Post by biggs on Mar 25, 2011 20:28:40 GMT -4
Thursday, March 24
5:56 pm
Biggerstaff Residence
Seattle, Washington
The sun is shining through the windows as Ellie and I sit on the living room floor with a bunch of travel brochures spread out and our laptop not too far out of reach as we make plans for an upcoming vacation. I promised Ellie before I left for the Indy wrestling show this past Sunday that I would take her on a vacation to make up for it, and by golly, she's holding me to it! Not that I mind, because after the stress of defending my APW Overdrive Championship week in and week out, hopefully culminating with another successful title defense at RassleMania, well, I could use a vacation myself.
”How about we go to Europe, maybe touring the French countryside, and ending our trip in Paris? That could be fun,” Ellie mentions as she points to a picture of the Eiffel Tower on a brochure in her hand.
”Ellie, you know I can't stand the thought of going to France, at least not for an extended time. We could maybe do a night in Paris, but any more time, and I'd feel like I'd have to surrender the first time I step into a ring afterward! Why don't we go to Disneyland again? I loved it there!”
Ellie furrows her brows a bit. ”We were just there in December!”
”Yeah, but ElecTRONica ends on April 11th, and I'd really like to go one more time!” I answer back with a grin, trying to convince her.
”Well, we could probably hit Disney the day after RassleMania, and then head out to where we're heading after that! Remember, you said that we get to go anywhere that I want to go!”
”Fair enough. I did say that. I guess I'm kind of stuck going to France then, aren't I?” I reply sheepishly.
Ellie lets out her infectious giggle that I love so much and has a huge smile on her face. Her eyes are lighting up in sun in a way that just makes her seem even more beautiful than she already is. (Which is the most beautiful person in the world, in my not so humble opinion.) She continues to have a giggle in her voice as she responds, ”We don't have to go to Paris. I want to go somewhere that we'll both enjoy! We'll have to keep looking, I guess.”
Ellie turns back to the pile of brochures, pouring over each one of them, trying to make up her mind. As she's absorbed into her hunt for the perfect place to go on vacation, from out of nowhere, I begin to sing The Beach Boy's Kokomo, ”Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama!
Key Largo, Montego,
Baby why don't we go?
Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo,
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow.
That's where we wanna go,
way down in Kokomo!”
”What the heck was that?!” Ellie says through her laughter. She's cracking up thanks to my horribly off tune singing, and quite frankly, cheesy attempt at humor.
”Sorry. My folks listened to a lot of Beach Boys when I was growing up. Though you have to admit, the Muppets version they made in the early nineties was pretty sweet!”
”I never really liked the Muppets,” Ellie tells me very matter-of-factly.
I decide to egg her on a bit. ”You didn't like the Muppets? How can you not like the Muppets!? I've never met anyone who didn't like the Muppets!”
”I just never liked them is all. Them or Scooby-Doo. For some reason I didn't like either of them.”
”You didn't like Scooby-Doo either!? What kind of childhood did you have!?” I exclaim in a joking manner.
All of a sudden, Ellie gets dead serious, and glares at me, looking me right in the eyes. ”Don't you dare bring up my childhood in a negative manner! My parents gave me the absolute best childhood I could ever have, so show them some respect!”
I'm taken aback by the sternness of her words, as well as the content. ”How did you even make that connection? I wasn't knocking your parents at all, I was just giving you a hard time because you didn't like the same things I liked growing up, that's all. But if I offended you, I'm really sorry, honey, I didn't mean to.”
Ellie is still fuming, though, and snaps back at me, ”Just like you didn't mean to walk out on me like you did last Sunday night!? Just like you didn't mean to keep bringing up the fact that I cheated on you for emotional leverage!? Just like you didn't mean to force me to go visit that counselor when I didn't want to!?”
I get up from the floor, and try to diffuse the situation. ”I really don't know where all of this is coming from right now, Ellie, but obviously I've greatly upset you. All I can say is that I'm sorry, and that I didn't mean to. I think it would probably be best for us to cool down for a bit, and then we can get back together and get back to figuring out where we want to go for vacation.” As I begin to walk away, Ellie darts up and grabs a hold of my arm, digging her nails into my forearm as she clutches on to me.
”No, you're the one who wants to talk about things, so let's talk it out right here, right now! Dr. Hauntz told you that it would be best for you to deal with situation as they arise, so deal with this!” she yells at me, continuing to drive her nails into my arm. She has an almost crazed look in her eyes, and I'll admit, it's scarring me a bit.
”Baby, you need to calm down a bit. Like I said, I have no idea where this is coming from, and if I offended you, I'm sorry. It's as simple as that. You can choose to either accept or decline my apology, it's up to you,” I tell her as calmly as I can.
”You implied that my parents didn't raise me right! You implied that they somehow are bad parents because they didn't raise me to like The Muppets or Scooby-Doo!”
”Where are you even getting this, Ellie!? I said nothing of the sort! You're putting words in my mouth that just aren't there! Now could you please let go of my arm so I can go to the other room and give you some time to settle down?” I answer back, raising my voice a bit as I do.
”Make me...” she mutters, glaring at me in a way that I haven't really seen before from anybody, let alone her.
”Excuse me?”
”You heard me. I said make me!” she growls.
By this point, I'm more than a little frustrated, and I have a very flippant tone as I respond. ”Now Ellie, you know that the only way I can make you is by asserting physical force, and potentially hurting you. You know that I'm not gonna do that. You should get checked to see if you're bi-polar or something...” I say just off the cuff.
>THWAP!<
Right as soon as the words come out of my mouth, Ellie uses her free hand to slug me right in the face! And not in her playful, happy slug, but a full on punch with intent to injure!
>THWAP!<
Again, another punch right to the face! I put my free hand up to my face to rub the spot where she hit me. ”What the crap was that for!?”
”How dare you call me bi-polar! I'll show you bi-polar!” she screams back, throwing another fist at me! I dodge the blow, and manage to escape her grasp. She swings wildly at me again, but misses, and I catch her as she falls forward. I hold her close to me, in a hug, to prevent her from swinging at me again. She's struggling with all her might to break free, but to no avail.
”Now you listen to me right now, Ellie! I love you, and I know you love me, but you sure have a weird way of showing it sometimes! This kind of behavior is unacceptable! You need to calm the hell down! Once you do that, we'll discuss what our next step is, but this kind of behavior just isn't normal!”
”Let go of me, you son of a b****! Let go of me right now!”
