Post by dylanblack on Aug 5, 2023 14:31:04 GMT -6
VOICE
I can save us.
The camera can hear the sound of a liquid being emptied onto the floor from a metal container, but it is too dark to fully see what’s going on. There is a very slim outline of a hooded figure. A manic energy radiates from their voice.
VOICE
I’ve taken precautions this time. There’s no one else here. It’s just me. No one is going to get hurt. No one else can get hurt.
The container is emptied and tossed aside. It can be heard clunking off the floor.
VOICE
The press will report it tomorrow, but the people will talk about it for years to come. I know this. They’ve never forgotten the last one. They’ve never let me forget it.
The figure reaches into its pockets for something.
VOICE
It’ll burn to ash, but it will never perish. This will seal its place in history. AXW will live on forever.
A match is struck. The flicker of light reveals that the hooded figure is wearing a mask. The mask is identical to the one that V used to wear.
VOICE
It’s a perfect plan.
Looking behind the figure, we get the full scope of the plan: they are standing in the center of a wrestling ring, right in the heart of AXW: the Legion. There is a brief delay as the figure holds the match away from its face.
Unexpectedly, the match burns out. There is a brief pause as the figure’s hand begins to tremble. It strikes another match.
VOICE
V would have wanted this. V wouldn’t have wanted AXW to become -- what it’s become. He wanted it to be the best it could be, not to become some bullshit circlejerk, especially not at the end. V would have rather that it just burned, I know it. Come on...
The match goes out again. It strikes another.
VOICE
I can pay off any lawsuits now. Money is not the issue. Just drop it. Ditch it and run like hell. Run and don’t fucking look back. Come on!
The match shakes too much. It goes out. The figure screams.
VOICE
FUCK!
We can hear the sound of the mask being thrown against the ring ropes and landing on the mat. The figure also drops to the mat.
VOICE
I can’t do it.
They sigh.
VOICE
I just… can’t do it. I can’t go through all of that again. Fuck.
They reach back into their pocket.
VOICE
Hey Siri, turn on the flashlight..
A light comes shining out of the back of the iPhone.
SIRI
It’s on.
The camera reveals a slumped over Anthony Caffrey. He puts his glasses back on his face, and the light reveals the unkempt and uneven beard that has been growing down his cheeks and neck. The dark circles under his eyes betray his lack of sleep.
ANTHONY CAFFREY
You know, I’ve been staring up at my ceiling a lot lately. As much as I want that clock to stop ticking, as much as I want just another few minutes, another few days, another few months… the clock keeps ticking. I’ve been hoping for some kind of wild idea, some kind of big plan to come, a trick up my sleeve. I needed something special. But I’ve got nothing.
He throws his hands up in disgust with himself.
CAFFREY
I just don’t know how to stop Vincent Draven or Rob Arnold from losing.
He shakes his head.
CAFFREY
One of them is going to beat the other, then either of them are going to lose the X-Crown match, and AXW will go out like it was nothing. All of that work, gone. Our place in the history books ripped out by the same mediocrity that doomed us in the first place.
He sighs again.
CAFFREY
I don’t know how to save AXW.
He bangs on the mat.
CAFFREY
I thought I’d better about this by now! The last two stages are testing and acceptance! I was supposed to have a solution by now! The whole “throw another Battle of the Best” thing was supposed to kill these feelings dead. I’d have a new target, new thing to aim for, a new chase. All of this was supposed to be a done deal, be more of a formality at this point, the hug goodbye at the end of the party…
Caffrey trails off for a few seconds.
CAFFREY
...but I can’t let go. I won’t let go. And I’m still angry. You know what? Fuck them! Fuck them! I’ll be angry all I damn want. I’m angry because I give more of a fuck about this place than either of those two motherfuckers combined and I AM TIRED of being told I don’t give a fuck about the company I rode and died with for the PAST YEAR! I AM TIRED of being told I don’t care about this place when I bled for it and defended it against all comers for A GODDAMN YEAR. YEAH, it hasn’t been perfect, but this is MY FUCKING COMPANY!
Caffrey lets out a scream in pure frustration. This has been eating him alive. The scream helps him settle down a bit, but he’s still riled up
CAFFREY
Draven is still preparing for this match by being an unfunny insult comic, and Rob Arnold’s too busy bitching to some woman about how he doesn’t want to wrestle anymore! Then he shits on me for having future prospects! Was he going to give up the X-Crown shot? Fuck no! So what was he going to do, saying he wasn’t going to wrestle, if he somehow won? What was his plan? Was he gonna fucking sit on his couch at home while the rest of us kept actually doing our jobs?
Caffrey lets out a small laugh as he shakes his head.
CAFFREY
That couldn’t be his plan. That was what he was already doing.
His laugh brightens his mood for a few seconds before the impending doom begins to seep back in. His self-realization of how fucked he is heading into this match begins to come rushing back towards the front of his mind.
CAFFREY
Instead of embracing being the underdog, you’d think Draven would actually just work to get better… but nah. Just another round of empty jabs instead of spending nights at the gym or studying tape. He’s bragging about beating Liam Bradley for some reason, as if Liam Bradley doesn’t already beat himself on a constant basis.
That last line is directed straight to the camera.
CAFFREY
I don’t know why I expected more from the underachievers that try to cover up their lack of singles success by simply picking up new wrestlers. With Rocco in there now, and he fits in quite well after blowing EOD, Draven went from being the third-string quarterback to bumped off to the practice squad. But he’s still running his mouth bragging like he’s Broadway Joe or Baker Mayfield.
Caffrey shrugs.
CAFFREY
This sucks.
He puts his head in his hands. He blows some air out of his mouth as he tries to keep a handle on all of the moving parts.
