(CUE UP: “The Mountain” by Jucifer.)
(Our shot opens up outside of a decrepit single story household in what we could assume to be somewhere in the American Midwest. The camera makes a long tracking shot of the scene, taking in every detail: faded paint job, dead lawn, hanging gutter, and other signs of disrepair and decay. The shot comes to a stop on the mailbox posted at the end of the cracked cement walkway leading up to the front door. On the side, the name “BLACK” is clearly legible.)
(KENNY LOMBARDO, our man on the scene, steps into the frame at this point. There’s a look of apprehension on the reporter’s face as he takes in the drab scenery, perhaps second guessing himself on coming all the way out here. And yet, he presses on... creeping up the walkway and arriving at the front porch, where he finds the front door hanging wide open in front of him. Unusual, considering the low December temperature. Unsure of what to do next, Kenny calls into the darkness of the house.)
Kenny Lombardo
Uh... hello? Anybody home?
(No answer. Lombardo glances nervously over his shoulders, then finally gathers up the nerve to just walk right in. The inside looks almost as bad as the outside, with crumpled newspapers and random bits of garbage strewn across the floor. Kenny squints into the dark, looking for signs of life.)
Kenny Lombardo
Hello? Rezin... are you here??
(Again, there’s no answer. Kenny moves further into the house, making passive glances over the nearby living room covered in dust and a hoarder’s stash of soiled clothing, and a kitchen serving as a take-out bag graveyard for every fast food chain known to man. Something catches the reporter’s eye as he walks by a dining room table buried in a mess of papers. The camera drops to his point of focus to find a pile of opened envelopes... some bearing the bright orange markings that can only mean overdue bill notices. Kenny’s hand plucks one of the invoices off the table... as he raises it up to read, the camera catches view of the ghastly silhouette standing over the reporter’s shoulder in a place where it wasn’t a moment ago.)
Rezin
CLOSE the DOOR, DAMNIT!!
(Lombardo nearly pops a foot into the air as the all-too familiar raspy voices cuts right into his ear. He twirls around to find the scowl of REZIN looking him right in the face.)
Kenny Lombardo
OH JEEZ!! REZIN!! You scared the HELL out of me!
(The goat bastard scoffs as he walks by the reporter and to slam the front door closed.)
Rezin
PFFT!! As if there was any hell in you to begin with...
(Lombardo seems morose as he finds himself stuck in yet another interview with the sludge-soaked skywalker. Rezin motions with his head for the reporter to follow, and leads the way through a door leading to a set of stairs going down into the basement. With the electricity apparently out, he illuminates the way with a Bic lighter held out in front him. At his heels, Kenny follows, ever mindful of his footing as he descends one step at a time.)
Rezin
So what brings you to the Hoosier Hempland, Kenny?
Kenny Lombardo
I, uh... was actually meaning to ask you the same thing. With Aggression 70 in the books, all eyes are looking onward to Atlanta, Georgia... but you’ve made this apparent detour back to your hometown here in Lebanon, Indiana. Let me tell you, by the way... I had a heck of a time tracking you down.
Rezin
Well... your dedication is admirable. It’s just too bad that I’M the only one that recognizes it.
Kenny Lombardo
Right, whatever... so why are we here?
Rezin
Hmm, well... before we figure out why we’re here, shouldn’t we figure out where we are first?
(The flame drops slightly as Rezin lights a candle, revealing a bit more of the room. We can now see the Escape Artist seated on a sofa. Kenny takes a seat on the other end.)
Kenny Lombardo
Wow...I still vaguely remember this basement from the countless Chronic Collizion promos you and former partner Ivan Dalkichev used to cut. Looks like... a lot has changed, over the years.
Rezin
Everything changes, Kenny. Greatness in all forms eventually wane and disintegrate. Legends that refuse to die are instead forgotten. Nothing ever escapes the cold grip of doom. Even good ol’ “
Casa dela Negra”.
