style gloves covering his hands and a light reflecting mirror on a band around his head. He looked like some kind of mad scientist… like Neil Patrick Harris from Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. It. Was. Awful.
“What was he thinking?” Karen said, turning her face as she erupted into a fit of laugher.
Bryan almost lost it, slapping a hand over his face so that he didn’t explode into a fit with her and was glad again for his shades that hid the small tears that were forming from trying to hold in a laugh that big. Tim looked ridiculous.
“He looks so… little!”
“He IS little, Karen,” Bryan laughed softly and lifted up his shades slightly so he would wipe at his eyes.
“Mighty Mouse in a lab coat..”
That was it, Bryan was done. He was truly glad this show wasn’t televised because he ducked down behind Karen so he could laugh hysterically without being seen to do it. Tim was a bit on the small side, 5’9” all of a hundred a sixty pounds soaking wet. Now Bryan wasn’t all that big for a wrestler, but at 6’1” and almost two twenty these days as he filled out with more muscle as he approached twenty two, he was a pretty big guy in the scheme of things. Especially since he was Japanese… well, half Japanese, he had his size from his American father who was almost 6’4” in his prime. It was funny to think about now, but as much flak as he took growing up for being mixed if he hadn’t been he probably would never have been able to make the transition into working for American promotions… they were just to fixated on massive bulks who could barely move. He thought it was a penis envy issue to be honest.
Bryan and Karen’s Herculean effort to compose themselves led them to completely miss the entrance of Tim’s opponent a guy by the interesting moniker of “Texas Pete” who proved to be a bit on the large size himself… though it wasn’t the good kind of size. He was one of those guys who’d had a brief taste on some of the bigger regional promotions, took a couple injuries got hopelessly out of shape during recovery and bounced all the way down to… this. All in all probably one of the worst guys in the world for any new guy to be fighting. Buy had a chip on his shoulder the size of well… Texas.
The match began pretty predictably with Tim ducking under a few clothesline and punch attempts landing several kicks and chops that were that main thing with his martial arts background. Then an attempted roundhouse kick was caught on the big man’s right shoulder allowing the man to get two arms locked around him and leverage him over into a suplex. He was stomped, punched several times, but as the man lifted him up to attempt a powerbomb a double chop to either side of his head staggered the big man and allowed Tim to leap frog over his head to land behind him and sweep his legs clear out from under him tumbling down hard onto his back. The kid quickly grabbed one of his arms, locked his legs around the guys head and extended his body locking an arm bar in with the leg lock and threatening to separate the guy’s shoulder with an MMA hold, the same shoulder the guy had originally injured to take him out of action… clearly it had never fully healed, another reason he had fallen so far so fast, and he tapped within moments.
Bryan wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it. On the one hand he couldn’t deny being proud of the kid… on the other the confessed part of him had been silently hoping he’d get roughed up just enough to decide to go to school full time. This wasn’t likely to dampen his ardor for it… just wet his appetite. He knew, he’d been standing exactly where Tim was once…. Though to fair instead of his hands he’d been holding the two broke halves of a baseball bat he’d broken over a guy’s back… huh… Bryan thought, maybe it was a good thing he came up in Japan after all… worked out some of that pent up aggression…
(**************)
Bryan took a tightly controlled breath as he crossed the street his legs pumping up and down like pistons as he jogged along the sidewalk beside neatly manicured suburban lawns. He could feel drops of sweat rolling down the middle of his back and his face tickling faintly but he stubbornly refused to wipe it away, he let it tickle, got used to ignoring the sensation. There were a lot of feelings you had to get used to ignoring in his line of work. Pain, doubt, ego, pride, anger, fear… you had to push it all aside and concentrate only on the other guy on what he was doing of knowing what he was going to do before he did it.
In some ways he had to crawl inside his opponent’s head. He’d reviewed hours and hours of promos and matches, One’s wins his losses his reactions to both learning how he counters moves what he looks like when he gets gassed… what he looks like when he’s faking to set someone up. It was all about homework, being the smarter better prepared wrestler. Bryan would like to say it was pure physical talent that had gotten him to where he was, that whenever he stepped in the ring with someone he was automatically the most talented… but he knew that wasn’t the case. What was true is that he worked harder than anyone to be the sneakiest little bastard in the business. The thought brought a funny little smirk across Bryan’s lips diverting the falling drops of sweat that were running down his face.
Crawling into a guy like Level One’s head wasn’t easy. It was physiologically punishing a stress filled journey that brought back some of his worst memories and impulses threatening to pull him right back down into the oblivion he so recently clawed his way out of. So he took out that stress, an extra five mile run… extra sets in the weight room whatever it was he just *did* more to put it behind him to reground himself. Remind himself of who he was what he did and the difference between himself and a guy like One. It wasn’t that they were all that different in their impulses, it was that Bryan chose every day to take a higher path, to become a better person a better man. Once when he was a kid he’d have called that a weakness… an unwillingness to do what was required to be successful. But now, a little older, he knew better. It was a source of strength, a core of principal that anchored you, shielded you against the worst excesses of others and allowed you to drag up extra reserves of energy and passion… because you weren’t just fighting for yourself, just out of greed or a desire to win, you were also fighting because every breath you took stood for something. YOU stood for something.
Bryan Payne stood for the fact that if you worked hard enough, if you wanted it bad enough, if you were willing to sacrifice everything to get it… you could do it. It was the pillar his life was built around. At sixteen he’d moved out of his Mother’s house and into a training facility run by John Henry, where that man had broken the cocky little punk who walked in the door on probation for aggravated assault… and remade him, first physically and then the confidence that had to be shattered to make him a different person. Part of him was still that same kid, he knew that, no one could ever take his past away from him… dragging guys who owed money to bad people into back rooms and beating the living shit out of them breaking bones, fingers… whatever it took until they felt like paying up. It wasn’t the kind of story that he advertised, but he wasn’t ashamed of it anymore. It gave him a core of a different kind of strength… most people lived their entire lives without every knowing what they were capable of in situations he knew. And he knew what he never wanted to become again.
He winced a bit, picking at the soaked shirt he was wearing, the cotton material having molded to his skin with pure moisture as it ran out of him in salty rivulets. Always stronger… always faster… push it. He grit his teeth together into a snarl as he picked his feet up a little higher, the weights attached around his ankles making his calves, and thighs burn all the more. He embraced the pain, lived in it, used it to drive him further how much could he take? How much more could he push it? There was no tomorrow, everything had to be done today.
His trip to his mother’s had been about what he’d expected. She’d sat him down and grilled him for hours in Japanese about what he’d been up to, if he was eating right, complaining that there wasn’t enough meat on his bones, asking about Georgie… confused about Karen, Tim… and wanting to talk about John’s death. He’d gone through a few boxes in the attic, looking through old pictures of him and John from several years ago… the celebration after his first win, his first invite to tour with one of the Japanese promotions… his signing in the States… the going away party some of his friends had thrown him before he left for the US. More recent ones from his Vegas apartment he’d closed up when he’d left SCW… He and John holding up his first title, the DEW Silverweight belt… which technically he still held since the company had gone under without him losing him. But that was history, bitter sweat history forever tinged now with the bite of mourning for his dead friend… a man who’d been like a father to him.
He put those into this work out too. The little houses outside San Diego passing by one after another as the sky lightened in the distance. The occasional car door slamming shut indicating people with long commutes in this predawn hour. The words of encouragement the screaming matches in his early days, the bitter taste of his struggles early in his career… the stretch where it seemed like he was destined never to lose again. The crazy ride from no name to a recognized name… if it was wrestling and they didn’t know Bryan Payne, they’d been living under a rock for the last year. All of it had to go to the side, he couldn’t think on it. It was all part of who made him who he was, made it possible for him to do what he did, but he couldn’t let any one thing become defining… all encompassing, they were facets not the whole. He had to remain the guy that it was impossible to pin down, the guy who had no weakness, the only way to beat him wasn’t by getting into his head because that was impossible… you had to dig deep and over the course of a whole match you had to batter him down until he just couldn’t get back up. And that was something he trained every day to make almost impossible to do in and of itself.
“Alright Bryan,” he panted softly… “one more mile...”
(*******)
(The camera rose up to display the State of Sin logo bouncing around the screen while “The Enemy” played in the background. The set remained largely unchanged from previous webisodes. The single couch flanked by two chairs, the coffee table upon which sat a conspicuous amounts of Sobe, the State of Sin’s official sponsor. In one of the chairs sat Bryan himself dressed in jeans a white t-shirt and a navy blue blazer which hung open and his shades were pressed tightly against his face; in the other chair sat Karen sipping on a cranberry Snapple and looking over what appeared to be a script. As the music faded out the announcers voice kicked in, a big booming overly enhanced thing that roared out at the viewers.)
Announcer: Hello boys and girls, welcome back to the half hour of webisivison that leaves you wanting more. That’s right, the State of Sin is back live on-line with its very first APW edition. So from all your friends at Defiance Reborn we’d like to say to all the haters out there once again… please please fuck off!
(Karen could be seen wincing at the f-bomb and looked over to Bryan as the last bit of the music cut out.)
Payne: You think so… really? Huh.. well we’ll as them and see what they have to say.. anyway folks welcome back to the State of Sin, I’m your host Bryan Payne and with me tonight is our Producer and new co-host of the show… Karen. Now many of you know Karen as the mojo behind Team Payne she’s the woman of many hats.. makes sure little old me gets to all my appearances on time, produces this lovely show here and anywhere there’s something that needs to be done from a merchandising standpoint she’s always right there taking care of it… in fact she’d designed all my t-shirts since I came to the States… logos and all so… recognize peoples… recognize.
Karen: Thanks Bryan.
