Almost Live: Jason Payne vs. Larry Tact

[PaulNJ21]

This is a Russian Roulette Tag Team Partner match. The winner between the two hand selected partners by Cameron Cruise will take on the winner of the two enemies. The RP deadline TUESDAY, September 08, 2009 at 11:59pm PST. There is no RP limit for this match. Send all angles to wfwnewrestling@gmail.com

 

[Jason Payne]

A beautiful sunny day on tap. The temperature is in the low 80's, a little cooler than it has been the last few days, and the humidity is down as well. A gentle breeze blows through a playground, lightly cooling off the children that play and climb on the slides and swings. The laughs, cries, and sounds of joyful children carry along on this breeze, as Jason Payne walks through a nearby park. Clad in an opened button white shirt, a black tank top underneath, and faded blue jeans, he surveys the surroundings through a pair of dark shades.

Payne - "Such a tranquil place compared to places I'm used to being. Quite the contrast for me isn't it? Such could be said of myself, and my opponent this week. But before we get to that, it should be noted that Trevor Cane should be thanking whatever gods he prays to because the front office spared you the worst beating of your life. But don't worry, your time will come, and believe me, I'm patient. Of course, this was probably a smart move on the front office's part. Sanctioning a match between Cane and I would be like being complicit in a murder. But whether it's this week, or weeks from now, you are going to pay your pennance to me, and I promise to extract a heavy toll."

Payne continues walking along the park, walking around a path that leads down towards a river. Close inspection, or those in the know will recognize the place as Riverside Park in Louisville Kentucky, where the Halloween Edition of 'Almost Live' will air in a couple of months.

Payne - "Unfortunately for you Larry Tact, fate has put you in an almost unenviable position. Most men would not want to be put into a match with Jason Payne on a normal basis. But think about this. I just lost a title that meant more to me than the rest of this business cared to know. And the manner in which I lost it, and who was responsible, has filled me with an unquenchable thirst for vengeance. Vengeance so far, is being denied me, so in steps you who will have to bear the brunt of my ire until such time as I can satisfy my thirst for revenge."

"We are quite the polar oppposites aren't we Larry? I'm brash, loud, full of myself. You tend to not speak much, and let your actions do the talking. However, the one place where we come together, is in our focus, and our desire to succeed in the ring, and the fact that neither of us will leave anything on the table when the chips are down. Our paths have crossed before Larry, and we both know what the other is capable of. Or do we?

Payne stops to take a look out over the Ohio River. Taking a deep breath, he sighs as he lets it out.

Payne - "Have you ever been down here Larry? Let me tell you, when you come down here, and take a deep inhale, you can really get a feel for the pollution here. You know you can't eat the fish out of this river? There are so many heavy metals and chemicals in this water that there have been advisories against eating anything caught of it for the last 20 years. I liken this river, to WFW:NE. There are many poisons in our midst. There are those who seek to bring us down, and drag us down and make us less than what we are. And those of us that rise above it, are forever tainted and stained by our surroundings. I have grown tired of the poisons within our organization."

"Now Larry, I want to get something straight. I respect you. You and I have worked together in the past, and though I'm sure we won't be spending Thanksgiving together, I have come to respect you. But you and me know damn well that respect or not, once that bell rings, it's dog eat dog, do whatever it takes, and come out on top by any means neccesary. I warn you now, all of the respect in the world is not going to save you. And I will explain to you why."

Payne turns and continues walking along the Riverwalk.

Payne - "As I said before, you and I have faced each other in the past, and while the outcomes have not been to my liking, it would be foolish of you to think that this is the same Jason Payne you fought before. Secretly, I admit, I hope that you would be that foolish. However, I know you're not. Consider this a professional courtesy what I am about to tell you. You are not stepping into the ring with Jason Payne, Dog of War. You're not stepping into the ring with Jason Payne whose only knowledge of wrestling comes from bludgeoning people to death through tables, and with ladders. No, you're faced with a beast quite unlike anything you've ever dealt with."

