Post by Johnny Rebel on Mar 23, 2012 7:08:11 GMT -4
“Hello?”
Rebel waits for a momentarily before offering a second greeting.
“Hello? Who’s this?”
No response. Rebel’s starting to get frustrated until the sound of a sobbing woman comes from the other end of the line.
“Come on,” Rebel says, “Who is this? What do you want?”
“It’s Wendy… “ Sarah’s mother says, her voice trembling through the phone. “It’s about Sarah.”
Rebel’s heart sank.
----
A wave of emotions came rushing over the frantic Rebel as he sped down the interstate in order to get to the hospital. His phone had continued to vibrate in the seat next to him but Rebel allowed it to go to voicemail each time figuring it was Myles trying to figure out where he was headed.
He pulls in an underpass at the front door of the Mercy Hospital and Medical Center where he flips his car in park and leaps out. Rebel brushes past the valet approaching him and flips the keys over his head, making a beeline for the recovery wing. The fracas has caused a stir in the usually calm hospital, which in turn causes security to be on high alert.
“Sarah…” Rebel is barely able to get her name out of his mouth, as he asks for her room number from the lady sitting behind the counter. “Sarah O’Brien.”
“Hold, please.” The lady answered before getting up from her chair and disappearing in to a back room. Every tick on the clock felt like hours as Rebel found himself tapping on the counter to the beat of each click.
After a few moments, the woman reappears and waves Rebel through the double doors. She leads him down a dimly lit hallway and to an empty room where she encourages Rebel to have a seat.
“Somebody will be with you in a second,” she says but Rebel isn’t satisfied with that answer.
“What’s going on?” Rebel asks but gets no response from the nurse, who leaves the room and closes the door behind her.
He plops down on a chair positioned next to the window but the nervousness of the moment doesn’t allow for him to sit still. Sick of waiting, Rebel walks over to the door and tries to turn the handle but it doesn’t move. He gives it a second tug but gets the same result, realizing the door has been locked from the outside. He moves frantically to jar the door loose but his efforts prove to be unsuccessful as he realizes that something isn’t right here.
He pulls out his cell phone to reveal fourteen missed calls. “Fourteen!” he mumbles to himself while flipping through the list, all from the same Chicago-based hospital that he now finds himself in. He presses the phone up to his ear and after getting to his voicemail hits the speaker button to listen to his missed messages, the first coming from Sarah’s mother.
The anger that was welling up inside of Rebel was about to explode before the beep of the first message ending signaled the beginning of the second:
The message cuts off as Rebel screams “NO!” at the phone and slams it against the wall. He had been playing Sarah’s awakening over and over again in his head but this wasn’t the ending that he had been preparing for. Unfortunately for Rebel, there wasn’t any time to feel sorry for himself with his flight leaving for Indianapolis leaving in a few short hours. Rebel’s thought pattern was interrupted as two of Chicago’s largest police officers step through the door.
“Mr. Rebel,” the officer says. “Please have a seat.”
“I don’t have time for this!” Rebel argues. “What have you done with Sarah? I know you know where she is!”
“I’m going to have to ask you to sit down.”
Rebel hulks up and is prepared to move through the officers and out the door but only gets about two steps before he’s met with the two larger men with each having a handful of his arm.
“Please don’t make us ask you again,” the officer comments on Rebel’s refusal to comply. “If you can’t follow simple orders than we’ll be forced to restrain you.”
“You aren’t getting a word out of me!” Rebel says while making yet another attempt at the door but this time the two men tackle him to the ground and handcuff his hands behind his back.
“We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.” The officer says to Rebel, who is frantically tugging at the handcuffs attached to the wall. “If you want to make it to RassleMania than I suggest you calm down and you answer a few questions for us.”
Rebel had everything pulled out from underneath him once again. He was headed to the biggest night of his life and the only thing that he could think about was Sarah and the last words she said to him: “Please come…” The phrase was going to replay over and over in his head until it nearly made him explode.
“The questions, Rebel…”
The officers voice snapped Rebel back in to reality and as he glanced up at the two men staring over him.
“Alright,” He answers, “What do you want to know?”
-----
“You did what?” Myles screams at the stone faced Rebel. “I can’t believe you let them force you in to talking without your lawyer in the room to advise you! Do you realize that you have put this entire lawsuit in jeopardy? Everything we have worked so hard to build, you have essentially torn down in a matter of seconds! There are no words to describe what a colossal failure this is!”