(Karen could be seen blushing slightly as she hid her face behind the Snapple bottle for a moment.)
Payne: My pleasure. Now for those of you APW fans out there who might be tuning into the show for the very first time… let me give you a quick run down on what we do here. The State of Sin is basically my platform to say whatever I want about whomever I want whenever I want. I know…. What idiot had THAT bright idea… oh yeah.. it was me! I’ve produced these for pay per view events, Experts shows and then occasionally, like today.. because I felt like it!
Karen: He means because I made him get out of the gym and show up for the shoot.
Payne: Hey! No fair being honest… I’m the brutally honest one on the show… my show!
Karen: Haha.. Ok ok..
Payne: Well alright. Now a lot of guys take questions from reporters and journalists and paid interviewers…. I don’t do that. No, here on the State of Sin, I take questions directly from you the viewer and the fan by email and/or twitter right here live on the show. Why do I do that? Because I’m the Revelation Bryan Payne, I do pretty much whatever I want… you may have noticed.
Karen: And by the way people two special polls and questions we have up right now are number One… should we remove the f-bomb from the top of the show… I hate it… and number two we’re renaming the show to fit better now that we’re no longer shooting from Las Vegas.
Payne: What she said. Anyway, without further ado, let’s get right to your questions shall we? Karen… hit me with the first one!
(Karen cleared her throat slightly as she angled a lap top monitor held on the far arm of her chair to get a better look at the screen.)
Karen: Ok Bryan we’ll just jump right in here. Crixxxy wants to know why you screwed Sally Talford out of her opportunity to defeat Level One two weeks ago?
Payne: Wow.. you people like to get started early don’t you? Ok ok.. look, events happened. I came out there, I admit, to bait Lester and by God to my delight it worked. The guy was more focused on me than his match and low and behold he almost wound up losing the damn thing. I mean I suppose some of you think I should have just walked over and slapped Sally or something to deliberately give Level One a loss… and well I’ll admit the thought did cross my mind. Not that Sally did anything to deserve a slap from me… but the idea of One chewing on that for three weeks leading up to Mayhem does leave a special glow near and dear to my heart.
(Bryan laughed a little bit and pushed his shades up high on his forehead until they shoved his hair back a bit out of his face.)
Payne: The guy slugged me.. so I answered back with the chair he hit me with several weeks ago. Fact is the guy needs to learn that now that Bryan Payne is here in APW there are consequences for each and every thing he does. I’m not a yes man, and I’m not a bend over and kiss One’s ass kind of guy. The fact is I think the biggest problem is that for too long people have been giving this guy TOO MUCH respect. He’s a good wrestler and a great competitor… has been for several years, but so what? The Experts is littered with great competitors… some of which seem to have a habit of handing One his ass. So you ask why I did it… I did it quite simply to send Level One a message. To put him on notice that as of that moment, I’m all over him. And I’m going to be all over him until he taps out to the Payne Killer at Mayhem.
Karen: Well, I think that answers Crixxy’s question. Let’s move on to… WhataboutBob240. Hmmm… Bob wants to know how your training schedule is coping without John Henry.
(Bryan paused for a moment looking away from the camera and then looked back with a nod and a slightly sad smile forming around his mouth.)
Payne: Well Bob, I’ll admit at first it wasn’t easy getting back into full work out mode without him there. But then I decided that the best way I could honor what John stood for and what he did for me personally was to throw myself back into the routine that we crafted together… the one that is responsible for my success. But, if you’re interested in honoring “The Hammer’s” memory as much as I am Bob you’ll check out the John Henry Foundation… a charity that’s been set up in his name by myself and several of his other students over the years, to give opportunities to at risk inner city kids like most of us were. We go around the world and we find kids with talent for music, sports, art… whatever it is, talent that might not have a chance to be developed otherwise and we make it happen, we give them the chance the best teachers.. to develop it to the fullest. So yeah check it out.
(Bryan reached over to the coffee table then and picked up one of the bottles of Sobe breaking it open and taking a long drink with the label suspiciously facing the camera.)
Announcer: SOBE YOURSELF!
(Bryan coughed several times looking up into the air as if he could somehow see the announcer guy that way..)
Payne: When the hell did we start doing that?
Karen: Oh new contract clause in the renegotiation…
Payne: Uh huh…
Karen: Sorry! Anyway… we’ve got a question here from MollyWilling who wants to know why we haven’t heard much about you and Georgie since the scandal broke about the relationship you’d been keeping secret?
(Bryan laughed a little bit and nodded.)
Payne: Ok ok look… we did have a press conference on that right? I mean we’re dating, taking it slow like we said then. We were trying to keep our private lives private that was our mistake I guess in thinking that someone like Ornery Hillman would respect that. But fact of the matter is I’m not there anymore I’m here… in APW… and she’s not. So of course you’re not going to see us cutting up back stage DR style like before… no we’re not going to give Jeff and Bigg’s homes the same treatment we gave Dougs… why? Well for starters I’d hate to interrupt the pair of them like I did Karen and Tim..
Karen: BRYAN!
Payne: I mean talk about a full moon in Mexico that night!
Karen: ohmygod
Payne: But also because she’s got a job too, and appearance dates just like I do.. coupled with the fact that now I’m moving around the country all the time. So to answer your question Molly.. yes all is fine in that department we just don’t get to see each other quite as often as we used to as a result of my leaving SCW.
Karen: Bryan you’re an asshole.
Payne: I know this. And so do they… they love me anyway.
(He flashed a wink to the camera.)
Payne: But speaking of Georgie now it’s time for one of the most popular segments of the show…. That’s right.. the Rebel Child Rant!
(The camera flickered a bit and then showed Georgie Nickles holding up a menu from a well known restaurant chain in one hand, and a low calorie tv dinner box in the other.)
Rebel Child: What the hell? Weren’t low calorie dinners and menu items supposed to help Americans lose weight so their hearts wouldn’t explode in their chests? So they accomplish this by packing enough salt into these meals to make the Dead Sea look just a mite bitter? I mean look at this shit? According to this you’d have to eat 50… 50! bushels of broccoli to cancel out the effect this much sodium would have in your body.. and it’s on a HEART HEATHY MENU!!
Why don’t they just call it the low calorie heart attack on a plate option because it would be more accurate. You want my advise people? You want to lose weight don’t eat this shit, get up off your ass put down the Nintendo and go for a run, that’s what I do and I eat like a total pig. The fact is if you exercise and work out regularly you don’t need to obsess over every single calorie because you’re going to be a healthy person. So don’t give these corporate assholes yet another way to needle at you to give you what they think you want while totally defeating the purpose by loading it with other crap that’s just as bad if not worse for you than what the took out to begin with!
(The camera jolted a bit and then it was back to the studio.)
Payne: Well… that was Georgie Nickels people… ahem.
Karen: I think that’s a somewhat sensitive subject for her…
Payne (sighing softly): They all are…
Karen: OK. Next question comes from Joe4Sure. Joe wants to know when we can expect to see Bryan Payne wearing APW gold?
(Bryan paused running his tongue along the inside of his mouth.)
Payne: Well if you listen to Level One, which I don’t recommend by the way, apparently after I beat him I’ll be owed a title shot. As for me? I’m happy right now just kicking ass and taking names. That’s what I’m here for. So I have my eyes set on the APW Title?.... Eventually sure I do. I’ve said all along if you don’t care about being the best you’ve already got one foot out the door in this business. But at this point I don’t feel like I have anything to prove by going out and agitating for title shots… I’m just going to let my performance each and every week take care of that for me and when management sees enough of what I can do… what the fans love to watch me do.. well then you’ll get to see Bryan Payne with gold around his waist once again.
Karen: Nice… oh wait… I get to announce the next segment?
Payne: Well… that is the plan unless you don’t want to?
Karen: No no! I do.. this is my favorite part of the show! And now folks it’s time for my favorite part of the show…
Payne: You just said that…
Karen: Shut up you said I could do this! Ahem.. time for my favorite part of the show… roving reporter AC THUNDER!
(The camera shot went to a split screen with Bryan on one side and a microphone wielding AC Thunder standing there adjusting his earpiece while what appeared to be large zoo animals moved back and forth making noise in the background.)
AC: Heeelllooo Bryan, Karen. Yes it’s me AC here.
Payne: Uh AC… are you at a zoo?
AC: Oh most definitely, you see I came here on a tip. I’ve been talking with Wanda, she’s the Polar Bear here at the Toronto Zoo and she had some interesting things to tell me about Level One.
Payne: I really don’t see how this is revelant…
AC: But you will Bryan! You will. You see according to Miss… er… Bear..
Payne: Nice save..
AC: Thanks. According to Miss Bear Level One’s mother really was an Eskimo raped polar bear.
Payne: that was a joke AC.. I was pissed off.
AC: But it’s true! I have eye witness testimony from three seals and an emu. It’s apparently how the guy got so damn big. He really is a Yeti.
Payne: Fascinating…
AC: Isn’t it just.
Payne: I think that’s all we have time for from AC today…
AC: But I’m not finished!
Payne: Yeah buddy… you are..
(The screen flipped back to just the studio where Bryan was rubbing the sides of his head and muttering softly to himself.)
Payne: Ugh… um, anyway that was interesting. Why don’t we get back to the questions… Karen?
Karen: Hmm? Oh right. Next question.. Ok Bryan, Gamblingman315 wants to know your picks for Mayhem now that you’ve been in APW for several weeks. He points out that you had an over 70% success rate over your career with these things… though… sadly.. less than 20% in main events… ouch.
Payne: Wow, I think somebody has been paying a little too close attention. But, Ok Gamblingman, I’ll help you out. We’ll go match by match through the card and I’ll give you my thoughts on each one… but you have to write back to the show and if you won a bundle buy Karen dinner.