”Not until you calm the f*** down!”
All of a sudden, a look of shock comes across Ellie's face, almost like she's snapped out of her rage. Tears begin to well up in her eyes a bit. She speaks through the sobs, ”I've never heard you speak that way to me before...”
I instantly feel guilty, knowing that I took things too far myself. Not as far as Ellie did, but still, too far. I'm humiliated as I begin to apologize, still hugging my wife. ”I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I've never had to use that kind of language before. It was wrong of me to curse at you, honey. I took things too far.”
Ellie stops struggling to break free, and leans her head on my chest. ”I took them too far first. I don't know how I can love you so much, but get so irritated with you that I get to these kind of extremes. You're right about me putting words in your mouth. You were just joking around, and I took it the wrong way...”
”I need to learn to quite egging you on like that, babe. I guess I'm still getting used to the fact that I can't rib you the way that I rib the guys on the road. I need to be more sensitive to your needs. To quote Red Green, 'I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess!'” I say, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
Ellie gets a hurt look back on her face. ”Is this just some kind of joke to you? Do you think that this is funny? How can you make a joke at a time like this?”
She pulls away from me a bit, and I let go of the hug. I stammer a bit as I respond, ”Well, it's k-kind of-f a defense mechanism, I guess. Whenever stuff starts to get too intense, I crack a jo-”
>THWAP!<
Ellie cracks another punch, this time right in my nose! She hits me hard enough where it actually begins to bleed! I'm livid at this point, while I hold one hand up to my nose, and have the other clenched into a fist. I keep tightening my fist, clenching it until it won't clench any further.
”If you want to hit me, go ahead and hit me!” Ellie goads me, motioning for me to let her have it! I'm literally shaking with anger, but there is no way that I'm going to hit my wife. It's just not something that I could do.
”You know darn well that I'm not going to hit you, Ellie!”
”Why not? You don't think I can take it? I can take it! Be a man, and hit me!” she screams at the top of her lungs. Her face is red with rage, and she's shaking too.
I look Ellie directly in the eyes, and speak as clearly as I can, trying to convey the seriousness of what I have to say to my wife. ”No, I'm going to be a man and not hit you. I love you, Ellie, but this is ridiculous! You're flying off your rocker at non-existent provocation! Now I'm going to head out to store, and when you're ready to talk about this like an adult, you can feel more than free to give me a call, and I'll come back home so we can talk about this. But I'm not going to stay here and be on edge, wondering if I'll say something that will send you into a fit of rage. I love you, babe, and am willing to do whatever it takes to make this marriage work, but I'm not going to stand here and take this kind of abuse from you.”
Ellie begins to cry again, her face still red with anger. ”Come on and hit me! Please, hit me!”
”You know that I'm not going to do that, Ellie,” I tell her as I turn away and grab my keys, wallet, and phone from the table near the door.
”You've hit Sally Talfourd before! What's Sally got that I don't!? F***ing hit me!”
Those words stab me like a knife right in the heart. In her current state of delusion, Ellie seems to think that because I've physically hit Sally Talfourd in the context of a match, that I somehow care about her more than I do Ellie. Ellie's lashing out with her greatest fear, that she's afraid that I'll cheat on her because she cheated on me. And while Sally was a huge source of temptation for me in the past, the fact that I'm married to Ellie, let alone the fact that mine and Sally's former friendship has been all but non-existent, has killed any sort of temptation. But as much as I want to be able to comfort Ellie and assure her that that's not the case, I know anything I say right now will fall upon deaf ears. Also, it hurts to hear that she thinks I'll cheat on her. I've been nothing but patient with her, and while I've made mistakes, she needs to find out that sometimes she needs to be the one to say sorry. I don't respond to her as I open up the door. I don't even look back as I hear Ellie crying behind me, whimpering as she continues to beg me, ”You've hit Sally...Please hit me...”
>Click< The door closes, and I'm out of there. I can still hear Ellie faintly screaming from inside the house, but I'm resolved to let her wait it out. I'll come back on my terms, not hers. Once I reach the car, I get in and sit down, turning on the ignition. Rather than backing out of the drive way, I start to wonder why we fight like this now. We never had a fight when we were dating or during our engagement. Why the heck are we fighting now, and why so intensely? I wonder how I can be so hostile with the woman I love the most in this world, but I wonder more about how she can be so hostile towards me. They say that doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results is the definition of insanity. The first time I was with Ellie, things didn't work out. Am I going against the grain trying to make it work out with her this time? Am I insane for thinking that we can have a fruitful, loving marriage?
Something has got to change in our relationship if we're going to make this work, and I fully intend to make it work. I'm too stubborn to have a failed marriage. But is she? I don't know how committed Ellie truly is to this relationship, and it scares me. And while I'm sitting in the car, pondering my marriage, I can't help but begin to tear up. The tears eventually give way to sobbing, and then crying. I don't want to lose Ellie, but can I stand being with her?
Airing Friday, March 25
Depeche Mode's “Spacewalker” plays as the words FIRST CONTACT flash across the screen. The video transitions to Biggs in his personal gym. He's sitting on the apron of the ring, wearing blue exercise shorts and a Seattle Mariners T-Shirt with the sleeves cutoff. He is drenched in sweat, and has a bottle of Orange Gatorade placed on the apron next to him. He wipes his face off with a towel before talking into the camera.
”Welcome, one and all to the last episode of Biggs' First Contact until RassleMania! We're just two days removed from the biggest show of the year, two days removed from the show where I firmly establish myself as the absolute greatest Overdrive Champion in APW history when I defeat Ryan Ruckus, Terry Marvin, AJ King, and Chris Cyrus in the Overdrive Championship Scramble Match! Now some of you may be saying to yourselves, 'But Biggs, all four of those men have explicitly stated that they're after you, and want to take you out of the match in short order! How can you possibly overcome the threat of not only The Contourage, but your former friend, now bitter enemy, Chris Cyrus!?' Well, I'll tell you why I'm positive that I will be leaving RassleMania still Overdrive Champion, and I can do it in one word: Legacy!”