“It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”
“Here we go again! Don’t start with the pity party, Rebel.” Berman kneels down inches from Rebel’s face. “You have officially lost everything! Should we go down the list? Sarah’s gone and isn’t coming back anytime soon. You blew any leverage that we might have had heading in to our pending court case against the APW when you blabbed to any and everyone who would lend an ear. You lost the Overdrive championship to Terry freakin’ Marvin of all people! And after the way Gates has handled you since the first time the two of you stepped in the ring against one another, you don’t have a snowballs chance in hell to win at RassleMania! Shall I continue?”
“By all means,” Rebel’s sarcasm still shines through despite the stoic look on his face.
“Why am I wasting my time on you? Everybody always spoke about Johnny Rebel as being this larger-than-life figure that didn’t take crap from anybody. It turns out that you’re nothing but an over-the-hill, washed up nobody that rolls over at the first sign of adversity! You are absolutely pathetic. I have never met a loser in my entire life. I can't believe that I was actually looking forward to representing you! The whole world needs to know that you're an absolute pushover and at the first sign of trouble you wither like a flower in a snowstorm. I can't wait to get my hands on the tabloids as I'm going to expose you for the good-for-nothing lowlife that you are.”
“Are you finished?”
“I’m finished with you! Add our failed partnership to the list of things that you have dropped the ball on since returning to the APW!”
Myles collects his things and slings his briefcase over his shoulder before storming out of the room, which leaves Rebel all alone.
----
“I’m dropping the case,” a defeated Rebel says to President Jeff from across his desk.
“That’s music to my ears!” President Jeff says with a large grin on his face. “You didn’t think that you actually had a chance at winning, did you? I’m confident that with the team of lawyers we have here in the APW that justice would have been served.”
“I’m not concerned with winning or losing anymore. I’m done.”
“What do you mean you’re done?” Jeff asks, looking concerned at Rebel’s concession just days before he’s supposed to headline the biggest event of the year.
“Here,” Rebel says while picking up a folder from underneath his chair and sliding it towards President Jeff. “It’s the newest newsletter from Wrestling Observer. I wanted you to have a copy before it went public next week.”
President Jeff opens the folder to find Rebel holding the Overdrive championship on the cover with the headline ‘APW Megastar Calling it Quits!’ written over him.
“I don’t get it?” Jeff says with a befuddled look on his face.
“I’m throwing in the towel. I’ve come to realize that coming out of retirement to sign with the APW was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I came back to rebuild my image as the best in the world and the only thing I’ve done since stepping foot back in the ring is create heartburn for all of the people closest to me. I’m packing up and heading out of town tonight before the news breaks in the morning and this place is covered with reporters. It’s been a pleasure.”
Rebel stands up to extend his hand to the APW president but doesn’t find the warm reception that he was expecting.
“You can’t leave now! We’re days away from RassleMania and you have a signed contract to compete! What am I supposed to do? We have a sold out building with over sixty-thousand people that are expecting you to be there. I can’t and won’t let you ruin this for us!”
“You don’t have much of a choice…” Rebel adds. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You are pretty resourceful and if you can’t find someone to take my place then I’m sure you can dig a little deeper in to C.J. Gates’ pockets to offer a few refunds.”
“But… but…”
“Thanks for the opportunity, Jeff.” Rebel says. “Good luck with RassleMania!”
“Rebel, wait! Get back here! You won’t live this down!” Jeff switches back and forth between begging and ordering Rebel to return to his office but “Simply Put” disappears down the hallway.
-----
“Hey, dude.”
The familiar voice of the former APW Undisputed champion rings through the doorway as Biggs pokes his head in the locker room.
“I happen to be walking past Jeff’s office a few seconds ago and found him cursing you under his breath. What’s going on?” Biggs asks.
“I just gave him a bit of bad news…” Rebel answers back. “I told him that I was retiring from the APW and giving up my spot in the Undisputed championship match at RassleMania. I’m guessing he didn’t take it very well.”
“Wait, what?” Biggs shakes his head. “You gave up what? There are hundreds that would kill for a chance to compete for the Undisputed championship at any time let alone on the grand stage of RassleMania! Present company included!”
“There are things that just don’t matter to me much anymore.”