Karen: Wait what…?
Payne: First match is the Overdrive Title match it’s going to feature champion Hellfire taking on Mark Moment. Hellfire has proven to be a fairly resilient champion so far getting a lot of accolades all around and has great support from a quality manager. That gives him in edge in this match I think, coupled with the fact that he doesn’t have to win this match… just not lose… Mark has his work cut out for him as he’s going up against a guy full of confidence. So Gambler I’d put your money on the champ in this one.
(Bryan glanced down at the card, written on a small index card and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.)
Payne: The second match is going to be Ellie vs Alyssa. To be honest I haven’t see much of them in the ring so I really couldn’t tell you who might be better, but I do know that Ellie is the boss’s girl and that puts Alyssa in a hell of a mess trying to beat her. Especially since beating her might be the worst possible thing she could do. Now we know since they’ve publicly said that Ellie isn’t getting any between the sheets… she must be getting SOMETHING out of this relationship, so while Biggs can’t get it up in the bedroom he damn sure must be planning on coming through for her elsewhere. I’m betting it’s going to be by helping her get a big win at Mayhem. The third match is a debut match… and well.. I don’t make picks on debut matches too many variables too much research involved that in no way affects me yet.
(Bryan casually tosses that index card over his shoulder and lifts up the next one.)
Payne: Ahhh.. Falls Count Anywhere Jimmy Jazz vs Crazy Joe. Now Jazz has been pretty vocal this last couple weeks calling out everyone from Management to Level One… pssst… Jazz that’s my job hush. So we know he doesn’t lack for confidence… and I for one have been impressed by what we’ve seen so far from Joe in the ring. He’s a tough guy and in a match that could end up as a street fight before the night’s out… I’m giving the edge to the brawler. It’s going to be a Crazy night for Joe, with his first Pay Per View victory in APW.
Payne: Six Man Tag Match follows that up featuring everyone’s favorite punching bags the Red Shield Mafia heading out against Shawn Kilgore and the Sports Nutz. This is one of the matches I circled on this card, I can’t wait to see this one. I’ve been impressed by Kilgore he has a lot of resilience in the ring and his motor never stops running. This match is going to come down to his leadership and if he’s able to overcome the lock step that the RSM walks in. Personally? I think he’s going to do it. Expect a physical match with no end of post match shenanigans but ultimately a Kilgore victory.
Payne: Up next it’s the Extreme Championship featuring champion Michael Lively against Jim Steel. I don’t really expect this one to be that close, I think Lovely is a step ahead of Steel overall and I think it’s going to show in this match. Steel is going to give this his best effort and maybe surprise some people in this one, but ultimately I just don’t see him bringing enough to the table to take Lively out.
Payne: Then we’ve to what I like to call the Import Feud. Leila vs Sally. The word is these two have been at each other’s throats for a long time and it’s outlived the promotion they previously worked for and spilled over here in APW. Fair enough, should make for an interesting match. Sally seems poised to enter a title picture soon I think. An impressive performance against Level One, she got the tag in our tag match… momentum is definitely on her side. The only thing that stops her in this Mayhem effort is some kind of sabotage. That certainly might happen, but you can’t make picks based solely on expecting someone to try pulling a fast one. That said, Talford for the win in this one.
Payne: APW Heavyweight Title match.. challenge John Green stepping up to take on Pence in his very first title defense. Well, I made my opinion on this match clear a few weeks ago and I don’t really think much has changed. Pence has too large of a chip on his shoulder to sleep on his first title defense… if he were to lose it this quick he might never get another chance for a long long time and it would smash his victory at Rasstlemania down to the fluke Level One claims it is. I expect this one to get physical early and Green to push Pence hard… ultimately though Green is going to run out of bullets first. Pence retains.
Karen: So you’re not picking a single title change at this pay per view?
(Bryan looked over to Karen and shook his head just a little bit.)
Payne: I just don’t see it in this case. The champs are all looking in good positions heading into these match ups I just don’t see any of these challengers having enough momentum to wrest the gold away from them.
Karen: Huh.. well if you get that wrong I’m not going to let you hear the end of it. Now, give the people what they tuned in for.
Payne: Yes Ma’am! What she’s referring to folks is the fact that I did of course skip my match with Level One. If this caused any of you distress… sorry! But it’s the note I like to end the State of Sin on. Now remember… you’re all invited to send in recommendations to the show on the new name and we’ll review those suggestions next time along with possible new segments. Oh yes, we’re getting high tech around here!
(Bryan finally removed his shades from the top of his head and tossed them casually onto the coffee table before he settled back into his chair with his fingers laced across his chest. He smiled just a little bit, tugging at the corners of his mouth, as the camera zoomed in looking totally relaxed.)
Payne: “You know. A lot of guys right now would be amped up, sweating at the prospect of going into Mayhem to face a former True Expert on his home turf. They’d be concerned about facing a man who recently joined the Experts Hall of Fame, a former APW Champion, a man who’s widely regarded as one of the top five wrestlers in the world. But funnily enough the closer Mayhem gets I find the calmer I’m getting, and frankly I had a hard time figuring out why.”
(He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders as he settled his head back against the chair’s stuffed back.)
“Now, it’s not because I don’t expect a tough physical match up… because I do. It’s not because I don’t expect whatever the outcome for Level One to try and attack me… because I do. It’s not even because I can’t imagine a scenario in which Level One could possibly eek out a victory over The Revelation… because I’m not that blind. It’s simply because it’s just another match… another big match in a long line of big matches that I’ve been a part of. Wars I’ve had with men as talented as any out there even if some of them don’t have the name recognition that someone like Lester has. I mean when you come right down to it, I didn’t come here to hunt a title, I didn’t sign here for the money or for more exposure on international television… no I came here for one reason and one reason only…. To expose Level One. And now, I’m going to get that opportunity.”
“For too long people have treated this guy like he walks on water. In the build up to matches with him they trip over themselves saying things like ‘as great as he is I’m still going to win!’ Spending as much time kissing his ass and inflating his already arena sized ego to every great heights. The fact of the matter is he’s just another guy. Another talented guy in a locker room full of them, in an organization like the Experts that stuffed full of guys some of whom can beat him on any night on the week. He’s been given too much respect for too long, so much, that he’s lost something. He now thinks he’s entitled to something, that if the title isn’t around his waist that he’s being somehow slighted by the company he works for, that his true due isn’t being paid to him.”
“That’s pretty much bullshit folks. He lost, and he needs to get over it. If he is as good as he thinks he is that never would have happened to begin with, and if he really deserved to still be champion he would have won and would still be. If he was as dominant a force as he claims to be…. He wouldn’t let me under his skin to the point he tried to take a knife to me live on Overdrive in front of all you people. I’m calm, because Level One is something that he hasn’t been in a long long time. He’s scared… desperate.”
“He’s desperate to prove that he’s worthy of all the respect that he’s been given… because now that he’s fallen from grace and there’s someone here willing to stand up and boldly point out all of his flaws… that he’s in danger of losing the mystique that has one his as many matches as his in ring abilities. See, a lot of his opponents defeat themselves before they ever step into the ring with him. What happens when those people spend all that time talking about how great he is… they convince themselves of it, then they look in the mirror and they listen to copies of his promos on youtube talking about them… and somewhere in the back of their mind a little voice says… ‘I can’t win…’ I know this, because I’ve done it to people too. I’m calm because you can’t bullshit a bullshitter.”
“Lester is a guy who believes that if he talks long winded enough about his opponents that he will be victorious because his endless stream of personal abuse is going to get under their skin, psyche them out, so that when they step into the ring with him… well hell they’ve already beaten themselves. But you see One, I’m not buying what you’re selling, I never really have. You’re just another guy trying to hold onto the spot light that for the first time in your APW career you really have to share. Because… APW isn’t Level One’s house anymore… he’s not a champion. He’s just another guy on the roster, APW is the Heavyweight Champion’s house, and you’re just an undercard attraction! How does that taste One? You like it? Like I said before get used to it. I’m calm because Level One sees me as his shot at regaining his former glory.”
“You heard it yourself last week folks, out of the horses mouth so to speak, this guy actually thinks that by beating Bryan Payne it’s going to make him worthy to get a title rematch with Pence. Oh and let’s not forget it’s a title he doesn’t seem to think he ever really lost. Fair enough. Well One there’s a big problem with that, and that problem is… you’re not going to beat Bryan Payne at Mayhem. You’re going to draw up a great big pile of eating the mat followed by a tapping wildly as you scream bloody murder. And if you refuse to tap? If your pride and ego are so big that they just won’t let you? I still win, because I get to maintain the Payne Killer longer… and longer until I can listen closely and hear the tendons and cartilage snap and tear in that knee… until I see the agony in your eyes as you see the price your actions and your mouth have brought you to. I’m calm because One’s Revelation is consequences.”
“It’s the consequences of a career built on bulling and threats. On taking the short cuts for the last couple years… like joining the posers the Career Killers for instance. I mean honestly the only thing those guys have going for them other than Level One is the fact that they enjoy ganging up on people. You break then down one at a time and, to be blunt, there’s not a lot there after Fallen Angel and One… just a couple hangers on strutting around like they matter. And they do, but only because they’ve attached themselves to Angel’s strings. Is that what it came down to for you Lester? Being willing to become Fallen Angel’s latest pet project because you figured you couldn’t do it on your own in the big bad TFWF?... Or… maybe you were just too chicken shit to risk becoming a target yourself. I’d buy that.”