But here I am anyway... home for the holidays, because there’s no better place to find a little bit of rest and relaxation before moving on to the next match.
Kenny Lombardo
Yes... I’m sure you could use plenty of both, especially in the wake of your harrowing battle against the wild card team Malcolm Joseph-Jones and Aaron Jones. You certainly took a good deal of punishment in the cage that night... and yet, in spite of everything said against you and your partner, Anarky, the two of you survived the second round to move into the semi-finals of the King of the Cage tournament.
Rezin
Survived is right. Even though it’s not exactly hip in the wrestling world these days, I’ll give credit where it’s due: MJ2 is a juggernaut, and he brought the hammer down... and the Jones kids exceeded his expectations. Did they beat the shit out of us? Of course they did...
But in the end, it didn’t matter how much punishment we took... because it was nothing compared to the long and embattled careers ‘Nark and I have followed on our respective paths. In the end, it didn’t come down to “greatness”... but rather, the undying perseverance and inhuman durability of Empire Pro’s Anti-Champion. They failed to anticipate the unseen... they refused to buy the CHAOS as a legitimate threat... and for those mistakes, Anarky made them pay for it.
Kenny Lombardo
The TV “Anti” Champion, Anarky, certainly surprised many as he returned from the back after a sickening fall from the top of the cage through the commentary table. The least of all, few would expect him to return to action and deliver the fatal strike to seal the victory. But let’s not forget, you had an important role in all that.
(Rezin arches an eyebrow.)
Rezin
You think so? I’d probably have to disagree with you there...
Kenny Lombardo
Don’t sell yourself short now, Rezin. Outnumbered, you stood your ground in that cage and refused to go down for the three count, no matter what your opponents did to break you down. You should be proud of that moment of resiliency.
(Rezin shrugs, clearly indifferent.)
Rezin
And the Cameron Cruises of the world will just turn it all around and say it was just my idiot luck at work... nothing more than a fluke.
I mean, I’d love to sit here and say that what you saw me put on in that ring was all me. Like... a rare, momentary glimpse at the professional wrestling prodigy obscured beneath all the smoke and the sludge. Nothing would please me more than to sit here with my chin up high and say that it was absolute and indisputable proof that there’s more to me than meets the eye... that it was a taste of things to come.
But do you really think anybody in this company would give this miserable ol’ GOAT BASTARD so much as a single ounce of credit? Not on your miserable, insignificant life, my friend...
Kenny Lombardo
I dunno... I think there are more out there willing to give you credit than you believe there to be, Rezin.
Rezin
Maybe... but outside of every cookie cutter jock asshole with an attitude and an opinion giving me the same “waste of potential” horseshit, I haven’t heard anything otherwise. That’s the great industry of double standards we live in today. Only in Empire Pro could a guy like me beat a guy like Cameron Cruise and watch him move on to two EXTREMELY undeserved title shots.
Nobody gives a shit when I step up and show them something in between those ropes that they should be taking into consideration. Instead, they just get caught up on all those meaningless little moments and choices that didn’t matter a whole lot to me at the time, but apparently mean all the world to my critics out there.
Kenny Lombardo
But despite what any of them may say, look at yourself now... two matches down and one to go to earn your way into the six-man final bout to determine the EPW Tag Team Titles, and this year’s joint Kings of the Cage. Certainly, having the former World Heavyweight Champion Anarky in your corner has been a boon to your success, and I guess you can make the claim that luck has also helped your cause by the way the lethal lottery drawings came to be... but it’s not like in past situations, where you’ve simply failed upwards and pinned your success solely on your ability to escape the cage.
Don’t you think your efforts had something to do with all of this, even just a little bit?
(Rezin’s gaze turns from its fixation on the lone candle in the room to the reporter sitting at the end of the sofa.)
Rezin
Do you believe in fate, Kenny?
Kenny Lombardo
...is that an answer to my question?
Rezin
No, it’s a way of switching topics. But I’ll give you your answer, when you get around to answering mine.