“What could possibly be more important than getting the championship off of C.J. Gates? He stumbled in to the finals of Test for the Best and took advantage of me to win the belt to begin with! I’d beat him nine times out of ten if I were still an active competitor but since I’m not there is only one person left that would make a respectable champion.”
“Seriously, Biggs? You and I both know that Blade doesn’t stand a chance!”
“I’m talking about you, idiot! You have the opportunity to legitimize your legacy and change the course of APW in one evening. Noble is even less deserving of a challenger than Gates is as champion! If you don’t take care of business than we’ll be forced to live through another year with an undeserving dolt at the top of the card.”
“That doesn’t sound like a me problem. I’m not concerned with who walks out of RassleMania because once I finish packing my bags, I’m leaving this place forever and I refuse to look back.”
“I hate that you see it that way, Rebel. You’re the only one that can bring some respect back to the Undisputed championship and the APW as a whole. The only problem I have is that if our roles were reversed right now you wouldn’t ever let me live this down! You would be telling anybody who would be listening that Biggs was a washout and afraid of a little competition. You need to snap out of it and get yourself together before you make a decision that you’re going to regret for the rest of your life.”
“My heart just isn’t in it.”
“It hurts me to say this but you know that you are a man after my own heart. The two of us have been cut from the same cloth! We have never been the type of megastar to care about what others have thought about us as long as we success at whatever we’re doing. You have proven that you'll do anything to win and I can respect that. I told you once that you haven’t shown the potential to consistently win on the highest level but you answered all those questions when you captained Team APW to the Supremacy championship. You proved to the world that you were a capable competitor when you beat me for the Overdrive championship. You proved the doubters wrong when you beat Noble to win the Overdrive championship back again. Now go out and complete the gauntlet and finally get over the hump!"
“It’s been a pleasure, Biggs.”
Rebel reaches out and pats Biggs on the back before slipping his bag over his neck and shoulders. He takes one last look around the locker room before turning out the lights and closing the door behind him. He glances down at his phone to see a voicemail from a call that he must have missed during his conversation with Biggs. He enters in his password and holds the phone up to his ear:
The voicemail cuts off but Rebel heard enough. There was only one to getting Sarah back: winning the championship and staking his claim to the top of the wrestling world. It wouldn’t be an easy task but hearing Sarah’s voice was enough motivation to keep him pressing on for the time being. Rebel pulled up his phone and began a new text:
“Hold off on that story… start writing a new one. I’m winning that belt!”
[/color]
----
Let’s wade through the irrelevant sideshow acts and cut to the chase: this match comes down to C.J. Gates vs. Johnny Rebel.
The odds aren’t in my favor. You’re the champion and in order for me to walk out of Indianapolis with the championship in my possession that I’m going to have to go the extra mile to defeat you. I know that you aren’t smart enough to hightail it as soon as things start to get a little hairy so the only way that I’m going to have my hand raised as the winner is to do something that I haven’t been able to do in three previous attempts.
We both have a lot to prove when the bell rings at RassleMania. You have been unsuccessful at proving to the masses that you are a legitimate champion! You may have gone through hell in winning the belt from Biggs but you haven’t done much to change the perception that you are not a transitional champion. You have had several opportunities to defend that belt but you have backed away each time and have chosen the road that didn’t put your precious championship in harm’s way! It’s been pathetic and I am appalled that we have allowed such a prestigious company to fall by the wayside with you as champion.
The problem I have runs much deeper than your flat-out refusal in defending the championship though. It begins with a complete lack of talent!
You don’t have the talent or the physical ability to compete with someone as well rounded and experienced as I am. You and I both know that each time you have been lucky enough to score a victory over me that it has been tainted with some kind of run-in that has caused you the unfair advantage. Shall we go through a little history? You were on the ride of your life during last years Test for the Best tournament. You had the easiest draw of the whole bracket when you were matched up with a Sally Talfourd that had completely let herself go! The APW was the only place that she could still throw her name in the hat and rest on her laurels and collect a paycheck. You breezed by her while I was forced to take on a guy who would stop at nothing to tear my head from my shoulders! However, I persevered! I advanced in one of the most grueling matches in the history of this company and we found ourselves matched up for the first time.
You can’t tell me that you don’t see the problem there? I had to actually put forth an effort in making my way through our side of the tournament while leaving a trail of blood, sweat and tears. Meanwhile? Jeff put you on his back and carried you through completely unscathed to where I had no chance at getting to the finals! The deck was stacked against me and you went on to do the unthinkable: actually win!