“You picked a fight with perhaps the only guy on this roster One who thinks you’ve been overhyped. That you’re not as good as people say you are. That you are a shell of what you could, should, and used to be. You picked a fight with the one guy who is willing to take this fight as dirty as you want to make it and match you blow for blow in the fucking gutter if that’s what it takes. I’ll fight you anywhere in any match, anytime. If you want to take it to the parkinglot, down to the corner bar, I’m there asshole. And trust me on this you do not want to test and push things too far because you do not want to see how far I’m willing to go… because frankly Lester your imagination isn’t as good as mine. I come from a people who get off on freaky shit. I’m calm because I’m getting what I want.”
“One picked this fight with me. Not when I joined APW but months ago at Survive and Conquer when he stuck his nose back in after qualifying for the final three just to help eliminate me. My being here now… my resolution to destroy the myth of Level One is grounded on that. Fact is Lester, yeah, you proved you were afraid of Bryan Payne then, and ever since I’ve signed here your every action has just proved it. I’m in your head, making a home, and come Mayhem the rent is due… and it’s coming out of your hide. Plain and simple. You’ve gone to war with my former stable mate and tag partner AC Thunder… and god help you, the guy who couldn’t win a singles match to save his life for months came within a hair’s breath of eliminating you in the Extreme Tournament last year… That amuses me. Especially after you talked it up like because you beat him it somehow gave you a leg up. I’ve beaten AC in the ring too Lester… it’s not really a great talking point for you right now. But if you want to talk about AC and Georgie One, let’s talk about this. Two people who have been in the ring with you a lot… who are my friends… who have no problem showing me every trick you used in the ring with them. Fact is One, I know you better than perhaps anyone you’ve stepped into the ring with for the first time at a pay per view ever has. Better than you realize I think. I’m calm because Lester is a book that I’ve already read the last chapter of.”
“And how does this story end people? How does the Legacy of Payne vs the First Level Boss end? It ends in the middle of the ring with Lester Only laying in the middle of the ring totally spent and thousands of screaming cheering fans screaming for me to hurt you some more. Because no matter how much you’ve accomplished here Lester the fans don’t respect you… because you’ve squandered that. They don’t respect cheap shots and short cuts. They don’t respect blindside attacks on guys who just finished a match, they don’t respect a guy who brings a little girl knife to cut me with. Tell you what you can bring your knife that is appropriate to your culture… but want to know a secret? Mine’s bigger One, I’ll bring the Samurai sword… how about that? That’s the way this story ends people. No matter what Lester brings I will have an answer, I will push this match to the ragged edge. He will not keep me down, he will not pin me in this match. I will beat and claw and fight I will wear him down like water wears down even a mountain. If it takes five minutes or two hours I will have my hand raised in victory at Mayhem, because that’s just the beginning of this story. The rest comes afterwards when I beat you again and again and again, when I strip away every shred of self respect you have left until you can’t stand the sight of your own reflection Lester. I’m calm because Lester picked the fight, but the last chapter is Revelation.”
“Feel the Payne One, feel it and weep, because at Mayhem the fall of Lester Only begins.”
Karen (clearing her throat as the camera shifts to her): Well, that's all the time we have on the State of Sin tonight folks. Be sure to tune in next time and send in your questions!
(The State of Sin logo reappears bouncing across the screen playing "The Enemy" once more as the picture fades to black)
“What are you playing at Bryan?” I looked up, my lips twisting upwards in a faint smirk marred by the twitch as the doc stitched up the cut on my arm. “Lester is not a guy you can play around with like Ruckus, Stu or ADL…”
I was sitting on a leather covered bench in the backstage area, the doc hunched over working careful stitches into my arm neatly suturing the wound closed. Before I’d gotten into this business the idea that the best men in the world with a needle worked for wrestling companies would never have occurred to me in a million years. But now? Yeah, I understood perfectly. Chairs, pipes, hammers, glass, staples, barbed wire, nails… a nail gun, a fifteen foot fall into a flaming dumpster, run over by a car… you name it; it had damn near been done to me. I don’t think that means I’ve seen all I’ll ever see, but it does mean that very little as the capacity to truly surprise me anymore. You might even say the last year has added a faintly jaded edge to my personality. So be it, I’m cool with that.
“I know what I’m doing.” I said, my eyes looking at Karen levelly as she walked over to the bench and rested a hand on my other arm, her fingers lightly brushing over the tattoo I got in memory of John Henry. I only had one other tat, on my right hip, a freakishly elaborate thing I’d gotten back before John helped get me parole and put me on the straight and narrow. Since I’d gone straight only four people had ever seen the Yakuza tattoo, and one of them was dead.
I watched Karen purse her full red lips and give a slightly indignant flip of her blonde hair. I realized, not for the first time, how stunning she was but it was a distant kind of realization kind of like the one you get when you’re looking back at old photos of a grown up relative and think… ‘well well.. you were quite the looker in your day Aunt Maggie!’ Yeah, like you never thought that… right.
“Do you?” Karen asked again as I hissed at the man who dug the needle in just a touch too much. “Hey.. careful there, that’s his arm not a side of roast fucking beef!”
“Karen… language,” I laughed softly. Yeah, that was ‘Team Payne’ alright, they can yell scream and berate me all they want but the minute someone else tries to do the same they’re all over them faster than I could ever dream of being. I never really understood people who say it’s hard to find good help, maybe it’s just hard to find good help if you treat them like shit. “… and yes Karen, contrary to popular belief, this isn’t my first rodeo.”
“But this isn’t just another match!”
I smiled a little bit and looked away from Karen for a moment. The simple earnest emotion in her reply striking a chord in me; there was only about three years difference in our ages, but I don’t think I’d ever been quite that young. Not growing up the way I had anyway.
“Yes Karen,” I said pausing to shift my head as the doc finished up leaning back and smearing an antiseptic cream over the stitches and nodded at me before wandering off, probably to check on others with pain pills and shots for those that needed them. “That’s exactly what it is. It’s another week, another opponent, another guy who thinks they’re something special.” I looked up at her, my lips seeming not to really have the drive to pull up the rest of the way into a full smile, they stayed in that little smirk position.
“He… he just cut you with a knife!” I watched her stamp her foot slightly, the sound of her heel against the concrete sharp and demanded almost as much attention as the plaintive sound of her voice and startled a passing tech who stumbled away from her looking a little wild eyed.
“And?” I arched an eyebrow, “not the first guy to do it… hell Karen I’ve been shot before, that’s why I selected my hip for the tattoo. He had a pocket knife Karen,” I laughed a little bit and shook my head, “I mean if he had really tried to hurt me with that thing he’s more likely to cut off his own fingers,” I paused to hold up a finger and my smirk turned into a smile for the first time, “which, would have been fairly amusing I’ll grant you. The guy was just trying to get into my head because he’s come across someone who isn’t impressed or intimidated by ‘Level-One.’ This is just another match Karen, with just another wrestler. I’m going to break down film work out like my life depended on it, and when the bell sounds at Mayhem I’m going to go out there and do what I do like nobody else on God’s Green Earth.”
“Why aren’t you taking this more seriously?! I,” she paused her lips held open in a silent ‘o’ for a moment and then curved upwards into a smile of her own, “I’m telling Georgie on you!”
“Go ahead.”
“W-what?” I watched her stumble, this time mentally over my casual acceptance of what she had believed to be an ultimate threat.
“Listen, if any of you know a way for me to train harder or better than I train each and every damn day… by all means enlighten me. If any of you know how accomplish what I have to this point as quickly as I have… enlighten me. If any of you know how to do all of it with one singles loss on their record…enlighten me.” I hopped down off the bench and took a couple of steps towards Karen. “Otherwise… let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving and I want to be in LA by this weekend.”
“What? What’s in LA?”
“Tim’s first fight,” I said with a slightly heavy sigh.
Karen fell into step behind me as I headed back to the locker room to collect my things so we could hit the road. It wasn’t her fault really and I knew that. Despite what I said to Karen, this wasn’t just another match… I wanted this one more than usual and on some level I realized why… this was what John had been getting me ready for all these years. A true national stage, spotlight, showtime… and here it was my first pay per view since signing with APW and I was going into it against Level One. You know the phrase ‘be careful what you wish for?’ Well, this guy was the ‘reason’ I came to APW, because the guy pulled a fast one on me, not once, but twice. Once at Survive and Conquer… when after he’d already escaped the cage he returned to the ring just to hold me up preventing me from advancing to the final three… and then he got lucky at the Number One Contender Experts event. To this day, even watching the replays I still say my shoulder was up before the three.
Now I had him, right where I wanted him. Foaming at the mouth to get a piece of me; that’s where I like all my opponents, it makes them stupid. They come at me all hot and bothered like that it makes it easy to pull a couple counters and get some arm and knee bars locked in to wear them down take away their strength… There aren’t many opponents who can keep up with me for speed and endurance over the course of a long match… the longer it goes the better my odds, that’s what ordering your whole life around perfect health and fitness translates to… and if I’m able to gas and slow them down a step early in a match, they’re in for a painful experience over the course of that match. The funny part about all of this was… I didn’t even care about a title shot. It wasn’t on my radar, but the idea of denying it to Level One?.... oh yeah, now THAT I wanted.
“Tim’s first fight?!” Karen said the clip clop of her heels as she ran up next to me and tugged my arm. I snarled a bit as the act pulled at the stitches something fierce and she squeaked jerking her hand back as she realized what she’d done, “Sorry… sorry… but since when is Tim getting fights?”
To catch all of you up, the reason Karen is so worried about this is several months back heading into my final PPV in SCW, I’d walked in to find Karen and my baby brother… let’s just call it in a compromising position. I hadn’t been in the least bit amused about it either as the whole week I’d been finding women’s underwear in the weirdest places… my car… my bathroom… my hotel bed… ugh.. it wasn’t a memory I wanted to keep reliving thanks.
“Since now I guess. Don’t worry, I got you a ticket too.” I smirked a little bit, “how is it going between you two anyway?”