“The simple fact of the matter is that I am not out to prove that I'm simply a talented wrestler, but that I am one of the all time greats! And while I haven't even had a shot at the APW Heavyweight Championship, let alone held it, I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity that I have with the Overdrive Championship to make my point! Ever since I defeated Pence Weatherlight at Christmas Chaos, I have been not only a fighting champion, but a dominant one! I made short work of Criss Cassidy not once, but twice! I out-cheated Mr. Survive and Conquer himself, Ryan Ruckus! I showed AJ King why his discipline and martial arts skills weren't enough to defeat me! Terry Marvin wasn't able to parlay his size and strength advantage into a title victory! The only blemish on my record so far in 2011 is the draw with Chris Cyrus! I'll give credit where credit is due, Cyrus put up a good fight, but it wasn't good enough to unseat me as the Overdrive Champion! That's five wins, one draw, and zero losses since Christmas Chaos, six wins if we include the match where I defeated Pence. The fact of the matter is that you can look up and down the RassleMania card, and find maybe one, possibly two guys who have been on the kind of roll I've been on, and they're both in IWC! Nobody in APW has enjoyed the kind of consistent success that I've had so far this year, and come RassleMania, that'll still be the case!”
Biggs pauses to take a drink of Gatorade. He wipes his mouth with his wrist before continuing.
”Now Contourage, I know that the three of you are very confident heading into RassleMania, especially considering the drubbing you gave me a couple of weeks ago. But the thing is, any advantage you looked to have gained in ganging up on me in that manner has quite simply ceased to exist in the two weeks since you attacked me! Any physical damage you did has more healed up by now, and the fact that you blew the element of surprise shows just how short sighted the lot of you are. Had it been me running the Contourage, instead of Mr. Can't Hold His Load Ryan Ruckus, I would have waited until RassleMania to reveal your partnership. But by giving me the knowledge of your alliance, whether it's a tight knit unit, or a loose conglomerate, you've given me time to prepare for it, you've given time to come up with a game plan for dealing with the three of you! I can understand why you decided to reveal your partnership when you did, to make a scene, to try and plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of those at home that I would be capable of retaining my title at RassleMania. You wanted to make a statement, and you did, but at the cost of the one true advantage you had going into the Scramble. You see, Ryan Ruckus, Terry Marvin, and AJ King, I can appreciate the theatricality of y'all revealing your group the way you did. Lord knows, I like a big production. But it wasn't smart of you, and I'll make you pay for that mistake at RassleMania!”
“Now I'm going to address each of you individually again, because I've got more to say! Terry Marvin, I'm going to start with you this time, because quite frankly, of the entire bunch, you annoy me the most! I heard what you said about, questioning whether I have the endurance to wrestle potentially 25 minutes, wondering if I can go the distance in a long match where quite frankly, I am outgunned. Obviously you haven't seen very much of my career, otherwise, you'd know that I am one of the most well conditioned athletes in all of APW! You don't need to look any further than my 2 out of 3 Falls Match with Shadow for the Overdrive Championship in December 2009 to see that I can go as long and as hard, that's what she said, as I need to in that ring! Quite frankly, I'm insulted that you could doubt my ability to go the distance in that ring! Instead, you should be asking yourself if you can possibly go 25 minutes with me!? Actually, on second thought, you did come up second in the Survive and Conquer Match, so that was a stupid question on my part. Still, Marvin, I don't care how well conditioned you are, how talented you are, or how fat your tights make you look, you have yet to show that you have what it takes to put matches away! I know that you want to shake off the image of being merely second place, that you want to use this Scramble Match to establish yourself as a winner! But Terry, as much as you try to hype up yourself up, as much as you try to say that you haven't given all you can in APW yet, well, I can't take you as that serious of a threat until you actually show that you have what it takes to finish a match. You stated that at RassleMania, you and your pals want to show that I absolutely suck. Well, that's awfully big talks coming from a guy who has only one match since Survive and Conquer. I'm not even going to go into the implications of your statement, because if I suck, and I've already beat you and your buddies in singles competition, what does that say about you guys? It says that you suck worse! Granted, I don't suck, and I wouldn't be so crass as to say that you guys do either. I realize what you and your allies bring to the table, Terry Marvin, and if you think for a moment that I'm overlooking any one of you because of your win-loss records, then you'd be wrong. As for your little comment about there being no Championship Advantage in this match, I'm more than aware of that! This Overdrive Championship Scramble Match will be my most challenging title defense, but it will also be my greatest triumph when I am declared the victor of the match, and have my RassleMania moment! Just because it's your first RassleMania, Terry Marvin, don't believe for a second that you're entitled to anything, least of all, my Overdrive Championship! If you want to be champion, Terry, you're going to have to earn it, and I won't make that easy.”
“Now onto the Karate Kid, AJ King! AJ, you had the audacity to claim that I'm running out luck and ways to cheat. Let me assure you, AJ King, I have only yet begun to cheat! And when I get my hands on you in the Scramble Match, I guarantee I'll pull on a fast one on you! Heck, I may even pull a fast two or three! The fact is, AJ King, I am much more intelligent and crafty then you give me credit for. Quite frankly, you seem to believe that since you've aligned yourself with Baldy and Miss Congeniality that you're somehow unbeatable. You have an overabundance of confidence that quite frankly, your skill level shouldn't allow you to have. And I'm not knocking your discipline, nor am I knocking you martial arts ability, I'm just saying, in a wrestling context, you're nowhere near the wrestler that I am! Look at what you've accomplished versus what I've accomplished, and it's no longer a matter of opinion, but objective fact! I have accomplished so much in APW alone, let alone the rest of my career elsewhere, so much so that if you can even have a career a quarter as bright as mine, it would be considered a successful career.”
“Also, just an FYI, AJ, my wife hasn't left me. Sure, we're going through a rough patch right now, but if you or your Contourage buddies, or Chris Cyrus for that matter, think that I'm going to let myself be distracted by it, you've got another thing coming to you! I am a professional wrestler, emphasis on the professional, and when I'm in that ring, I don't let my personal life affect me. Okay, maybe the couple of times I fought Sally Talfourd, and the time I fought Chris Cyrus in the Steel Cage, but there's simply too much at stake for me this Sunday to allow myself to lose focus on successfully walking out of Berkeley with my title intact. Just let me give you some advice, AJ King, next time you try to knock a guy, get your facts straight, because you've just shown me that you don't care enough about this match to truly get to know me. Your alliance with Ruckus and Marvin has given you a false sense of security, and as such, you've gotten lazy, sloppy even. And that can only benefit my efforts to embarrass you at the grandest stage of them all!”
Biggs chuckles a bit before taking another drink.