Then there was Overdrive where we found ourselves up against one another yet again. I had you right where I wanted and was ready to put my stamp on the APW while defeating my second Undisputed champion on Overdrive until Noble stuck his nose in my business. There is a running theme in all of these matches, isn’t there? I’m ready to come out on top until somebody else steps in and screws it all up!
The thing is that you aren’t much use to me anymore. Originally, you were a mountain that I needed to move in order to get to the top. Now? You’re nothing more than a pawn in the game of APW that I have simply allowed to exist for too long! There were several opportunities for me to obliterate you in to obscurity and take your championship but I held off for the simple purpose of waiting for the biggest stage in the history of wrestling: RassleMania!
I’m just hoping that you can make yourself useful for once and be the proper stepping stool that you have been reduced to. You know that there is zero chance that you’ll actually come out as champion when the bell finally rings. It would be in my best interest if you would cast aside our hatred for just a few minutes and actually make yourself useful by making sure Noble and Blade are dealt with. I mentioned previously that they are nothing but sideshow freaks that are getting in the way of the real main attraction! We could put those two out of their misery early and put on a show worthy of being called the main event.
Regardless, I can’t wait to see the reaction of those so-called fans have as their champion has been dethroned. I’m sick of seeing them put you on a pedestal that you can’t ever truly achieve and all the sorrow that I’ve dealt with is going to be worth seeing the look on their face! I’ve watched you for the better part of the year go from arena to arena to preach your message of taking the highroad and I’ve watched these fans buy it hook, line, and sinker! It’s nothing more than a façade that you’re using to hide the multitude of sins that you have committed yourself. You didn’t win that championship without a little help and you have needed a little help to keep it around your waist. Keep judging me for the decisions I’ve made but I do what I have to do in order to keep my name at the top of the list. People like you who continue to cast judgment on me are usually the ones who are afraid of being judged themselves. The reality is that you know exactly what you’re getting with Johnny Rebel and don’t have to spend time wondering if he really is the same person when everything is stripped back.
If you leave RassleMania with the title than you’ll continue to be a host for the same cancer that is spreading itself all over the APW. This roster is laced with people like you that don’t have any intention of ever branching out from its comfy little perch of mediocrity. I have aspirations of leading the APW to unprecedented territories! What have you done besides attract such stalwarts as Bacon, Toast and some guy named Yarmouth? You can’t do anything right! You are an absolute failure as champion!
The difference between the two of us comes in the form of survival. I have earned everything that has ever been handed to me while daddy was lined your pockets with gold from the time you crawled out of whatever hole you came from. Let’s face it: you’re nothing more than the same cookie-cutter model that every prick with money comes from. You throw some cash here and throw some cash there and suddenly your problems disappear faster than they came to be! When you have the silver spoon feeding you your whole life you lose the most important quality of a champion: instinct. My whole life I have had to solve my own problems and I’ve had to be resourceful in doing so. You can’t always wave your magic wand and hope things get better! You can pretend like that cash flow is going to last forever but eventually you’re going to run out of options and you’ll have to face me man to man without the deck stacked in your favor!
I’m ready to expose you at RassleMania 8! You will be labeled the fraud that you are and the championship will no longer flock to you like the flies that hover around your father’s pig farm. The best part of it? The whole world is going to watch me do it! Please explain to me how your moral highroad shtick is going to help while I’m kicking in all twenty-six teeth down your throat? The same dolts that you have put all of your faith in will be the same ones shoveling ungodly amounts of popcorn and nachos down their gullets. They will be too busy to cheer you on and what’s going to happen when you have no one to draw on but yourself? You’re going to fail quicker than a quadriplegic at a Gameboy convention!
Whether you choose to accept it now or later but when the bell rings and the smoke clears their will only be one champion. You will be laid out, counting the lights and wondering how in the world you let some rebel walk all over you en route to the Undisputed championship.
#SIMPLY
#F’N
#PUT?
I’m going to win!
Rebel waits for a momentarily before offering a second greeting.
“Hello? Who’s this?”
No response. Rebel’s starting to get frustrated until the sound of a sobbing woman comes from the other end of the line.
“Come on,” Rebel says, “Who is this? What do you want?”
“It’s Wendy… “ Sarah’s mother says, her voice trembling through the phone. “It’s about Sarah.”
Rebel’s heart sank.