"What you find yourself facing Larry, is the beast I just described, but this beast is one that can match you move for move. That can grapple, and wear you down just like you can. While the rest of the world has been watching a slow lumbering Payne with all his power moves over the last few years, they have never understood that all these years in the business, I know a thing or two about actual wrestling. That I've honed a technical prowess that has yet to be unleashed. How many promos have been shot with me at the old Basham-Schultz Wrestling Academy watching film? I don't just watch film, I breathe it, I practice it, and I refine it."

Payne stops and turns so that the Louisville skyline is behind him, the traffic from I-64 whizzing by on the overpass behind him.

Payne - "So, Larry, let me break this down for you. A man on a quest for vengeance, who doesn't discriminate against whoever gets in his way. I man on a quest of redemption. An unstoppable force of nature who will consume your body and soul through high impact, as well as technical skill. With a clear and defined focus for where he wants to go. To your credit, I'm sure outwardly, this won't faze you. but inwardly, ask yourself if there is anything you can do to stop me from claiming a destiny that I already see as mine, and that destiny is standing side by side with Cameron Cruise as one half of the WFW World Tag Team Champions. That's a cold truth my friend, a reality if you will. A reality that you just might...not...like."

Payne smirks and pulls down his sunglasses long enough to wink before turning to walk towards the Louisville skyline as the camera fades out.

 

[Starbreaker]

What next...?

"When you lose something precious, you just need time to regroup. But any rumors of my departure are HIGHLY unfounded...."

FADE IN: on the Manhattan suite of Larry Tact. The former NEW World Heavyweight Champion sits on his plush living room sofa, looking surprisingly calm after suffering defeat to Shawn Hart.

LARRY TACT: "After all false prophets out there, who preached about how I 'dropped out' after losing the NEW World Championship, years ago, maybe people got similar ideas. Of course, that was never the case... and, quite frankly, I have no intentions of being a victim, or wallowing over what happened."

"Meaning... there are many ways wrestling matches can go. It's part of what makes this industry so tantalizing, and KEEPS you coming back for more. And for just once in his career, Shawn Hart can even manage to squeak one out over me in the ring. Anything can happen in wrestling."

He raises his hands and slow-claps briefly.

"Congrats, Shawn. You'd better hope WFW:NE keeps us apart, as they're now doing... because you we do... you won't find yourself on the same side of the coin flip, next time... and you'll be ten pounds lighter."

"Not to say I'm surprised that they ARE keeping us apart..."

He shakes his head.

"I had to reclimb the ladder all over again, in order to get another shot the last time. And even then, that came in a six-man match of my own design... brilliant as it was, showcased on WrestleSTOCK, it still took some time. I have no intentions of that being the case again. This time, it's going to be a much more direct course to the title. I don't care who the hell thinks they're 'better' than me. The fact is, for all the talk, few have proven as much when it comes time. When I'm HALF on my game, I'm still better than most. And now, with the... WFW:NE World Championship.... I won't stop even once I'm back on top."

"So then, what in the hell am I doing in a match, to determine... Cameron Cruise's tag partner?"

He scoffs.

"I guess WFW:NE has been watching me taking on the task of resuscitating another tag division... and figures, 'Let's jump on!' Not that I can really blame them."

"But if there was ever a THINNER VEILING on a 'consolation' for losing the title, I'd like to f***ing see it. And that... that has kept me thinking this entire week."

He massages his face for a moment.

"I mean, on the one hand.... I can take on this little sidebar, run through this little 'tournament' and add another notch to my WFW:NE legacy. I'll be one step closer to a Grand Slam Champion here, for sure. And once that tag title is in my possession, I'll be eligible to be a double Champion. There are enticing possibilities to it.... and you have to appreciate how this company is now practically begging, after what they've seen elsewhere... for something to take this company on its shoulders, since Shawn Hart has never done that anywhere... he is no Anthology....."

He smirks.

"On the other hand... what kind of joke is this week? It's not a knock on tag team wrestling... no doubt, it's a lost art. It takes a combination of wrestling acumen and, well... TACTFUL strategy... to make it as a tag team. And looking around at what's out there... that may be WHY it's a lost art, these days."