“It isn’t… er.. not really.”
Figures. Damn kids.
I sighed just a little bit and nodded as we hit the locker room door and I shoved it open.
“Fair enough.”
“So,” Karen said while I started dumping my stuff into a duffel bag; I wasn’t a neat packer, I traveled light and just shoved stuff where it needed to go and took off, “Are you going to stop by and see your Mother while we’re that close to San Diego?”
I paused for a moment, my eyes drifting upwards to look at Karen from underneath by eyebrows.
“I haven’t decided yet…”
“You should Bryan,” I watched her nod her head a little bit, having to then pause to push her hair back out of her face as it all fell forward, “she refuses to learn English and she’s been kind of lonely since you moved them over here from Japan… now with Tim almost totally out of the house too…”
“God OK OK.. I get it Karen, we’ll go see my Mom ok?”
“Yay!” Karen laughed and clapped her hands twice. “I win!”
“Ugh…”
“You love me and you know it!”
“Just… go pull the car around ok?”
I watched her head out of the locker room and shook my head as a slow rueful smile touched my lips. That was why I kept her around. I was a bit jaded these days, and that energy, that youthful zest for life kept me from getting bitter… I knew what would happen if I got bitter. If that happened the next guy who cut me was going to get a cap in his ass. Huh… no… I couldn’t end my first pay per view by shooting APW’s headliner… however tempting it might be…
(*************)
(Georgie Washington High School, Southern California, Xtreme Wrestling Pride event, attendance 123)
Karen and Bryan made their way to their seats in the rather empty auditorium. It was built to seat about two thousand… fairly large high school, so the back rows were all cordoned off to give the illusion of there actually being more people here than their actually were… and there was no assigned seating, no variable rates. Just paid ten bucks at the door and walked in sat where you liked and waited for the show to start. It brought back a lot of memories for Bryan… of course coming up this way they in Japan the ring was filled with cinderblocks, light tubes and any other implement of pain and destruction someone could find a use for! It amazed him to this day he’d gotten out of there without major catastrophic injury. That’s not to say he didn’t end up in the hospital a few times… he had. But nothing that seriously put his career in jepordy. Part of that was the shape he was in, a lot of guys over the course of traveling and the nightly grind kind of let themselves go physically a bit… Bryan turned it up to a whole ‘nother level. That prevented a lot of the little nagging injuries from becoming anything more.. he just healed faster because of it.
To also be fair they weren’t really even seats, just oversized wooden steps with too much varnish and stains you just tried not to think about and were glad you wore jeans to something like this. They’d spent most of the last two hours backstage, funny how quick word got around a place like this that someone like Bryan was here. He’d been giving autographs to guys older than himself who were still trying to catch a break and answering questions too… oh the questions.
He reached up and adjusted his shades against his face as he paused a moment to glance over at Karen who was checking her make up with one hand while texting on a black berry with the other. Amazing… he’d have laid money she couldn’t chew bubble gum and WALK at the same time because he’d seen her do the stupidest things while just trying to talk and here she was doing two totally different thanks… wait.. how on earth did you carry on a text conversation… WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE SCREEN?! He grunted softly and the faint sound of button depressions stopped for a moment as she tilted her head over at him.
“I heard that.”
“I’m sure you did,” Bryan suppressed a little smile as he looked down to the ring. It had obviously seen better days, the ropes were frayed, the actual rope showing beneath worn coverings and sagging in the middle… wouldn’t be much spring in those for anything fancy. There also wasn’t much give on the mat, he’d guess they didn’t have the full set of springs underneath which basically meant all the falls where going to be that much rougher… not that they were soft in the best of times, but in this case there wasn’t going to be a whole lot of difference between getting DDT’d in the ring or out on the basketball court floor. All in all it made him a little nostalgic. He thought, not for the first time, about maybe pooling his money with some investors when he was finally done in the ring and maybe taking a small show like this under his wing, trying to build something his way… but shit, that was ten, fifteen, maybe twenty or more years down the line..
He blinked as the compact make up case clicked shut and he looked over to Karen’s freshly touched up face and chuckled. “I’m innocent I tell you,” was all he said and offered a peace offering by tilting the small bag of cheap popcorn they’d bought over in her direction.
“Mmmhmm.. sure you are,” she said as she stuck a hand down inside the bag and snaked out a few pieces of the waaay over salted stuff, “Bryan, no offense but you weren’t even born innocent.”
True enough. And while they were on the subject of popcorn who in their right minds would serve it at a wrestling event? Didn’t they know what was about to happen? It was like some kind of stage melodrama where everyone in the crowd was going to start hurling bags of popcorn at the bad guy… hey maybe that was the point… heh, that was kinda cool.
So, this was where Tim had decided to have his first fight… well, to be fair the kid had at least had the sense to let the trainer he’d saddled him with help him get booked for the first time… he did have to give him credit for that. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find Tim fighting in some underground blood sport thing trying to prove something to Bryan or anyone else… that he didn’t need ‘Big brother’ looking out for him anymore. And that was all fine and dandy until the day came the kid got arrested again for boosting another car. Yeah, if you’d missed that episode boy did you miss a lot….
“Welcome Ladies and Gentleman!” Came the announcer’s voice over the crappy sound system accompanied by a high pitched whine that had half the crowd covering their ears until the guy turned down the pick up volume on his mic. “Welcome to Xtreme Wrestling Pride. We have quite a show for you tonight, but first let me introduce a special guest this evening..”
“Oh fuck me… I told them not to do this..” sighed Bryan softly covering his face with his hand for a moment. He groaned and then spread his fingers apart just a little at the sound of a girlish giggle that sounded positively EVIL.
“I told them to do it!”
“Bitch…”
“HEY!”
“Bryan Payne of Action Packed Wrestling! Stand up and say hello Bryan..”
Bryan stood up with as much good grace as he could muster, smiling and waving to the people who cheered. They were wrestling fans so it was a good third to a half of the audience knew who he was even here. The other half other half of the crowd was mostly family or friends of those in the event and probably didn’t know who the hell he was… small favors. He retook his seat then and tossed a handful of popcorn at Karen who squeaked slapped at him a bit and then started picking popcorn out of her long hair with a look.
“I’m telling Georgie on you!”
“Please do.”
“And now folks for our first bout of the evening… introducing first…from San Diego California….” The announcer started. Karen and Bryan paused in mid motion, their eyes drawn to the horrible sight that awaited them, mouths sagging open and hung agape in a state of pure shock.
“Oh…” said Karen, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.
“…standing at five feet… nine inches…”
“….my… “ interjected Bryan smoothly…
“DR.. PAYNE!”
“God…” finished Karen her voice barely a whisper.
Standing at the top of the ramp was Tim himself, dressed in a white lab coat, green kitchen style gloves covering his hands and a light reflecting mirror on a band around his head. He looked like some kind of mad scientist… like Neil Patrick Harris from Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. It. Was. Awful.
“What was he thinking?” Karen said, turning her face as she erupted into a fit of laugher.
Bryan almost lost it, slapping a hand over his face so that he didn’t explode into a fit with her and was glad again for his shades that hid the small tears that were forming from trying to hold in a laugh that big. Tim looked ridiculous.
“He looks so… little!”
“He IS little, Karen,” Bryan laughed softly and lifted up his shades slightly so he would wipe at his eyes.
“Mighty Mouse in a lab coat..”
That was it, Bryan was done. He was truly glad this show wasn’t televised because he ducked down behind Karen so he could laugh hysterically without being seen to do it. Tim was a bit on the small side, 5’9” all of a hundred a sixty pounds soaking wet. Now Bryan wasn’t all that big for a wrestler, but at 6’1” and almost two twenty these days as he filled out with more muscle as he approached twenty two, he was a pretty big guy in the scheme of things. Especially since he was Japanese… well, half Japanese, he had his size from his American father who was almost 6’4” in his prime. It was funny to think about now, but as much flak as he took growing up for being mixed if he hadn’t been he probably would never have been able to make the transition into working for American promotions… they were just to fixated on massive bulks who could barely move. He thought it was a penis envy issue to be honest.
Bryan and Karen’s Herculean effort to compose themselves led them to completely miss the entrance of Tim’s opponent a guy by the interesting moniker of “Texas Pete” who proved to be a bit on the large size himself… though it wasn’t the good kind of size. He was one of those guys who’d had a brief taste on some of the bigger regional promotions, took a couple injuries got hopelessly out of shape during recovery and bounced all the way down to… this. All in all probably one of the worst guys in the world for any new guy to be fighting. Buy had a chip on his shoulder the size of well… Texas.
The match began pretty predictably with Tim ducking under a few clothesline and punch attempts landing several kicks and chops that were that main thing with his martial arts background. Then an attempted roundhouse kick was caught on the big man’s right shoulder allowing the man to get two arms locked around him and leverage him over into a suplex. He was stomped, punched several times, but as the man lifted him up to attempt a powerbomb a double chop to either side of his head staggered the big man and allowed Tim to leap frog over his head to land behind him and sweep his legs clear out from under him tumbling down hard onto his back. The kid quickly grabbed one of his arms, locked his legs around the guys head and extended his body locking an arm bar in with the leg lock and threatening to separate the guy’s shoulder with an MMA hold, the same shoulder the guy had originally injured to take him out of action… clearly it had never fully healed, another reason he had fallen so far so fast, and he tapped within moments.