----
A wave of emotions came rushing over the frantic Rebel as he sped down the interstate in order to get to the hospital. His phone had continued to vibrate in the seat next to him but Rebel allowed it to go to voicemail each time figuring it was Myles trying to figure out where he was headed.
He pulls in an underpass at the front door of the Mercy Hospital and Medical Center where he flips his car in park and leaps out. Rebel brushes past the valet approaching him and flips the keys over his head, making a beeline for the recovery wing. The fracas has caused a stir in the usually calm hospital, which in turn causes security to be on high alert.
“Sarah…” Rebel is barely able to get her name out of his mouth, as he asks for her room number from the lady sitting behind the counter. “Sarah O’Brien.”
“Hold, please.” The lady answered before getting up from her chair and disappearing in to a back room. Every tick on the clock felt like hours as Rebel found himself tapping on the counter to the beat of each click.
After a few moments, the woman reappears and waves Rebel through the double doors. She leads him down a dimly lit hallway and to an empty room where she encourages Rebel to have a seat.
“Somebody will be with you in a second,” she says but Rebel isn’t satisfied with that answer.
“What’s going on?” Rebel asks but gets no response from the nurse, who leaves the room and closes the door behind her.
He plops down on a chair positioned next to the window but the nervousness of the moment doesn’t allow for him to sit still. Sick of waiting, Rebel walks over to the door and tries to turn the handle but it doesn’t move. He gives it a second tug but gets the same result, realizing the door has been locked from the outside. He moves frantically to jar the door loose but his efforts prove to be unsuccessful as he realizes that something isn’t right here.
He pulls out his cell phone to reveal fourteen missed calls. “Fourteen!” he mumbles to himself while flipping through the list, all from the same Chicago-based hospital that he now finds himself in. He presses the phone up to his ear and after getting to his voicemail hits the speaker button to listen to his missed messages, the first coming from Sarah’s mother.
“I tried to warn you. I told you that you had a week and you refused to do anything but continue on with empty threats. We’re moving Sarah and informed the authorities that you are not to be given information regarding her whereabouts. If you know what’s good for you than you’ll stay away and let us be. Goodbye, Rebel.”
[/i]The anger that was welling up inside of Rebel was about to explode before the beep of the first message ending signaled the beginning of the second:
“Johnny...” a voice similar to that of Sarah’s comes ringing through the phone. “I don’t have very long but I overheard them talking about moving me and keeping you occupied until they have reached a settlement with President Jeff over their lawsuit. I have been laying low for a couple of days ever since they took me off the medicine but I don’t know if I can convince them to keep me much longer. I need you hear with me… please come!”
[/i]The message cuts off as Rebel screams “NO!” at the phone and slams it against the wall. He had been playing Sarah’s awakening over and over again in his head but this wasn’t the ending that he had been preparing for. Unfortunately for Rebel, there wasn’t any time to feel sorry for himself with his flight leaving for Indianapolis leaving in a few short hours. Rebel’s thought pattern was interrupted as two of Chicago’s largest police officers step through the door.
“Mr. Rebel,” the officer says. “Please have a seat.”
“I don’t have time for this!” Rebel argues. “What have you done with Sarah? I know you know where she is!”
“I’m going to have to ask you to sit down.”
Rebel hulks up and is prepared to move through the officers and out the door but only gets about two steps before he’s met with the two larger men with each having a handful of his arm.
“Please don’t make us ask you again,” the officer comments on Rebel’s refusal to comply. “If you can’t follow simple orders than we’ll be forced to restrain you.”
“You aren’t getting a word out of me!” Rebel says while making yet another attempt at the door but this time the two men tackle him to the ground and handcuff his hands behind his back.
“We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.” The officer says to Rebel, who is frantically tugging at the handcuffs attached to the wall. “If you want to make it to RassleMania than I suggest you calm down and you answer a few questions for us.”
Rebel had everything pulled out from underneath him once again. He was headed to the biggest night of his life and the only thing that he could think about was Sarah and the last words she said to him: “Please come…” The phrase was going to replay over and over in his head until it nearly made him explode.
“The questions, Rebel…”
The officers voice snapped Rebel back in to reality and as he glanced up at the two men staring over him.
“Alright,” He answers, “What do you want to know?”
-----
“You did what?” Myles screams at the stone faced Rebel. “I can’t believe you let them force you in to talking without your lawyer in the room to advise you! Do you realize that you have put this entire lawsuit in jeopardy? Everything we have worked so hard to build, you have essentially torn down in a matter of seconds! There are no words to describe what a colossal failure this is!”