"I was World Heavyweight Champion, and clearly have the wrestling acumen and intelligence to succeed. I'm plenty qualified. What I've been utterly baffled by, this week... because it seems like a joke on WFW:NEs part.... is my opponent this week."

"I mean, I haven't heard anything back from the office, so... am I supposed to seriously wrestle Jason Payne?!?"

He looks appalled.

"Let's look at this tactfully. I was recognized for being the best by wrestling my way to the top.... not being the best at shoving light tubes in people's faces."

"Of course Jason Payne 'respects' me... I bet he does, considering I was at the top while he may have been reliving his childhood dreams, playing with the Michael Jackson impersonators."

"He did come up with the match stip, anyway...."

"But I don't question your personal choices, Jason. I don't even question your choice to swim in the Ohio River, or whatever the hell your point was about that. Pollution? YOU are part of the pollution in WFW:NE. Don't kid yourself if you think otherwise, when you're the one who's greatest moment in NEW history could be parading around like Madonna Wayne Grossard, just so you could put him on his back."

He chuckles.

"And 'not wanting' to meet you in the ring now? Yeah, I've heard that one before. It's called ARROGANCE. Verbal pollution. Do you think FOR ONE SECOND... that I am NOT ready to go off on someone, after losing the chance to be the inaugural WFW:NE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION?! Do you even know what that MEANS?"

"No, of course you don't. You're too tied up in being stripped of the chance to be dropped through ten tables in your matches, now."

"Before you go talking about pollutants here, Jason, take a good, hard look in the mirror. What have you really been other than a s***stain on this place?"

"Respect is the last thing on my mind. And you haven't earned a shred of mine."

"Save your generic banter on vengeance, because you won't be getting it this week, anyway. You want Vengeance? Go back to the trash bin throwing and manure-slagging matches."

"What I will give you a healthy dose of, though, is a reintroduction to something I like to call... the WRESTLING ring. It's not meant to be the scene of otherwise illegal acts of violence, if it weren't sanctioned by the P©X. It isn't meant to be littered with glass and garbage. It's a place to demonstrate REAL SKILL in the craft called WRESTLING."

"Don't think I'm not aware of your 'sacrifices' for being the the P©X. Just don't think I'm impressed, either, Jason. I've tangled with the so-called standard bearer of that division, Chaos, and won. I've had extreme rules matches, and won. I entered those matches simply to make sure, when I came across people like you, who will try to act like you've made some great contribution to wrestling, by competing in these asinine matches.... that I know your 'sacrifices'....."

"And they amount to s*** in my mind. Because it's really what you're good at... what you love to do... and what I look down upon and despise. You're the type of person who takes what I do, in wrestling... and bring it down. You desecrate the purity of wrestling, tainting it and loving it all the while."

"But the BEST part... the ICING on that is... then you expect people to 'respect' you when you enter the wrestling ring to...*gasp*... WRESTLE!"

"Well f**k you."

"I'm going to show you what it really means to have SACRIFICED for a title. I'm going to show you how the PAIN of losing your title, Jason... it's nothing compared to being knocked off from the TOP."

"Because you may have enjoyed having your little contests of 'who can slam the other into more tacks?' contests... but I had no choice but to WRESTLE to get my title. I had to gain mastery of the pure craft of this sport, not read "The Complete Idiots Guide on How to Use a Barbed-Wire Baseball Bat." I needed the skills I learned through challenging my body and mind, and not in ways Michael Jackson impersonators, and midgets, and lawyers could ever do."

"And along the way, I shed blood, too. I had harm done to my body, too. But I didn't win by just bashing someone until they stopped moving. I had to actually OUTTHINK them, and then keep them down when they still had the ability to get up."

"I had to break them in a way the P©X would never understand. I had to do it so thoroughly that they wouldn't get up, WHILE conscious and cognizant. I couldn't just beat them with weapons to get it done."

"So when you LOSE that way, Jason... you learn to not just b***ch about it. You appreciate that you need to work even harder at what you do, in order to get back on top."

"And you don't talk about how it's a 'bad time' for your opponent to be wrestling you. NO TIME is a GOOD time for my opponent to be wrestling me, Jason, because I'm ALWAYS capable of BREAKING THEM DOWN."