Bryan wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it. On the one hand he couldn’t deny being proud of the kid… on the other the confessed part of him had been silently hoping he’d get roughed up just enough to decide to go to school full time. This wasn’t likely to dampen his ardor for it… just wet his appetite. He knew, he’d been standing exactly where Tim was once…. Though to fair instead of his hands he’d been holding the two broke halves of a baseball bat he’d broken over a guy’s back… huh… Bryan thought, maybe it was a good thing he came up in Japan after all… worked out some of that pent up aggression…
(**************)
Bryan took a tightly controlled breath as he crossed the street his legs pumping up and down like pistons as he jogged along the sidewalk beside neatly manicured suburban lawns. He could feel drops of sweat rolling down the middle of his back and his face tickling faintly but he stubbornly refused to wipe it away, he let it tickle, got used to ignoring the sensation. There were a lot of feelings you had to get used to ignoring in his line of work. Pain, doubt, ego, pride, anger, fear… you had to push it all aside and concentrate only on the other guy on what he was doing of knowing what he was going to do before he did it.
In some ways he had to crawl inside his opponent’s head. He’d reviewed hours and hours of promos and matches, One’s wins his losses his reactions to both learning how he counters moves what he looks like when he gets gassed… what he looks like when he’s faking to set someone up. It was all about homework, being the smarter better prepared wrestler. Bryan would like to say it was pure physical talent that had gotten him to where he was, that whenever he stepped in the ring with someone he was automatically the most talented… but he knew that wasn’t the case. What was true is that he worked harder than anyone to be the sneakiest little bastard in the business. The thought brought a funny little smirk across Bryan’s lips diverting the falling drops of sweat that were running down his face.
Crawling into a guy like Level One’s head wasn’t easy. It was physiologically punishing a stress filled journey that brought back some of his worst memories and impulses threatening to pull him right back down into the oblivion he so recently clawed his way out of. So he took out that stress, an extra five mile run… extra sets in the weight room whatever it was he just *did* more to put it behind him to reground himself. Remind himself of who he was what he did and the difference between himself and a guy like One. It wasn’t that they were all that different in their impulses, it was that Bryan chose every day to take a higher path, to become a better person a better man. Once when he was a kid he’d have called that a weakness… an unwillingness to do what was required to be successful. But now, a little older, he knew better. It was a source of strength, a core of principal that anchored you, shielded you against the worst excesses of others and allowed you to drag up extra reserves of energy and passion… because you weren’t just fighting for yourself, just out of greed or a desire to win, you were also fighting because every breath you took stood for something. YOU stood for something.
Bryan Payne stood for the fact that if you worked hard enough, if you wanted it bad enough, if you were willing to sacrifice everything to get it… you could do it. It was the pillar his life was built around. At sixteen he’d moved out of his Mother’s house and into a training facility run by John Henry, where that man had broken the cocky little punk who walked in the door on probation for aggravated assault… and remade him, first physically and then the confidence that had to be shattered to make him a different person. Part of him was still that same kid, he knew that, no one could ever take his past away from him… dragging guys who owed money to bad people into back rooms and beating the living shit out of them breaking bones, fingers… whatever it took until they felt like paying up. It wasn’t the kind of story that he advertised, but he wasn’t ashamed of it anymore. It gave him a core of a different kind of strength… most people lived their entire lives without every knowing what they were capable of in situations he knew. And he knew what he never wanted to become again.
He winced a bit, picking at the soaked shirt he was wearing, the cotton material having molded to his skin with pure moisture as it ran out of him in salty rivulets. Always stronger… always faster… push it. He grit his teeth together into a snarl as he picked his feet up a little higher, the weights attached around his ankles making his calves, and thighs burn all the more. He embraced the pain, lived in it, used it to drive him further how much could he take? How much more could he push it? There was no tomorrow, everything had to be done today.
His trip to his mother’s had been about what he’d expected. She’d sat him down and grilled him for hours in Japanese about what he’d been up to, if he was eating right, complaining that there wasn’t enough meat on his bones, asking about Georgie… confused about Karen, Tim… and wanting to talk about John’s death. He’d gone through a few boxes in the attic, looking through old pictures of him and John from several years ago… the celebration after his first win, his first invite to tour with one of the Japanese promotions… his signing in the States… the going away party some of his friends had thrown him before he left for the US. More recent ones from his Vegas apartment he’d closed up when he’d left SCW… He and John holding up his first title, the DEW Silverweight belt… which technically he still held since the company had gone under without him losing him. But that was history, bitter sweat history forever tinged now with the bite of mourning for his dead friend… a man who’d been like a father to him.
He put those into this work out too. The little houses outside San Diego passing by one after another as the sky lightened in the distance. The occasional car door slamming shut indicating people with long commutes in this predawn hour. The words of encouragement the screaming matches in his early days, the bitter taste of his struggles early in his career… the stretch where it seemed like he was destined never to lose again. The crazy ride from no name to a recognized name… if it was wrestling and they didn’t know Bryan Payne, they’d been living under a rock for the last year. All of it had to go to the side, he couldn’t think on it. It was all part of who made him who he was, made it possible for him to do what he did, but he couldn’t let any one thing become defining… all encompassing, they were facets not the whole. He had to remain the guy that it was impossible to pin down, the guy who had no weakness, the only way to beat him wasn’t by getting into his head because that was impossible… you had to dig deep and over the course of a whole match you had to batter him down until he just couldn’t get back up. And that was something he trained every day to make almost impossible to do in and of itself.
“Alright Bryan,” he panted softly… “one more mile...”
(*******)
(The camera rose up to display the State of Sin logo bouncing around the screen while “The Enemy” played in the background. The set remained largely unchanged from previous webisodes. The single couch flanked by two chairs, the coffee table upon which sat a conspicuous amounts of Sobe, the State of Sin’s official sponsor. In one of the chairs sat Bryan himself dressed in jeans a white t-shirt and a navy blue blazer which hung open and his shades were pressed tightly against his face; in the other chair sat Karen sipping on a cranberry Snapple and looking over what appeared to be a script. As the music faded out the announcers voice kicked in, a big booming overly enhanced thing that roared out at the viewers.)
Announcer: Hello boys and girls, welcome back to the half hour of webisivison that leaves you wanting more. That’s right, the State of Sin is back live on-line with its very first APW edition. So from all your friends at Defiance Reborn we’d like to say to all the haters out there once again… please please fuck off!
(Karen could be seen wincing at the f-bomb and looked over to Bryan as the last bit of the music cut out.)
Payne: You think so… really? Huh.. well we’ll as them and see what they have to say.. anyway folks welcome back to the State of Sin, I’m your host Bryan Payne and with me tonight is our Producer and new co-host of the show… Karen. Now many of you know Karen as the mojo behind Team Payne she’s the woman of many hats.. makes sure little old me gets to all my appearances on time, produces this lovely show here and anywhere there’s something that needs to be done from a merchandising standpoint she’s always right there taking care of it… in fact she’d designed all my t-shirts since I came to the States… logos and all so… recognize peoples… recognize.
Karen: Thanks Bryan.
(Karen could be seen blushing slightly as she hid her face behind the Snapple bottle for a moment.)
Payne: My pleasure. Now for those of you APW fans out there who might be tuning into the show for the very first time… let me give you a quick run down on what we do here. The State of Sin is basically my platform to say whatever I want about whomever I want whenever I want. I know…. What idiot had THAT bright idea… oh yeah.. it was me! I’ve produced these for pay per view events, Experts shows and then occasionally, like today.. because I felt like it!
Karen: He means because I made him get out of the gym and show up for the shoot.
Payne: Hey! No fair being honest… I’m the brutally honest one on the show… my show!
Karen: Haha.. Ok ok..
Payne: Well alright. Now a lot of guys take questions from reporters and journalists and paid interviewers…. I don’t do that. No, here on the State of Sin, I take questions directly from you the viewer and the fan by email and/or twitter right here live on the show. Why do I do that? Because I’m the Revelation Bryan Payne, I do pretty much whatever I want… you may have noticed.
Karen: And by the way people two special polls and questions we have up right now are number One… should we remove the f-bomb from the top of the show… I hate it… and number two we’re renaming the show to fit better now that we’re no longer shooting from Las Vegas.
Payne: What she said. Anyway, without further ado, let’s get right to your questions shall we? Karen… hit me with the first one!
(Karen cleared her throat slightly as she angled a lap top monitor held on the far arm of her chair to get a better look at the screen.)
Karen: Ok Bryan we’ll just jump right in here. Crixxxy wants to know why you screwed Sally Talford out of her opportunity to defeat Level One two weeks ago?
Payne: Wow.. you people like to get started early don’t you? Ok ok.. look, events happened. I came out there, I admit, to bait Lester and by God to my delight it worked. The guy was more focused on me than his match and low and behold he almost wound up losing the damn thing. I mean I suppose some of you think I should have just walked over and slapped Sally or something to deliberately give Level One a loss… and well I’ll admit the thought did cross my mind. Not that Sally did anything to deserve a slap from me… but the idea of One chewing on that for three weeks leading up to Mayhem does leave a special glow near and dear to my heart.
(Bryan laughed a little bit and pushed his shades up high on his forehead until they shoved his hair back a bit out of his face.)
Payne: The guy slugged me.. so I answered back with the chair he hit me with several weeks ago. Fact is the guy needs to learn that now that Bryan Payne is here in APW there are consequences for each and every thing he does. I’m not a yes man, and I’m not a bend over and kiss One’s ass kind of guy. The fact is I think the biggest problem is that for too long people have been giving this guy TOO MUCH respect. He’s a good wrestler and a great competitor… has been for several years, but so what? The Experts is littered with great competitors… some of which seem to have a habit of handing One his ass. So you ask why I did it… I did it quite simply to send Level One a message. To put him on notice that as of that moment, I’m all over him. And I’m going to be all over him until he taps out to the Payne Killer at Mayhem.
Karen: Well, I think that answers Crixxy’s question. Let’s move on to… WhataboutBob240. Hmmm… Bob wants to know how your training schedule is coping without John Henry.