“Now AJ and Terry, both of you have mentioned that you'd have no qualms about pinning your fellow Contourage members in order to win the match, but quite frankly, until I see it, I don't believe it. And that's because the two of you are foolish enough to believe that Ryan Ruckus formed the Contourage for your benefit! Make no mistakes about it, The Contourage was formed for the benefit of Ryan Ruckus and Ryan Ruckus only! I've said it once, and I'll say it again, I truly hope that the two of you can show yourselves to be your own men, and not just bow down to what Ryan Ruckus wants, because then the match might actually have some intrigue to it! Granted, I'm sure that the end result will be the same regardless, with me retaining, but ask yourselves this, at the biggest show of the year, do you want to be known as men of action who did whatever they could to try and win in a losing effort, or do you want to be known as sidekicks? I'm just saying...”
“Speaking of Ryan Ruckus, I've got to admit that I am very surprised by the fact that he hasn't been spouting his mouth off at all yet leading up to our match this Sunday. If there was anybody who I would guess would be flapping his lips and proclaiming how great his is and how he's sure to walk out of RassleMania with the Overdrive Championship around his waist, other than me, it would have been you, Ryan. And I don't know whether it's because you're training extra hard to try and come up with a way to beat me, or if you're biding your time to make sure you get the last word, or if you're distracted by your ex-wife, Foxy, but whatever it is your doing, Ryan, it's not helping your case for RassleMania. Because rather than trying to get in my head and further plant seeds of doubt that I can't possibly overcome you and your running buddies, your silence leads me to believe that you don't think that you've got what it takes to beat me and become champion! Was it something I said? Maybe about how Terry Marvin and AJ King should break away from you? Did I strike a chord by telling the obvious truth that you formed the Contourage for selfish reasons? Are you upset that even though Miss Congeniality and the Karate Kid were too stupid to realize your motives, that I spoiled them for those simpletons? Ruckus, you've been trying to pass yourself off as a smooth operator, as a genius for putting together this 'mega-group,' a term I use very loosely in regards to the Contourage, mind you, and that through this merry band of rejects that you believe that you could somehow take my title from me. I'll tell you right now, Ruckus, that's not going to happen. Or to put it in your little Hollywood terms, Spoiler Alert: I'm winning!”
“Like I said before, Ruckus, of the Contourage, you were the biggest threat to my title leading up to RassleMania, but you've played your hand too soon. I know that if things don't go your way in the Scramble, you'll have no problems taking a breather outside the ring while I school your Contourage mates in it! I know that you'll try to strike out of nowhere, attacking me while I'm distracted. But if your buddies King and Marvin are telling the truth about being willing to do what it takes to become the Overdrive Champion, well, they'll turning on you when you least expect it! And when that does happen, Ruckus, how you react will show a lot about your character. You've already shown yourself to be of low character, but come RassleMania, you'll remove all doubt, I'm sure of it! But as low as you think you'll go, Ruckus, just know that I'm willing to go even lower. I'm a Machiavellian, I do whatever it takes to achieve my goals, because the ends justify the means! You think that because you got the one-up on me at Overdrive two weeks ago, that it puts you in a superior position come RassleMania, but I've already undone all that you thought you could accomplish with that mugging by forcing you to contemplate the possibility that your loyal lackeys could turn on you at any moment in the match! It doesn't matter how safe you think you are in this Scramble Match, Ryan Ruckus, it's all an illusion! I know that I said that I want my RassleMania moment to be me pinning Chris Cyrus to secure my title, but I'll be honest when I say that I wouldn't mind making my RassleMania moment at your expense!”
Biggs flashes his trademark smirk, laughing a bit to himself before continuing on.
”Finally, I come back to one Christopher Cyrus, my former best friend. Cyrus, you already know that an impromptu Axis of Awesome reunion is not in the cards for RassleMania, not that either one of us would want it! But the fact of the matter is that both you and I are the odd men out. The Contourage has the numbers advantage, plain and simple. And while I'm not saying that we should work together, what I am saying is that if you think they're going to just let you get your revenge on me, allowing you to do all the things you've wanted to do to me since I forced you out of APW last December, then you're in for a rude awakening come RassleMania. And while I know your main focus is to prevent me from leaving with my championship, you might want to consider your own self-preservation. If need be, I say you compromise your morals and get Hardcore. There's no disqualifications in a Scramble Match anyways, and if between you and me, we can somehow find a way to neutralize all three members of the Contourage, then it'll just leave you and me to finish our business, man to man. I know that's what you want, Cyrus. And let's face it, when you got Hardcore, there was nobody who could touch you! Heck, even when you renounced the Hardcore ways, you still held onto the Xtreme Championship for 364 days! You could cause so much havoc upon The Contourage, and then get me alone in that ring! But are you willing to do what it takes to get that opportunity? Are you willing to become the Hardcore Kid for just one more night, in order to get at me? Because that's the only way that you're going to get your RassleMania moment, Chris Cyrus, because otherwise, the Contourage will try and eat you alive. Not literally, at least I hope not, but the fact is that they view you as the wink link in the match. Mistakenly so, mind you, considering your pedigree, but the fact is, Cyrus, they don't respect. And while I don't like, heck, I hate you, Chris, you know that I respect what you're capable of in the ring. Like I said, I don't have any delusions of thinking that you and I will work together at all in the course of this match, but I do know that you want a clear shot at me. You can make that happen. It's just a matter of how much you're willing to get your hands dirty...”
Biggs pantomimes washing his hands as he says this.
”The simple fact of the matter is that heading into RassleMania, all four of you numbskulls tried to take my title away from me, and all four of you failed! Sure, the circumstances around the match may be different then when I first faced each and every one of you, but what hasn't changed is my determination to prove myself to be the absolute greatest Overdrive Champion of all time! And at RassleMania, the biggest show of them all, I will do just that! I've already set the bar with which every other Overdrive Champion ever will be measured, and at the Memorial Arena in Berkeley, California, I will raise that bar even further! I have been the fightingest, most dominant champion of any champion in APW history, and I look to keep it that way. Ryan Ruckus, Terry Marvin, and AJ King, your false sense of security will be your undoing, and Chris Cyrus, you're going to be victim of circumstance, either by my hands or those of the Contourage. But any way you slice it, there is no way that I'm leaving RassleMania without [i[my[/i] APW Overdrive Championship, because I'm quite simply OUT OF THIS WORLD!”[/color]
Biggs sits back and smirks again as FIRST CONTACT comes to a close. “Spacewalker” plays again as the screen fades to black as the APW logo and copyright flash across the bottom of the screen.