“It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”
“Here we go again! Don’t start with the pity party, Rebel.” Berman kneels down inches from Rebel’s face. “You have officially lost everything! Should we go down the list? Sarah’s gone and isn’t coming back anytime soon. You blew any leverage that we might have had heading in to our pending court case against the APW when you blabbed to any and everyone who would lend an ear. You lost the Overdrive championship to Terry freakin’ Marvin of all people! And after the way Gates has handled you since the first time the two of you stepped in the ring against one another, you don’t have a snowballs chance in hell to win at RassleMania! Shall I continue?”
“By all means,” Rebel’s sarcasm still shines through despite the stoic look on his face.
“Why am I wasting my time on you? Everybody always spoke about Johnny Rebel as being this larger-than-life figure that didn’t take crap from anybody. It turns out that you’re nothing but an over-the-hill, washed up nobody that rolls over at the first sign of adversity! You are absolutely pathetic. I have never met a loser in my entire life. I can't believe that I was actually looking forward to representing you! The whole world needs to know that you're an absolute pushover and at the first sign of trouble you wither like a flower in a snowstorm. I can't wait to get my hands on the tabloids as I'm going to expose you for the good-for-nothing lowlife that you are.”
“Are you finished?”
“I’m finished with you! Add our failed partnership to the list of things that you have dropped the ball on since returning to the APW!”
Myles collects his things and slings his briefcase over his shoulder before storming out of the room, which leaves Rebel all alone.
----
“I’m dropping the case,” a defeated Rebel says to President Jeff from across his desk.
“That’s music to my ears!” President Jeff says with a large grin on his face. “You didn’t think that you actually had a chance at winning, did you? I’m confident that with the team of lawyers we have here in the APW that justice would have been served.”
“I’m not concerned with winning or losing anymore. I’m done.”
“What do you mean you’re done?” Jeff asks, looking concerned at Rebel’s concession just days before he’s supposed to headline the biggest event of the year.
“Here,” Rebel says while picking up a folder from underneath his chair and sliding it towards President Jeff. “It’s the newest newsletter from Wrestling Observer. I wanted you to have a copy before it went public next week.”
President Jeff opens the folder to find Rebel holding the Overdrive championship on the cover with the headline ‘APW Megastar Calling it Quits!’ written over him.
“I don’t get it?” Jeff says with a befuddled look on his face.
“I’m throwing in the towel. I’ve come to realize that coming out of retirement to sign with the APW was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I came back to rebuild my image as the best in the world and the only thing I’ve done since stepping foot back in the ring is create heartburn for all of the people closest to me. I’m packing up and heading out of town tonight before the news breaks in the morning and this place is covered with reporters. It’s been a pleasure.”
Rebel stands up to extend his hand to the APW president but doesn’t find the warm reception that he was expecting.
“You can’t leave now! We’re days away from RassleMania and you have a signed contract to compete! What am I supposed to do? We have a sold out building with over sixty-thousand people that are expecting you to be there. I can’t and won’t let you ruin this for us!”
“You don’t have much of a choice…” Rebel adds. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You are pretty resourceful and if you can’t find someone to take my place then I’m sure you can dig a little deeper in to C.J. Gates’ pockets to offer a few refunds.”
“But… but…”
“Thanks for the opportunity, Jeff.” Rebel says. “Good luck with RassleMania!”
“Rebel, wait! Get back here! You won’t live this down!” Jeff switches back and forth between begging and ordering Rebel to return to his office but “Simply Put” disappears down the hallway.
-----
“Hey, dude.”
The familiar voice of the former APW Undisputed champion rings through the doorway as Biggs pokes his head in the locker room.
“I happen to be walking past Jeff’s office a few seconds ago and found him cursing you under his breath. What’s going on?” Biggs asks.
“I just gave him a bit of bad news…” Rebel answers back. “I told him that I was retiring from the APW and giving up my spot in the Undisputed championship match at RassleMania. I’m guessing he didn’t take it very well.”
“Wait, what?” Biggs shakes his head. “You gave up what? There are hundreds that would kill for a chance to compete for the Undisputed championship at any time let alone on the grand stage of RassleMania! Present company included!”
“There are things that just don’t matter to me much anymore.”