CAFFREY
Neither of them have plans to win. Neither of them. So I have to plan for two losers and four other guys coming down to the ring. I can’t control all of those people. I just can’t. I can only break one, maybe two ankles at a time. If The Cure floods the ring and knocks me outside, I can’t keep Rob Arnold’s ring-rusted ass from getting pinned. But even if Rob and I clear out the Cure boys, if I get knocked to the outside, I can’t trust Draven to go against the ways of his group. I can’t expect him not to choke like the rest of them, and it only takes me three seconds to lose this.
He holds up three fingers as the camera pans back a bit to reveal that the AXW Undisputed Championship has been wrapped around Caffrey’s waist this whole time.
CAFFREY
In three seconds, I can lose a lifetime of work. I can lose everything I worked for because I didn’t have all of the answers on one particular day. I have plans. Draven thinks I’ll make a mistake and he can beat me, but I am the king of forced and unforced errors. Hell, if you watch a match, I make mistakes and get my ass kicked left and right, all over the place. I would even call myself “mistake prone”.
A rare moment of honesty comes from the guy who makes tons of tiny errors.
CAFFREY
But that’s what’s kept me at the top of the hill for so long. The ability to adapt, to overcome, to improvise when someone makes a mistake. Usually I take advantage of the other guy, but I am very good at covering my own ass. Rob thought he’d come in the hero, but when everyone called him on that shit, he sheepishly crawled back to his family to beg for forgiveness that no one will ever give him. Draven’s got insults, sure, but underneath that facade, you can see a man who doesn’t have much to him. He’s as exciting as goth-colored wallpaper. You have to have layers to your game, here. You have to have plans for when your plans go wrong, and plans for those plans. And then in the heat of the moment, when everything is going to shit around you…
Caffrey pauses.
CAFFREY
You just have to say “fuck it” and keep going.
The lightbulb seems to go off for Caffrey.
CAFFREY
Yeah… you know what? Fuck it.
He stands back up, using the ropes to pull himself up.
CAFFREY
I’m not done grieving this place. I’m not simply going to get over it. Because you know, grief isn’t something you really get over. Not if you give a shit. You learn to handle it a little better, learn how to not let it consume your every waking hour, but you don’t just get over something.
Caffrey puts his hands up to clarify.
CAFFREY
And hey, I’m still not happy about anything going on. The amount of bullshit up and down this card is unreal. Did you see how everyone paraded around and were like “Oh my gosh, this is going to be amazing”, and then everyone’s enthusiasm had basically died by like, two weeks later? That’s what it was like wrestling here for the past six months. You’d get excited for something only to discover in a few weeks’ time that the same garbage fire wrestlers would never step the fuck up. I was flagged as a giant asshole then when I made this point last month, but look who’s right now?
Caffrey’s arrogant shrugs says “I told you so” without him even needing to vocalize it.
CAFFREY
I’m happy this show is called Lay Rest to the Wicked, because this Sunday, outside of my match, one of the groups of people we’re laying to rest are the same lazy assholes who cash check after check, the ones who don’t give a shit about giving the same half-assed, last-minute, garbage-time performances over and over, the ones that are the real reasons this place is closing in the first place.
Caffrey puts a first finger up.
CAFFREY
We’re laying to rest the pearl-clutchers who grab onto the far past and pretend to be heroes of the present. If you weren’t there when AXW needed you, you don’t get to ride in and be a fucking valiant white knight now. That hubris can piss right off. Great, you put us on the map. But you didn’t do jackshit to keep us from being wiped off of it. But go ahead and keep crying about how you’re a changed man. At least I OWN being an asshole.
He puts his second finger up.
CAFFREY
And finally, I’m laying to rest a vampire jackass who never cared about this place more than as a meal ticket. I’m breaking the ankle of the best wrestler of a crop of new talent that only served to put us in the ground faster. I’m breaking the ankle of a guy who thinks that pissing off the angriest asshole in the company is a winning strategy in 2019. Draven or Arnold might blow this for me, but Goddamnit, I’m going to make sure that if one of those men walks out the winner, they walk out with a pair of crutches.
His third finger goes up as he snickers at the camera.
CAFFREY
Granted, I think Draven’s already using three crutches, but still.
His sinister smile finally reappears for a few seconds before something catches his eye. It’s the V mask. He bends over and picks it up.
CAFFREY
Over a year ago, V signed me, and he told me he believed in me. I proved him right and carved out my own purpose, but this Sunday, I think I have to pay him back.
He nods to himself.
CAFFREY
I’ve been waiting an awfully long fucking time for a knight in shining armor to come and knock me off my pedestal. As the Wrestling Emperor, I’ve watched challenger after challenger come in and try to vanquish me, to defend AXW. But this Sunday? This Sunday, the knight we’ve all been looking for is named Anthony Caffrey.
Caffrey’s confidence begins to come flooding back to him.
CAFFREY
This Sunday, you jackass ingrates out there will boo the hell out me while I brutalize the vampire. You’ll chant for Rob Arnold to make a comeback while I torque his ankle with more force than he’s ever been able to apply with the hold. If I’m down and out, you won’t sympathize with me, you’ll be on the edge of your seat, hoping that this it, this is finally the time Anthony Caffrey gets his ass beat once and for all.
He shakes his head.
CAFFREY
Nope.
He holds the championship up one more time, banging on it with the same pride he’s had since the moment he won the title at the Scorpion Classic.
CAFFREY
This Sunday, I will defend my Undisputed Championship, and when May comes around, I will win the X-Crown. AXW will go down in the history books with a triumphant hurrah rather than a sorry whimper.
Caffrey puts both of his arms out horizontally, like a certain Biblical figure.
CAFFREY
I will save AXW.
For the final time, he smiles his sinister smile.
CAFFREY
And you’ll all hate me for it.
The camera cuts.