5:56 pm
Biggerstaff Residence
Seattle, Washington
The sun is shining through the windows as Ellie and I sit on the living room floor with a bunch of travel brochures spread out and our laptop not too far out of reach as we make plans for an upcoming vacation. I promised Ellie before I left for the Indy wrestling show this past Sunday that I would take her on a vacation to make up for it, and by golly, she's holding me to it! Not that I mind, because after the stress of defending my APW Overdrive Championship week in and week out, hopefully culminating with another successful title defense at RassleMania, well, I could use a vacation myself.
”How about we go to Europe, maybe touring the French countryside, and ending our trip in Paris? That could be fun,” Ellie mentions as she points to a picture of the Eiffel Tower on a brochure in her hand.
”Ellie, you know I can't stand the thought of going to France, at least not for an extended time. We could maybe do a night in Paris, but any more time, and I'd feel like I'd have to surrender the first time I step into a ring afterward! Why don't we go to Disneyland again? I loved it there!”
Ellie furrows her brows a bit. ”We were just there in December!”
”Yeah, but ElecTRONica ends on April 11th, and I'd really like to go one more time!” I answer back with a grin, trying to convince her.
”Well, we could probably hit Disney the day after RassleMania, and then head out to where we're heading after that! Remember, you said that we get to go anywhere that I want to go!”
”Fair enough. I did say that. I guess I'm kind of stuck going to France then, aren't I?” I reply sheepishly.
Ellie lets out her infectious giggle that I love so much and has a huge smile on her face. Her eyes are lighting up in sun in a way that just makes her seem even more beautiful than she already is. (Which is the most beautiful person in the world, in my not so humble opinion.) She continues to have a giggle in her voice as she responds, ”We don't have to go to Paris. I want to go somewhere that we'll both enjoy! We'll have to keep looking, I guess.”
Ellie turns back to the pile of brochures, pouring over each one of them, trying to make up her mind. As she's absorbed into her hunt for the perfect place to go on vacation, from out of nowhere, I begin to sing The Beach Boy's Kokomo, ”Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama!
Key Largo, Montego,
Baby why don't we go?
Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo,
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow.
That's where we wanna go,
way down in Kokomo!”
”What the heck was that?!” Ellie says through her laughter. She's cracking up thanks to my horribly off tune singing, and quite frankly, cheesy attempt at humor.
”Sorry. My folks listened to a lot of Beach Boys when I was growing up. Though you have to admit, the Muppets version they made in the early nineties was pretty sweet!”
”I never really liked the Muppets,” Ellie tells me very matter-of-factly.
I decide to egg her on a bit. ”You didn't like the Muppets? How can you not like the Muppets!? I've never met anyone who didn't like the Muppets!”
”I just never liked them is all. Them or Scooby-Doo. For some reason I didn't like either of them.”
”You didn't like Scooby-Doo either!? What kind of childhood did you have!?” I exclaim in a joking manner.
All of a sudden, Ellie gets dead serious, and glares at me, looking me right in the eyes. ”Don't you dare bring up my childhood in a negative manner! My parents gave me the absolute best childhood I could ever have, so show them some respect!”
I'm taken aback by the sternness of her words, as well as the content. ”How did you even make that connection? I wasn't knocking your parents at all, I was just giving you a hard time because you didn't like the same things I liked growing up, that's all. But if I offended you, I'm really sorry, honey, I didn't mean to.”
Ellie is still fuming, though, and snaps back at me, ”Just like you didn't mean to walk out on me like you did last Sunday night!? Just like you didn't mean to keep bringing up the fact that I cheated on you for emotional leverage!? Just like you didn't mean to force me to go visit that counselor when I didn't want to!?”
I get up from the floor, and try to diffuse the situation. ”I really don't know where all of this is coming from right now, Ellie, but obviously I've greatly upset you. All I can say is that I'm sorry, and that I didn't mean to. I think it would probably be best for us to cool down for a bit, and then we can get back together and get back to figuring out where we want to go for vacation.” As I begin to walk away, Ellie darts up and grabs a hold of my arm, digging her nails into my forearm as she clutches on to me.
”No, you're the one who wants to talk about things, so let's talk it out right here, right now! Dr. Hauntz told you that it would be best for you to deal with situation as they arise, so deal with this!” she yells at me, continuing to drive her nails into my arm. She has an almost crazed look in her eyes, and I'll admit, it's scarring me a bit.
”Baby, you need to calm down a bit. Like I said, I have no idea where this is coming from, and if I offended you, I'm sorry. It's as simple as that. You can choose to either accept or decline my apology, it's up to you,” I tell her as calmly as I can.
”You implied that my parents didn't raise me right! You implied that they somehow are bad parents because they didn't raise me to like The Muppets or Scooby-Doo!”
”Where are you even getting this, Ellie!? I said nothing of the sort! You're putting words in my mouth that just aren't there! Now could you please let go of my arm so I can go to the other room and give you some time to settle down?” I answer back, raising my voice a bit as I do.
”Make me...” she mutters, glaring at me in a way that I haven't really seen before from anybody, let alone her.
”Excuse me?”
”You heard me. I said make me!” she growls.
By this point, I'm more than a little frustrated, and I have a very flippant tone as I respond. ”Now Ellie, you know that the only way I can make you is by asserting physical force, and potentially hurting you. You know that I'm not gonna do that. You should get checked to see if you're bi-polar or something...” I say just off the cuff.
>THWAP!<
Right as soon as the words come out of my mouth, Ellie uses her free hand to slug me right in the face! And not in her playful, happy slug, but a full on punch with intent to injure!
>THWAP!<
Again, another punch right to the face! I put my free hand up to my face to rub the spot where she hit me. ”What the crap was that for!?”
”How dare you call me bi-polar! I'll show you bi-polar!” she screams back, throwing another fist at me! I dodge the blow, and manage to escape her grasp. She swings wildly at me again, but misses, and I catch her as she falls forward. I hold her close to me, in a hug, to prevent her from swinging at me again. She's struggling with all her might to break free, but to no avail.
”Now you listen to me right now, Ellie! I love you, and I know you love me, but you sure have a weird way of showing it sometimes! This kind of behavior is unacceptable! You need to calm the hell down! Once you do that, we'll discuss what our next step is, but this kind of behavior just isn't normal!”
”Let go of me, you son of a b****! Let go of me right now!”
”Not until you calm the f*** down!”