“What could possibly be more important than getting the championship off of C.J. Gates? He stumbled in to the finals of Test for the Best and took advantage of me to win the belt to begin with! I’d beat him nine times out of ten if I were still an active competitor but since I’m not there is only one person left that would make a respectable champion.”
“Seriously, Biggs? You and I both know that Blade doesn’t stand a chance!”
“I’m talking about you, idiot! You have the opportunity to legitimize your legacy and change the course of APW in one evening. Noble is even less deserving of a challenger than Gates is as champion! If you don’t take care of business than we’ll be forced to live through another year with an undeserving dolt at the top of the card.”
“That doesn’t sound like a me problem. I’m not concerned with who walks out of RassleMania because once I finish packing my bags, I’m leaving this place forever and I refuse to look back.”
“I hate that you see it that way, Rebel. You’re the only one that can bring some respect back to the Undisputed championship and the APW as a whole. The only problem I have is that if our roles were reversed right now you wouldn’t ever let me live this down! You would be telling anybody who would be listening that Biggs was a washout and afraid of a little competition. You need to snap out of it and get yourself together before you make a decision that you’re going to regret for the rest of your life.”
“My heart just isn’t in it.”
“It hurts me to say this but you know that you are a man after my own heart. The two of us have been cut from the same cloth! We have never been the type of megastar to care about what others have thought about us as long as we success at whatever we’re doing. You have proven that you'll do anything to win and I can respect that. I told you once that you haven’t shown the potential to consistently win on the highest level but you answered all those questions when you captained Team APW to the Supremacy championship. You proved to the world that you were a capable competitor when you beat me for the Overdrive championship. You proved the doubters wrong when you beat Noble to win the Overdrive championship back again. Now go out and complete the gauntlet and finally get over the hump!"
“It’s been a pleasure, Biggs.”
Rebel reaches out and pats Biggs on the back before slipping his bag over his neck and shoulders. He takes one last look around the locker room before turning out the lights and closing the door behind him. He glances down at his phone to see a voicemail from a call that he must have missed during his conversation with Biggs. He enters in his password and holds the phone up to his ear:
“Johnny! What’s going on? There is a lawyer here who told my mom that you were leaving the APW all together? You can’t let that happen! It’s your dream to wrestle in the main event of RassleMania and you have been working towards the Undisputed championship for months now! Look, the only way we’re going to find ourselves out of this mess is if you go and win the belt! Do it for me…”
[/center]The voicemail cuts off but Rebel heard enough. There was only one to getting Sarah back: winning the championship and staking his claim to the top of the wrestling world. It wouldn’t be an easy task but hearing Sarah’s voice was enough motivation to keep him pressing on for the time being. Rebel pulled up his phone and began a new text:
“Hold off on that story… start writing a new one. I’m winning that belt!”
[/color]
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Let’s wade through the irrelevant sideshow acts and cut to the chase: this match comes down to C.J. Gates vs. Johnny Rebel.
The odds aren’t in my favor. You’re the champion and in order for me to walk out of Indianapolis with the championship in my possession that I’m going to have to go the extra mile to defeat you. I know that you aren’t smart enough to hightail it as soon as things start to get a little hairy so the only way that I’m going to have my hand raised as the winner is to do something that I haven’t been able to do in three previous attempts.
We both have a lot to prove when the bell rings at RassleMania. You have been unsuccessful at proving to the masses that you are a legitimate champion! You may have gone through hell in winning the belt from Biggs but you haven’t done much to change the perception that you are not a transitional champion. You have had several opportunities to defend that belt but you have backed away each time and have chosen the road that didn’t put your precious championship in harm’s way! It’s been pathetic and I am appalled that we have allowed such a prestigious company to fall by the wayside with you as champion.
The problem I have runs much deeper than your flat-out refusal in defending the championship though. It begins with a complete lack of talent!
You don’t have the talent or the physical ability to compete with someone as well rounded and experienced as I am. You and I both know that each time you have been lucky enough to score a victory over me that it has been tainted with some kind of run-in that has caused you the unfair advantage. Shall we go through a little history? You were on the ride of your life during last years Test for the Best tournament. You had the easiest draw of the whole bracket when you were matched up with a Sally Talfourd that had completely let herself go! The APW was the only place that she could still throw her name in the hat and rest on her laurels and collect a paycheck. You breezed by her while I was forced to take on a guy who would stop at nothing to tear my head from my shoulders! However, I persevered! I advanced in one of the most grueling matches in the history of this company and we found ourselves matched up for the first time.