(Bryan paused for a moment looking away from the camera and then looked back with a nod and a slightly sad smile forming around his mouth.)
Payne: Well Bob, I’ll admit at first it wasn’t easy getting back into full work out mode without him there. But then I decided that the best way I could honor what John stood for and what he did for me personally was to throw myself back into the routine that we crafted together… the one that is responsible for my success. But, if you’re interested in honoring “The Hammer’s” memory as much as I am Bob you’ll check out the John Henry Foundation… a charity that’s been set up in his name by myself and several of his other students over the years, to give opportunities to at risk inner city kids like most of us were. We go around the world and we find kids with talent for music, sports, art… whatever it is, talent that might not have a chance to be developed otherwise and we make it happen, we give them the chance the best teachers.. to develop it to the fullest. So yeah check it out.
(Bryan reached over to the coffee table then and picked up one of the bottles of Sobe breaking it open and taking a long drink with the label suspiciously facing the camera.)
Announcer: SOBE YOURSELF!
(Bryan coughed several times looking up into the air as if he could somehow see the announcer guy that way..)
Payne: When the hell did we start doing that?
Karen: Oh new contract clause in the renegotiation…
Payne: Uh huh…
Karen: Sorry! Anyway… we’ve got a question here from MollyWilling who wants to know why we haven’t heard much about you and Georgie since the scandal broke about the relationship you’d been keeping secret?
(Bryan laughed a little bit and nodded.)
Payne: Ok ok look… we did have a press conference on that right? I mean we’re dating, taking it slow like we said then. We were trying to keep our private lives private that was our mistake I guess in thinking that someone like Ornery Hillman would respect that. But fact of the matter is I’m not there anymore I’m here… in APW… and she’s not. So of course you’re not going to see us cutting up back stage DR style like before… no we’re not going to give Jeff and Bigg’s homes the same treatment we gave Dougs… why? Well for starters I’d hate to interrupt the pair of them like I did Karen and Tim..
Karen: BRYAN!
Payne: I mean talk about a full moon in Mexico that night!
Karen: ohmygod
Payne: But also because she’s got a job too, and appearance dates just like I do.. coupled with the fact that now I’m moving around the country all the time. So to answer your question Molly.. yes all is fine in that department we just don’t get to see each other quite as often as we used to as a result of my leaving SCW.
Karen: Bryan you’re an asshole.
Payne: I know this. And so do they… they love me anyway.
(He flashed a wink to the camera.)
Payne: But speaking of Georgie now it’s time for one of the most popular segments of the show…. That’s right.. the Rebel Child Rant!
(The camera flickered a bit and then showed Georgie Nickles holding up a menu from a well known restaurant chain in one hand, and a low calorie tv dinner box in the other.)
Rebel Child: What the hell? Weren’t low calorie dinners and menu items supposed to help Americans lose weight so their hearts wouldn’t explode in their chests? So they accomplish this by packing enough salt into these meals to make the Dead Sea look just a mite bitter? I mean look at this shit? According to this you’d have to eat 50… 50! bushels of broccoli to cancel out the effect this much sodium would have in your body.. and it’s on a HEART HEATHY MENU!!
Why don’t they just call it the low calorie heart attack on a plate option because it would be more accurate. You want my advise people? You want to lose weight don’t eat this shit, get up off your ass put down the Nintendo and go for a run, that’s what I do and I eat like a total pig. The fact is if you exercise and work out regularly you don’t need to obsess over every single calorie because you’re going to be a healthy person. So don’t give these corporate assholes yet another way to needle at you to give you what they think you want while totally defeating the purpose by loading it with other crap that’s just as bad if not worse for you than what the took out to begin with!
(The camera jolted a bit and then it was back to the studio.)
Payne: Well… that was Georgie Nickels people… ahem.
Karen: I think that’s a somewhat sensitive subject for her…
Payne (sighing softly): They all are…
Karen: OK. Next question comes from Joe4Sure. Joe wants to know when we can expect to see Bryan Payne wearing APW gold?
(Bryan paused running his tongue along the inside of his mouth.)
Payne: Well if you listen to Level One, which I don’t recommend by the way, apparently after I beat him I’ll be owed a title shot. As for me? I’m happy right now just kicking ass and taking names. That’s what I’m here for. So I have my eyes set on the APW Title?.... Eventually sure I do. I’ve said all along if you don’t care about being the best you’ve already got one foot out the door in this business. But at this point I don’t feel like I have anything to prove by going out and agitating for title shots… I’m just going to let my performance each and every week take care of that for me and when management sees enough of what I can do… what the fans love to watch me do.. well then you’ll get to see Bryan Payne with gold around his waist once again.
Karen: Nice… oh wait… I get to announce the next segment?
Payne: Well… that is the plan unless you don’t want to?
Karen: No no! I do.. this is my favorite part of the show! And now folks it’s time for my favorite part of the show…
Payne: You just said that…
Karen: Shut up you said I could do this! Ahem.. time for my favorite part of the show… roving reporter AC THUNDER!
(The camera shot went to a split screen with Bryan on one side and a microphone wielding AC Thunder standing there adjusting his earpiece while what appeared to be large zoo animals moved back and forth making noise in the background.)
AC: Heeelllooo Bryan, Karen. Yes it’s me AC here.
Payne: Uh AC… are you at a zoo?
AC: Oh most definitely, you see I came here on a tip. I’ve been talking with Wanda, she’s the Polar Bear here at the Toronto Zoo and she had some interesting things to tell me about Level One.
Payne: I really don’t see how this is revelant…
AC: But you will Bryan! You will. You see according to Miss… er… Bear..
Payne: Nice save..
AC: Thanks. According to Miss Bear Level One’s mother really was an Eskimo raped polar bear.
Payne: that was a joke AC.. I was pissed off.
AC: But it’s true! I have eye witness testimony from three seals and an emu. It’s apparently how the guy got so damn big. He really is a Yeti.
Payne: Fascinating…
AC: Isn’t it just.
Payne: I think that’s all we have time for from AC today…
AC: But I’m not finished!
Payne: Yeah buddy… you are..
(The screen flipped back to just the studio where Bryan was rubbing the sides of his head and muttering softly to himself.)
Payne: Ugh… um, anyway that was interesting. Why don’t we get back to the questions… Karen?
Karen: Hmm? Oh right. Next question.. Ok Bryan, Gamblingman315 wants to know your picks for Mayhem now that you’ve been in APW for several weeks. He points out that you had an over 70% success rate over your career with these things… though… sadly.. less than 20% in main events… ouch.
Payne: Wow, I think somebody has been paying a little too close attention. But, Ok Gamblingman, I’ll help you out. We’ll go match by match through the card and I’ll give you my thoughts on each one… but you have to write back to the show and if you won a bundle buy Karen dinner.
Karen: Wait what…?
Payne: First match is the Overdrive Title match it’s going to feature champion Hellfire taking on Mark Moment. Hellfire has proven to be a fairly resilient champion so far getting a lot of accolades all around and has great support from a quality manager. That gives him in edge in this match I think, coupled with the fact that he doesn’t have to win this match… just not lose… Mark has his work cut out for him as he’s going up against a guy full of confidence. So Gambler I’d put your money on the champ in this one.
(Bryan glanced down at the card, written on a small index card and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.)
Payne: The second match is going to be Ellie vs Alyssa. To be honest I haven’t see much of them in the ring so I really couldn’t tell you who might be better, but I do know that Ellie is the boss’s girl and that puts Alyssa in a hell of a mess trying to beat her. Especially since beating her might be the worst possible thing she could do. Now we know since they’ve publicly said that Ellie isn’t getting any between the sheets… she must be getting SOMETHING out of this relationship, so while Biggs can’t get it up in the bedroom he damn sure must be planning on coming through for her elsewhere. I’m betting it’s going to be by helping her get a big win at Mayhem. The third match is a debut match… and well.. I don’t make picks on debut matches too many variables too much research involved that in no way affects me yet.
(Bryan casually tosses that index card over his shoulder and lifts up the next one.)
Payne: Ahhh.. Falls Count Anywhere Jimmy Jazz vs Crazy Joe. Now Jazz has been pretty vocal this last couple weeks calling out everyone from Management to Level One… pssst… Jazz that’s my job hush. So we know he doesn’t lack for confidence… and I for one have been impressed by what we’ve seen so far from Joe in the ring. He’s a tough guy and in a match that could end up as a street fight before the night’s out… I’m giving the edge to the brawler. It’s going to be a Crazy night for Joe, with his first Pay Per View victory in APW.
Payne: Six Man Tag Match follows that up featuring everyone’s favorite punching bags the Red Shield Mafia heading out against Shawn Kilgore and the Sports Nutz. This is one of the matches I circled on this card, I can’t wait to see this one. I’ve been impressed by Kilgore he has a lot of resilience in the ring and his motor never stops running. This match is going to come down to his leadership and if he’s able to overcome the lock step that the RSM walks in. Personally? I think he’s going to do it. Expect a physical match with no end of post match shenanigans but ultimately a Kilgore victory.
Payne: Up next it’s the Extreme Championship featuring champion Michael Lively against Jim Steel. I don’t really expect this one to be that close, I think Lovely is a step ahead of Steel overall and I think it’s going to show in this match. Steel is going to give this his best effort and maybe surprise some people in this one, but ultimately I just don’t see him bringing enough to the table to take Lively out.
Payne: Then we’ve to what I like to call the Import Feud. Leila vs Sally. The word is these two have been at each other’s throats for a long time and it’s outlived the promotion they previously worked for and spilled over here in APW. Fair enough, should make for an interesting match. Sally seems poised to enter a title picture soon I think. An impressive performance against Level One, she got the tag in our tag match… momentum is definitely on her side. The only thing that stops her in this Mayhem effort is some kind of sabotage. That certainly might happen, but you can’t make picks based solely on expecting someone to try pulling a fast one. That said, Talford for the win in this one.