Now... do you believe in fate?
(Lombardo sighs and mull over the question with some serious thought.)
Kenny Lombardo
Well... I’d say yes... and no.
I mean, I don’t believe our destinies are set in stone from cradle to grave,
per se. We make our own fate based on the actions we make. On the other hand, though, there will always be things outside of our control.
(Rezin nods.)
Rezin
Outside of our control... kinda like where we’re born. I’m sure if I had a choice, I would have popped out of my mother and started my life in a great, happening city like New York City... a place with the world at my fingertips, and opportunities around every corner.
But obviously, none of us have that choice... and yes, as you suggest, there are many instances in our lives where the choices aren’t explicitly given to us. But you work with what you get... and make opportunities when opportunities are to be made. I didn’t choose to be born to a poor single parent in this quagmire called Lebanon in the middle of Indiana... but I somehow found a way to ESCAPE this place... to find my own path.
And considering where that path has led me... to this upcoming match down in Atlanta... I have no reason to believe that this isn’t the uncontrolled arm of fate at work here.
Kenny Lombardo
How do you mean?
Rezin
Well... let’s just consider the people in this match...
There’s my pal Anarky... the man who claimed the crown in the King of the Cage tournament following that, and would go on to trade that crown for a title. He should have fought ME in that final match... but the unbridled forces of the cosmos were working against me.
Kenny Lombardo
If I recall, Stalker ratted you out to the police when you decided to work against him...
Rezin
Then you got the first of our two opponents, “Triple X” Sean Stevens... the O-G King of the Cage... the guy with the DVD... not to mention, the asshole that took my hair back at Black Dawn!
Kenny Lombardo
You can be bitter, but even you have to admit, you had that coming...
Rezin
And then of course his partner, Impulse... the man who was my lethal lottery partner in last year’s King of the Cage tournament... he who abandoned me, and cost me the match.
Kenny Lombardo
I think you cost yourself that match when YOU abandoned HIM in the cage...
(Rezin casts the reporter a threatening glance to in response to his timely interruptions, but doesn’t act on it, trying to stick to his point.)
Rezin
Regardless of how you choose to look at it, just consider the obvious here. All three of these men have had pivotal roles in the history of the King of the Cage tournament.
Kenny Lombardo
Won’t argue with you on that.
Rezin
And in Atlanta, we’ll all be together in that cage. Two kings, one prince, and a court jester. A certified recipe for absolute CHAOS.
Kenny Lombardo
Sure... but how does this tie back to what you were saying about fate... or is there some sort of Tarot deck involved here?
Rezin
Do we make our own fate, Kenny?
Think back to a couple years ago... what if I had beaten the First in his first defense of the World Heavyweight Title, when we met in that semi-final round? What if I had put forward all the effort and motivation I kept holding back because I didn’t think it mattered? What if I hadn’t crossed Stalker? What if the feds hadn’t dragged me out of that cage, and subsequently out of the tournament? What if I had gone on and fought Anarky in that final round myself?
Flash forward a year later... what if I hadn’t left that cage? What if I had stuck with Impulse? What if we had won the tournament, and we became Tag Team Champions of Empire Pro? What if I had ducked in that one pivotal moment his heel was coming at my temple? What if I was the one to move on and compete for the Intercontinental Title?
Now think to Black Dawn... what if I had taken Sean Stevens to his limit? I mean, his ACTUAL limit? What if I had beaten the Blue-Eyed Badass in his own caged courtroom? What if I had shaved those pretty golden locks off his head? What if I had proven to all those marks and fanboys that their great and untouchable KING had lost a step? What would Sean Stevens do, if I had brought this reality right there in front of him? What would all the other washed-up “legends” say about him then on the commercials shilling his DVD collection?
Where would we be? What kind of Empire Pro would we be living in?
Kenny Lombardo
A decidedly different one, I imagine...