All of a sudden, a look of shock comes across Ellie's face, almost like she's snapped out of her rage. Tears begin to well up in her eyes a bit. She speaks through the sobs, ”I've never heard you speak that way to me before...”
I instantly feel guilty, knowing that I took things too far myself. Not as far as Ellie did, but still, too far. I'm humiliated as I begin to apologize, still hugging my wife. ”I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I've never had to use that kind of language before. It was wrong of me to curse at you, honey. I took things too far.”
Ellie stops struggling to break free, and leans her head on my chest. ”I took them too far first. I don't know how I can love you so much, but get so irritated with you that I get to these kind of extremes. You're right about me putting words in your mouth. You were just joking around, and I took it the wrong way...”
”I need to learn to quite egging you on like that, babe. I guess I'm still getting used to the fact that I can't rib you the way that I rib the guys on the road. I need to be more sensitive to your needs. To quote Red Green, 'I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess!'” I say, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
Ellie gets a hurt look back on her face. ”Is this just some kind of joke to you? Do you think that this is funny? How can you make a joke at a time like this?”
She pulls away from me a bit, and I let go of the hug. I stammer a bit as I respond, ”Well, it's k-kind of-f a defense mechanism, I guess. Whenever stuff starts to get too intense, I crack a jo-”
>THWAP!<
Ellie cracks another punch, this time right in my nose! She hits me hard enough where it actually begins to bleed! I'm livid at this point, while I hold one hand up to my nose, and have the other clenched into a fist. I keep tightening my fist, clenching it until it won't clench any further.
”If you want to hit me, go ahead and hit me!” Ellie goads me, motioning for me to let her have it! I'm literally shaking with anger, but there is no way that I'm going to hit my wife. It's just not something that I could do.
”You know darn well that I'm not going to hit you, Ellie!”
”Why not? You don't think I can take it? I can take it! Be a man, and hit me!” she screams at the top of her lungs. Her face is red with rage, and she's shaking too.
I look Ellie directly in the eyes, and speak as clearly as I can, trying to convey the seriousness of what I have to say to my wife. ”No, I'm going to be a man and not hit you. I love you, Ellie, but this is ridiculous! You're flying off your rocker at non-existent provocation! Now I'm going to head out to store, and when you're ready to talk about this like an adult, you can feel more than free to give me a call, and I'll come back home so we can talk about this. But I'm not going to stay here and be on edge, wondering if I'll say something that will send you into a fit of rage. I love you, babe, and am willing to do whatever it takes to make this marriage work, but I'm not going to stand here and take this kind of abuse from you.”
Ellie begins to cry again, her face still red with anger. ”Come on and hit me! Please, hit me!”
”You know that I'm not going to do that, Ellie,” I tell her as I turn away and grab my keys, wallet, and phone from the table near the door.
”You've hit Sally Talfourd before! What's Sally got that I don't!? F***ing hit me!”
Those words stab me like a knife right in the heart. In her current state of delusion, Ellie seems to think that because I've physically hit Sally Talfourd in the context of a match, that I somehow care about her more than I do Ellie. Ellie's lashing out with her greatest fear, that she's afraid that I'll cheat on her because she cheated on me. And while Sally was a huge source of temptation for me in the past, the fact that I'm married to Ellie, let alone the fact that mine and Sally's former friendship has been all but non-existent, has killed any sort of temptation. But as much as I want to be able to comfort Ellie and assure her that that's not the case, I know anything I say right now will fall upon deaf ears. Also, it hurts to hear that she thinks I'll cheat on her. I've been nothing but patient with her, and while I've made mistakes, she needs to find out that sometimes she needs to be the one to say sorry. I don't respond to her as I open up the door. I don't even look back as I hear Ellie crying behind me, whimpering as she continues to beg me, ”You've hit Sally...Please hit me...”
>Click< The door closes, and I'm out of there. I can still hear Ellie faintly screaming from inside the house, but I'm resolved to let her wait it out. I'll come back on my terms, not hers. Once I reach the car, I get in and sit down, turning on the ignition. Rather than backing out of the drive way, I start to wonder why we fight like this now. We never had a fight when we were dating or during our engagement. Why the heck are we fighting now, and why so intensely? I wonder how I can be so hostile with the woman I love the most in this world, but I wonder more about how she can be so hostile towards me. They say that doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results is the definition of insanity. The first time I was with Ellie, things didn't work out. Am I going against the grain trying to make it work out with her this time? Am I insane for thinking that we can have a fruitful, loving marriage?
Something has got to change in our relationship if we're going to make this work, and I fully intend to make it work. I'm too stubborn to have a failed marriage. But is she? I don't know how committed Ellie truly is to this relationship, and it scares me. And while I'm sitting in the car, pondering my marriage, I can't help but begin to tear up. The tears eventually give way to sobbing, and then crying. I don't want to lose Ellie, but can I stand being with her?
***
Airing Friday, March 25
Depeche Mode's “Spacewalker” plays as the words FIRST CONTACT flash across the screen. The video transitions to Biggs in his personal gym. He's sitting on the apron of the ring, wearing blue exercise shorts and a Seattle Mariners T-Shirt with the sleeves cutoff. He is drenched in sweat, and has a bottle of Orange Gatorade placed on the apron next to him. He wipes his face off with a towel before talking into the camera.
”Welcome, one and all to the last episode of Biggs' First Contact until RassleMania! We're just two days removed from the biggest show of the year, two days removed from the show where I firmly establish myself as the absolute greatest Overdrive Champion in APW history when I defeat Ryan Ruckus, Terry Marvin, AJ King, and Chris Cyrus in the Overdrive Championship Scramble Match! Now some of you may be saying to yourselves, 'But Biggs, all four of those men have explicitly stated that they're after you, and want to take you out of the match in short order! How can you possibly overcome the threat of not only The Contourage, but your former friend, now bitter enemy, Chris Cyrus!?' Well, I'll tell you why I'm positive that I will be leaving RassleMania still Overdrive Champion, and I can do it in one word: Legacy!”