You can’t tell me that you don’t see the problem there? I had to actually put forth an effort in making my way through our side of the tournament while leaving a trail of blood, sweat and tears. Meanwhile? Jeff put you on his back and carried you through completely unscathed to where I had no chance at getting to the finals! The deck was stacked against me and you went on to do the unthinkable: actually win!
Then there was Overdrive where we found ourselves up against one another yet again. I had you right where I wanted and was ready to put my stamp on the APW while defeating my second Undisputed champion on Overdrive until Noble stuck his nose in my business. There is a running theme in all of these matches, isn’t there? I’m ready to come out on top until somebody else steps in and screws it all up!
The thing is that you aren’t much use to me anymore. Originally, you were a mountain that I needed to move in order to get to the top. Now? You’re nothing more than a pawn in the game of APW that I have simply allowed to exist for too long! There were several opportunities for me to obliterate you in to obscurity and take your championship but I held off for the simple purpose of waiting for the biggest stage in the history of wrestling: RassleMania!
I’m just hoping that you can make yourself useful for once and be the proper stepping stool that you have been reduced to. You know that there is zero chance that you’ll actually come out as champion when the bell finally rings. It would be in my best interest if you would cast aside our hatred for just a few minutes and actually make yourself useful by making sure Noble and Blade are dealt with. I mentioned previously that they are nothing but sideshow freaks that are getting in the way of the real main attraction! We could put those two out of their misery early and put on a show worthy of being called the main event.
Regardless, I can’t wait to see the reaction of those so-called fans have as their champion has been dethroned. I’m sick of seeing them put you on a pedestal that you can’t ever truly achieve and all the sorrow that I’ve dealt with is going to be worth seeing the look on their face! I’ve watched you for the better part of the year go from arena to arena to preach your message of taking the highroad and I’ve watched these fans buy it hook, line, and sinker! It’s nothing more than a façade that you’re using to hide the multitude of sins that you have committed yourself. You didn’t win that championship without a little help and you have needed a little help to keep it around your waist. Keep judging me for the decisions I’ve made but I do what I have to do in order to keep my name at the top of the list. People like you who continue to cast judgment on me are usually the ones who are afraid of being judged themselves. The reality is that you know exactly what you’re getting with Johnny Rebel and don’t have to spend time wondering if he really is the same person when everything is stripped back.
If you leave RassleMania with the title than you’ll continue to be a host for the same cancer that is spreading itself all over the APW. This roster is laced with people like you that don’t have any intention of ever branching out from its comfy little perch of mediocrity. I have aspirations of leading the APW to unprecedented territories! What have you done besides attract such stalwarts as Bacon, Toast and some guy named Yarmouth? You can’t do anything right! You are an absolute failure as champion!
The difference between the two of us comes in the form of survival. I have earned everything that has ever been handed to me while daddy was lined your pockets with gold from the time you crawled out of whatever hole you came from. Let’s face it: you’re nothing more than the same cookie-cutter model that every prick with money comes from. You throw some cash here and throw some cash there and suddenly your problems disappear faster than they came to be! When you have the silver spoon feeding you your whole life you lose the most important quality of a champion: instinct. My whole life I have had to solve my own problems and I’ve had to be resourceful in doing so. You can’t always wave your magic wand and hope things get better! You can pretend like that cash flow is going to last forever but eventually you’re going to run out of options and you’ll have to face me man to man without the deck stacked in your favor!
I’m ready to expose you at RassleMania 8! You will be labeled the fraud that you are and the championship will no longer flock to you like the flies that hover around your father’s pig farm. The best part of it? The whole world is going to watch me do it! Please explain to me how your moral highroad shtick is going to help while I’m kicking in all twenty-six teeth down your throat? The same dolts that you have put all of your faith in will be the same ones shoveling ungodly amounts of popcorn and nachos down their gullets. They will be too busy to cheer you on and what’s going to happen when you have no one to draw on but yourself? You’re going to fail quicker than a quadriplegic at a Gameboy convention!
Whether you choose to accept it now or later but when the bell rings and the smoke clears their will only be one champion. You will be laid out, counting the lights and wondering how in the world you let some rebel walk all over you en route to the Undisputed championship.
#SIMPLY
#F’N
#PUT?
I’m going to win!