Rezin
And yet, if anything had gone otherwise... we wouldn’t be where we are now.
Kenny Lombardo
...in this cold, dark basement in the middle of Indiana?
Rezin
No, you goofball... THIS MATCH!
I bring up all of these “what if” questions because over these past couple years, everybody and their aunt has been trying to make the case as to how much of a waste of potential I am... because I didn’t do enough then, or I’m not doing enough now, or whatever. But don’t you see, Kenny? Every moment of failure... every low point of my life... every missed opportunity... all of it paved the way to this time, this place... this moment.
Kenny Lombardo
If you say so... but if you don’t mind me asking, Rezin, what is so important about THIS particular moment compared to any time in the past? So important, that you even feel it justifies a long and winless drought in your professional career?
(He doesn’t quite answer right away, but instead shakes his head at the reporter while he lets out a dry chuckle.)
Rezin
A little bit of everything? Nothing at all? Maybe both, maybe neither...
Sure, there’s the EPW Tag Team Titles... testaments to a dying tag division, that I know the two of us can revitalize into an era of chaos. Then there’s the matter of taking the crown back for the TRUE King of the Cage... Anarky... reminding every one of those forgetful bastards out there that just because he doesn’t have the World Title anymore, he isn’t any one bit less the toughest and evilest son of a bitch to ever walk through Empire Pro. Those things are great... but all the same, superficial.
But I guess what the two of us really want out of this... is to DENY punks like Stevens and Impulse of those glories. We want to ruin their path of conquest... to prove to the masses that even the so-called dream team of the two finest talents on Empire Pro’s roster can be just as vulnerable and weak as any other mediocre wrestling talent... once they get into the confines of that cage...
Once they submerge into the ocean of CHAOS...
(A shark-like grin appears in Rezin’s hobo beard.)
Kenny Lombardo
The cage is certainly the environment of chaos... but will that be enough to overcome the pair of Stevens and Impulse?
Rezin
Maybe...
It’s never guaranteed that things will fall in your favor when you leave your fate to the whims of CHAOS. We might survive in that case... but to
overcome Sean Stevens and Impulse? Chaos can’t help us; we’ll have to do that on our own...
But I’m ready to make it happen... and if I know ‘Nark as well as I know him, then I know he’s ready as well. After all... this is the fate we’ve made together, completely independent of each other. We’ve waited a long time and put up with a lot of shit for this one chance...
...this chance to bring to the two most judgmental, cock-stroking-est, dogma-spouting, DVD-shilling, self-important SCAT MUNCHERS to a much needed moment of SILENCE and SELF-REFLECTION.
There’s no backing down from this moment... nowhere to escape to... and for once, no NEED to escape. Anarky has taught me what it means to be a REAL artist... one that works through pallette of pain, brutality, and sheer ferocity. Everybody who ever thought I was simply wasting my potential over these past few years is about to see that nothing has been wasted after all... but all was needed was time and patience, maturing from a crimson worm of despair into a black moth of DOOM!!
(A moment of silence follows... and it’s Kenny who breaks it.)
Kenny Lombardo
...let’s say you manage to succeed in all this. Who’s to say the Cameron Cruises of the world don’t just turn this around on you once again, and call the whole thing another fluke?
Rezin
Hmm, well... did I ever tell you that Cameron Cruise is a fucking idiot?
(Kenny doesn’t look like he knows how to respond to that. Rezin takes it as a cue that the interview is over, and picks the candle up off of the table, handing it over to the hand of the reporter.)
Rezin
We’re done for today, Kenny... hopefully, you can dig your way out of here.
Kenny Lombardo
Uhh... you going to be okay down here? By yourself?
(Rezin nestles up on the sofa in his overcoat and grumbles to himself, mind going somewhere into the ether. Lombardo turns and finds the stairs leading up, using the candlelight to find his way. The light fades as Lombardo ascends the steps and shuts the door behind him, leaving us in the dark... and the sound of someone clearing his throat.)