“The simple fact of the matter is that I am not out to prove that I'm simply a talented wrestler, but that I am one of the all time greats! And while I haven't even had a shot at the APW Heavyweight Championship, let alone held it, I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity that I have with the Overdrive Championship to make my point! Ever since I defeated Pence Weatherlight at Christmas Chaos, I have been not only a fighting champion, but a dominant one! I made short work of Criss Cassidy not once, but twice! I out-cheated Mr. Survive and Conquer himself, Ryan Ruckus! I showed AJ King why his discipline and martial arts skills weren't enough to defeat me! Terry Marvin wasn't able to parlay his size and strength advantage into a title victory! The only blemish on my record so far in 2011 is the draw with Chris Cyrus! I'll give credit where credit is due, Cyrus put up a good fight, but it wasn't good enough to unseat me as the Overdrive Champion! That's five wins, one draw, and zero losses since Christmas Chaos, six wins if we include the match where I defeated Pence. The fact of the matter is that you can look up and down the RassleMania card, and find maybe one, possibly two guys who have been on the kind of roll I've been on, and they're both in IWC! Nobody in APW has enjoyed the kind of consistent success that I've had so far this year, and come RassleMania, that'll still be the case!”
Biggs pauses to take a drink of Gatorade. He wipes his mouth with his wrist before continuing.
”Now Contourage, I know that the three of you are very confident heading into RassleMania, especially considering the drubbing you gave me a couple of weeks ago. But the thing is, any advantage you looked to have gained in ganging up on me in that manner has quite simply ceased to exist in the two weeks since you attacked me! Any physical damage you did has more healed up by now, and the fact that you blew the element of surprise shows just how short sighted the lot of you are. Had it been me running the Contourage, instead of Mr. Can't Hold His Load Ryan Ruckus, I would have waited until RassleMania to reveal your partnership. But by giving me the knowledge of your alliance, whether it's a tight knit unit, or a loose conglomerate, you've given me time to prepare for it, you've given time to come up with a game plan for dealing with the three of you! I can understand why you decided to reveal your partnership when you did, to make a scene, to try and plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of those at home that I would be capable of retaining my title at RassleMania. You wanted to make a statement, and you did, but at the cost of the one true advantage you had going into the Scramble. You see, Ryan Ruckus, Terry Marvin, and AJ King, I can appreciate the theatricality of y'all revealing your group the way you did. Lord knows, I like a big production. But it wasn't smart of you, and I'll make you pay for that mistake at RassleMania!”
“Now I'm going to address each of you individually again, because I've got more to say! Terry Marvin, I'm going to start with you this time, because quite frankly, of the entire bunch, you annoy me the most! I heard what you said about, questioning whether I have the endurance to wrestle potentially 25 minutes, wondering if I can go the distance in a long match where quite frankly, I am outgunned. Obviously you haven't seen very much of my career, otherwise, you'd know that I am one of the most well conditioned athletes in all of APW! You don't need to look any further than my 2 out of 3 Falls Match with Shadow for the Overdrive Championship in December 2009 to see that I can go as long and as hard, that's what she said, as I need to in that ring! Quite frankly, I'm insulted that you could doubt my ability to go the distance in that ring! Instead, you should be asking yourself if you can possibly go 25 minutes with me!? Actually, on second thought, you did come up second in the Survive and Conquer Match, so that was a stupid question on my part. Still, Marvin, I don't care how well conditioned you are, how talented you are, or how fat your tights make you look, you have yet to show that you have what it takes to put matches away! I know that you want to shake off the image of being merely second place, that you want to use this Scramble Match to establish yourself as a winner! But Terry, as much as you try to hype up yourself up, as much as you try to say that you haven't given all you can in APW yet, well, I can't take you as that serious of a threat until you actually show that you have what it takes to finish a match. You stated that at RassleMania, you and your pals want to show that I absolutely suck. Well, that's awfully big talks coming from a guy who has only one match since Survive and Conquer. I'm not even going to go into the implications of your statement, because if I suck, and I've already beat you and your buddies in singles competition, what does that say about you guys? It says that you suck worse! Granted, I don't suck, and I wouldn't be so crass as to say that you guys do either. I realize what you and your allies bring to the table, Terry Marvin, and if you think for a moment that I'm overlooking any one of you because of your win-loss records, then you'd be wrong. As for your little comment about there being no Championship Advantage in this match, I'm more than aware of that! This Overdrive Championship Scramble Match will be my most challenging title defense, but it will also be my greatest triumph when I am declared the victor of the match, and have my RassleMania moment! Just because it's your first RassleMania, Terry Marvin, don't believe for a second that you're entitled to anything, least of all, my Overdrive Championship! If you want to be champion, Terry, you're going to have to earn it, and I won't make that easy.”
“Now onto the Karate Kid, AJ King! AJ, you had the audacity to claim that I'm running out luck and ways to cheat. Let me assure you, AJ King, I have only yet begun to cheat! And when I get my hands on you in the Scramble Match, I guarantee I'll pull on a fast one on you! Heck, I may even pull a fast two or three! The fact is, AJ King, I am much more intelligent and crafty then you give me credit for. Quite frankly, you seem to believe that since you've aligned yourself with Baldy and Miss Congeniality that you're somehow unbeatable. You have an overabundance of confidence that quite frankly, your skill level shouldn't allow you to have. And I'm not knocking your discipline, nor am I knocking you martial arts ability, I'm just saying, in a wrestling context, you're nowhere near the wrestler that I am! Look at what you've accomplished versus what I've accomplished, and it's no longer a matter of opinion, but objective fact! I have accomplished so much in APW alone, let alone the rest of my career elsewhere, so much so that if you can even have a career a quarter as bright as mine, it would be considered a successful career.”
“Also, just an FYI, AJ, my wife hasn't left me. Sure, we're going through a rough patch right now, but if you or your Contourage buddies, or Chris Cyrus for that matter, think that I'm going to let myself be distracted by it, you've got another thing coming to you! I am a professional wrestler, emphasis on the professional, and when I'm in that ring, I don't let my personal life affect me. Okay, maybe the couple of times I fought Sally Talfourd, and the time I fought Chris Cyrus in the Steel Cage, but there's simply too much at stake for me this Sunday to allow myself to lose focus on successfully walking out of Berkeley with my title intact. Just let me give you some advice, AJ King, next time you try to knock a guy, get your facts straight, because you've just shown me that you don't care enough about this match to truly get to know me. Your alliance with Ruckus and Marvin has given you a false sense of security, and as such, you've gotten lazy, sloppy even. And that can only benefit my efforts to embarrass you at the grandest stage of them all!”
Biggs chuckles a bit before taking another drink.