Payne: APW Heavyweight Title match.. challenge John Green stepping up to take on Pence in his very first title defense. Well, I made my opinion on this match clear a few weeks ago and I don’t really think much has changed. Pence has too large of a chip on his shoulder to sleep on his first title defense… if he were to lose it this quick he might never get another chance for a long long time and it would smash his victory at Rasstlemania down to the fluke Level One claims it is. I expect this one to get physical early and Green to push Pence hard… ultimately though Green is going to run out of bullets first. Pence retains.
Karen: So you’re not picking a single title change at this pay per view?
(Bryan looked over to Karen and shook his head just a little bit.)
Payne: I just don’t see it in this case. The champs are all looking in good positions heading into these match ups I just don’t see any of these challengers having enough momentum to wrest the gold away from them.
Karen: Huh.. well if you get that wrong I’m not going to let you hear the end of it. Now, give the people what they tuned in for.
Payne: Yes Ma’am! What she’s referring to folks is the fact that I did of course skip my match with Level One. If this caused any of you distress… sorry! But it’s the note I like to end the State of Sin on. Now remember… you’re all invited to send in recommendations to the show on the new name and we’ll review those suggestions next time along with possible new segments. Oh yes, we’re getting high tech around here!
(Bryan finally removed his shades from the top of his head and tossed them casually onto the coffee table before he settled back into his chair with his fingers laced across his chest. He smiled just a little bit, tugging at the corners of his mouth, as the camera zoomed in looking totally relaxed.)
Payne: “You know. A lot of guys right now would be amped up, sweating at the prospect of going into Mayhem to face a former True Expert on his home turf. They’d be concerned about facing a man who recently joined the Experts Hall of Fame, a former APW Champion, a man who’s widely regarded as one of the top five wrestlers in the world. But funnily enough the closer Mayhem gets I find the calmer I’m getting, and frankly I had a hard time figuring out why.”
(He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders as he settled his head back against the chair’s stuffed back.)
“Now, it’s not because I don’t expect a tough physical match up… because I do. It’s not because I don’t expect whatever the outcome for Level One to try and attack me… because I do. It’s not even because I can’t imagine a scenario in which Level One could possibly eek out a victory over The Revelation… because I’m not that blind. It’s simply because it’s just another match… another big match in a long line of big matches that I’ve been a part of. Wars I’ve had with men as talented as any out there even if some of them don’t have the name recognition that someone like Lester has. I mean when you come right down to it, I didn’t come here to hunt a title, I didn’t sign here for the money or for more exposure on international television… no I came here for one reason and one reason only…. To expose Level One. And now, I’m going to get that opportunity.”
“For too long people have treated this guy like he walks on water. In the build up to matches with him they trip over themselves saying things like ‘as great as he is I’m still going to win!’ Spending as much time kissing his ass and inflating his already arena sized ego to every great heights. The fact of the matter is he’s just another guy. Another talented guy in a locker room full of them, in an organization like the Experts that stuffed full of guys some of whom can beat him on any night on the week. He’s been given too much respect for too long, so much, that he’s lost something. He now thinks he’s entitled to something, that if the title isn’t around his waist that he’s being somehow slighted by the company he works for, that his true due isn’t being paid to him.”
“That’s pretty much bullshit folks. He lost, and he needs to get over it. If he is as good as he thinks he is that never would have happened to begin with, and if he really deserved to still be champion he would have won and would still be. If he was as dominant a force as he claims to be…. He wouldn’t let me under his skin to the point he tried to take a knife to me live on Overdrive in front of all you people. I’m calm, because Level One is something that he hasn’t been in a long long time. He’s scared… desperate.”
“He’s desperate to prove that he’s worthy of all the respect that he’s been given… because now that he’s fallen from grace and there’s someone here willing to stand up and boldly point out all of his flaws… that he’s in danger of losing the mystique that has one his as many matches as his in ring abilities. See, a lot of his opponents defeat themselves before they ever step into the ring with him. What happens when those people spend all that time talking about how great he is… they convince themselves of it, then they look in the mirror and they listen to copies of his promos on youtube talking about them… and somewhere in the back of their mind a little voice says… ‘I can’t win…’ I know this, because I’ve done it to people too. I’m calm because you can’t bullshit a bullshitter.”
“Lester is a guy who believes that if he talks long winded enough about his opponents that he will be victorious because his endless stream of personal abuse is going to get under their skin, psyche them out, so that when they step into the ring with him… well hell they’ve already beaten themselves. But you see One, I’m not buying what you’re selling, I never really have. You’re just another guy trying to hold onto the spot light that for the first time in your APW career you really have to share. Because… APW isn’t Level One’s house anymore… he’s not a champion. He’s just another guy on the roster, APW is the Heavyweight Champion’s house, and you’re just an undercard attraction! How does that taste One? You like it? Like I said before get used to it. I’m calm because Level One sees me as his shot at regaining his former glory.”
“You heard it yourself last week folks, out of the horses mouth so to speak, this guy actually thinks that by beating Bryan Payne it’s going to make him worthy to get a title rematch with Pence. Oh and let’s not forget it’s a title he doesn’t seem to think he ever really lost. Fair enough. Well One there’s a big problem with that, and that problem is… you’re not going to beat Bryan Payne at Mayhem. You’re going to draw up a great big pile of eating the mat followed by a tapping wildly as you scream bloody murder. And if you refuse to tap? If your pride and ego are so big that they just won’t let you? I still win, because I get to maintain the Payne Killer longer… and longer until I can listen closely and hear the tendons and cartilage snap and tear in that knee… until I see the agony in your eyes as you see the price your actions and your mouth have brought you to. I’m calm because One’s Revelation is consequences.”
“It’s the consequences of a career built on bulling and threats. On taking the short cuts for the last couple years… like joining the posers the Career Killers for instance. I mean honestly the only thing those guys have going for them other than Level One is the fact that they enjoy ganging up on people. You break then down one at a time and, to be blunt, there’s not a lot there after Fallen Angel and One… just a couple hangers on strutting around like they matter. And they do, but only because they’ve attached themselves to Angel’s strings. Is that what it came down to for you Lester? Being willing to become Fallen Angel’s latest pet project because you figured you couldn’t do it on your own in the big bad TFWF?... Or… maybe you were just too chicken shit to risk becoming a target yourself. I’d buy that.”
“You picked a fight with perhaps the only guy on this roster One who thinks you’ve been overhyped. That you’re not as good as people say you are. That you are a shell of what you could, should, and used to be. You picked a fight with the one guy who is willing to take this fight as dirty as you want to make it and match you blow for blow in the fucking gutter if that’s what it takes. I’ll fight you anywhere in any match, anytime. If you want to take it to the parkinglot, down to the corner bar, I’m there asshole. And trust me on this you do not want to test and push things too far because you do not want to see how far I’m willing to go… because frankly Lester your imagination isn’t as good as mine. I come from a people who get off on freaky shit. I’m calm because I’m getting what I want.”
“One picked this fight with me. Not when I joined APW but months ago at Survive and Conquer when he stuck his nose back in after qualifying for the final three just to help eliminate me. My being here now… my resolution to destroy the myth of Level One is grounded on that. Fact is Lester, yeah, you proved you were afraid of Bryan Payne then, and ever since I’ve signed here your every action has just proved it. I’m in your head, making a home, and come Mayhem the rent is due… and it’s coming out of your hide. Plain and simple. You’ve gone to war with my former stable mate and tag partner AC Thunder… and god help you, the guy who couldn’t win a singles match to save his life for months came within a hair’s breath of eliminating you in the Extreme Tournament last year… That amuses me. Especially after you talked it up like because you beat him it somehow gave you a leg up. I’ve beaten AC in the ring too Lester… it’s not really a great talking point for you right now. But if you want to talk about AC and Georgie One, let’s talk about this. Two people who have been in the ring with you a lot… who are my friends… who have no problem showing me every trick you used in the ring with them. Fact is One, I know you better than perhaps anyone you’ve stepped into the ring with for the first time at a pay per view ever has. Better than you realize I think. I’m calm because Lester is a book that I’ve already read the last chapter of.”
“And how does this story end people? How does the Legacy of Payne vs the First Level Boss end? It ends in the middle of the ring with Lester Only laying in the middle of the ring totally spent and thousands of screaming cheering fans screaming for me to hurt you some more. Because no matter how much you’ve accomplished here Lester the fans don’t respect you… because you’ve squandered that. They don’t respect cheap shots and short cuts. They don’t respect blindside attacks on guys who just finished a match, they don’t respect a guy who brings a little girl knife to cut me with. Tell you what you can bring your knife that is appropriate to your culture… but want to know a secret? Mine’s bigger One, I’ll bring the Samurai sword… how about that? That’s the way this story ends people. No matter what Lester brings I will have an answer, I will push this match to the ragged edge. He will not keep me down, he will not pin me in this match. I will beat and claw and fight I will wear him down like water wears down even a mountain. If it takes five minutes or two hours I will have my hand raised in victory at Mayhem, because that’s just the beginning of this story. The rest comes afterwards when I beat you again and again and again, when I strip away every shred of self respect you have left until you can’t stand the sight of your own reflection Lester. I’m calm because Lester picked the fight, but the last chapter is Revelation.”
“Feel the Payne One, feel it and weep, because at Mayhem the fall of Lester Only begins.”
Karen (clearing her throat as the camera shifts to her): Well, that's all the time we have on the State of Sin tonight folks. Be sure to tune in next time and send in your questions!
(The State of Sin logo reappears bouncing across the screen playing "The Enemy" once more as the picture fades to black)