“Now AJ and Terry, both of you have mentioned that you'd have no qualms about pinning your fellow Contourage members in order to win the match, but quite frankly, until I see it, I don't believe it. And that's because the two of you are foolish enough to believe that Ryan Ruckus formed the Contourage for your benefit! Make no mistakes about it, The Contourage was formed for the benefit of Ryan Ruckus and Ryan Ruckus only! I've said it once, and I'll say it again, I truly hope that the two of you can show yourselves to be your own men, and not just bow down to what Ryan Ruckus wants, because then the match might actually have some intrigue to it! Granted, I'm sure that the end result will be the same regardless, with me retaining, but ask yourselves this, at the biggest show of the year, do you want to be known as men of action who did whatever they could to try and win in a losing effort, or do you want to be known as sidekicks? I'm just saying...”
“Speaking of Ryan Ruckus, I've got to admit that I am very surprised by the fact that he hasn't been spouting his mouth off at all yet leading up to our match this Sunday. If there was anybody who I would guess would be flapping his lips and proclaiming how great his is and how he's sure to walk out of RassleMania with the Overdrive Championship around his waist, other than me, it would have been you, Ryan. And I don't know whether it's because you're training extra hard to try and come up with a way to beat me, or if you're biding your time to make sure you get the last word, or if you're distracted by your ex-wife, Foxy, but whatever it is your doing, Ryan, it's not helping your case for RassleMania. Because rather than trying to get in my head and further plant seeds of doubt that I can't possibly overcome you and your running buddies, your silence leads me to believe that you don't think that you've got what it takes to beat me and become champion! Was it something I said? Maybe about how Terry Marvin and AJ King should break away from you? Did I strike a chord by telling the obvious truth that you formed the Contourage for selfish reasons? Are you upset that even though Miss Congeniality and the Karate Kid were too stupid to realize your motives, that I spoiled them for those simpletons? Ruckus, you've been trying to pass yourself off as a smooth operator, as a genius for putting together this 'mega-group,' a term I use very loosely in regards to the Contourage, mind you, and that through this merry band of rejects that you believe that you could somehow take my title from me. I'll tell you right now, Ruckus, that's not going to happen. Or to put it in your little Hollywood terms, Spoiler Alert: I'm winning!”
“Like I said before, Ruckus, of the Contourage, you were the biggest threat to my title leading up to RassleMania, but you've played your hand too soon. I know that if things don't go your way in the Scramble, you'll have no problems taking a breather outside the ring while I school your Contourage mates in it! I know that you'll try to strike out of nowhere, attacking me while I'm distracted. But if your buddies King and Marvin are telling the truth about being willing to do what it takes to become the Overdrive Champion, well, they'll turning on you when you least expect it! And when that does happen, Ruckus, how you react will show a lot about your character. You've already shown yourself to be of low character, but come RassleMania, you'll remove all doubt, I'm sure of it! But as low as you think you'll go, Ruckus, just know that I'm willing to go even lower. I'm a Machiavellian, I do whatever it takes to achieve my goals, because the ends justify the means! You think that because you got the one-up on me at Overdrive two weeks ago, that it puts you in a superior position come RassleMania, but I've already undone all that you thought you could accomplish with that mugging by forcing you to contemplate the possibility that your loyal lackeys could turn on you at any moment in the match! It doesn't matter how safe you think you are in this Scramble Match, Ryan Ruckus, it's all an illusion! I know that I said that I want my RassleMania moment to be me pinning Chris Cyrus to secure my title, but I'll be honest when I say that I wouldn't mind making my RassleMania moment at your expense!”
Biggs flashes his trademark smirk, laughing a bit to himself before continuing on.
”Finally, I come back to one Christopher Cyrus, my former best friend. Cyrus, you already know that an impromptu Axis of Awesome reunion is not in the cards for RassleMania, not that either one of us would want it! But the fact of the matter is that both you and I are the odd men out. The Contourage has the numbers advantage, plain and simple. And while I'm not saying that we should work together, what I am saying is that if you think they're going to just let you get your revenge on me, allowing you to do all the things you've wanted to do to me since I forced you out of APW last December, then you're in for a rude awakening come RassleMania. And while I know your main focus is to prevent me from leaving with my championship, you might want to consider your own self-preservation. If need be, I say you compromise your morals and get Hardcore. There's no disqualifications in a Scramble Match anyways, and if between you and me, we can somehow find a way to neutralize all three members of the Contourage, then it'll just leave you and me to finish our business, man to man. I know that's what you want, Cyrus. And let's face it, when you got Hardcore, there was nobody who could touch you! Heck, even when you renounced the Hardcore ways, you still held onto the Xtreme Championship for 364 days! You could cause so much havoc upon The Contourage, and then get me alone in that ring! But are you willing to do what it takes to get that opportunity? Are you willing to become the Hardcore Kid for just one more night, in order to get at me? Because that's the only way that you're going to get your RassleMania moment, Chris Cyrus, because otherwise, the Contourage will try and eat you alive. Not literally, at least I hope not, but the fact is that they view you as the wink link in the match. Mistakenly so, mind you, considering your pedigree, but the fact is, Cyrus, they don't respect. And while I don't like, heck, I hate you, Chris, you know that I respect what you're capable of in the ring. Like I said, I don't have any delusions of thinking that you and I will work together at all in the course of this match, but I do know that you want a clear shot at me. You can make that happen. It's just a matter of how much you're willing to get your hands dirty...”
Biggs pantomimes washing his hands as he says this.
”The simple fact of the matter is that heading into RassleMania, all four of you numbskulls tried to take my title away from me, and all four of you failed! Sure, the circumstances around the match may be different then when I first faced each and every one of you, but what hasn't changed is my determination to prove myself to be the absolute greatest Overdrive Champion of all time! And at RassleMania, the biggest show of them all, I will do just that! I've already set the bar with which every other Overdrive Champion ever will be measured, and at the Memorial Arena in Berkeley, California, I will raise that bar even further! I have been the fightingest, most dominant champion of any champion in APW history, and I look to keep it that way. Ryan Ruckus, Terry Marvin, and AJ King, your false sense of security will be your undoing, and Chris Cyrus, you're going to be victim of circumstance, either by my hands or those of the Contourage. But any way you slice it, there is no way that I'm leaving RassleMania without [i[my[/i] APW Overdrive Championship, because I'm quite simply OUT OF THIS WORLD!”[/color]
Biggs sits back and smirks again as FIRST CONTACT comes to a close. “Spacewalker” plays again as the screen fades to black as the APW logo and copyright flash across the bottom of the screen.