"Maybe you'll appreciate that, after I'm done with you."


FADE OUT.

 

[Jason Payne]

Payne is shown walking out of Little Dooey's down in Starkville MS. As he makes his way through the parking lot, a couple of wrestling fans cautiously approach the big man for an autograph, and Payne happily obliges, even posing for a picture for a fan on his cell phone. Smiling he shakes the fan's hand as he walks to his car, stopping to face the camera as it closes in on him.

Payne - "This is one of my favorite places to come when I get down here to Starkville. Best BBQ in the South if you ask me. You know this place started in a gas station like 20 something years ago. Now they franchise all over North America. But it's still the best BBQ I've ever had. But that's niether here nor there now that I have a camera in my face is it? Tact, glad you could finally show your face. You know if it's one thing in this business that still pumps me up, it's seeing egotistical, 'This Promotion Couldn't Live Without Me', so called indestructible forces get thier comeuppance. Because for all of your posturing, it goes to show that even 'the best' can have an off day."

"And so here we both sit, at a crossroads in our careers. Here we both sit just a little bit lighter around the waist. And here we both sit with sights on getting back to where we want to be, or moving to other plateaus we haven't ascended to. Quite the conundrum if you ask me Larry. But it's not without it's resolution which is going to take place not to far from here very, very soon."

Payne reaches into his shirt pocket and dons a pair of sunglasses since it is kind of bright out.

Payne - "And I got to hand it to you. You came out here and did pretty much what I expected you to do. I don't need a history lesson here Larry. I'm well aware of your wrestling pedigree, as you're well aware of mine...or are you? You see Larry, you, and the rest of the boys in our locker room all pretty much look at me and see the same thing. You see a guy who's been through more tables, taken more chairs to the face, pulled more thumbtacks out of thier nuts then the rest of you combined. And you know, that's fine that you see things that way, cause really, that's all you've been allowed to see."

"You know, the old Mid-South used to have shows here for years. Jerry Lawler was the big babyface champion down here and his offense consisted of a fist drop off the second rope and pulling his singlet down. When he got called up to the big time, the big time used him for something completely different, and he was presented far differently then southern wrestling fans remembered him. Same for Hulk Hogan. For almost 30 years we've been force fed a Hulk-up, boot the face and legdrop was the most devestating set of moves in wrestling, forgetting the fact that away from the bright lights of the big time was a different side of him that American audiences never saw."

Payne turned to look out across the parking lot of the restaurant as he continued.

Payne - "Point being here Tact, yeah...I've been beat up, I've been in what you might think are sh** matches. But here's what you don't, or maybe can't comprehend Larry, because the disturbing truth might be too much for you to handle. This is how Jason Payne has been presented all these years. A six foot six inch 280 pound wrecking machine who will kick the crap out of someone or beat someone to within an inch of thier lives with a chair, who shows very little in the way of offense that doesn't involve some type of slam or driver. That about sum it up?"

Payne snorts softly, clearing his throat before turning back to the camera, rubbing his chin as if in thought.

Payne - "Nasty match you had there with Shawn Hart. Real nasty. Face got busted up pretty bad. Bet your neck is sore, not to mention your shoulder and pecs from that Fujiwara Shawn had you in. Ya know a good WRESTLER, someone who knew a thing or two about watching thier opponents and eyeing thier weakness would pick up on something like that. You know a crossface could put some more pressure on that shoulder and neck of yours. Or maybe a crossface chickenwing, or a cobra clutch? That one spot where Shawn back dropped you to the outside on to those chairs had to take a toll on your back. Maybe a Boston crab, or camel clutch would do some more damage to areas that Shawn already hit, ya think?"

"So Larry, you want to teach me how to wrestle, and show me what it's like to feel pain and loss? Well that's great that you want to do all that but really Larry, after eating, sleeping, and breathing this business since I was 5 I don't think I really need to be taught a lesson. And I have to admit to not really caring about what it is you think you're going to show me as much as I do putting you on the mat for three seconds, or making you tap out."

Payne opens his car door and steps in, leaning out the window after closing the door.

Payne - "So here we are Larry. Two indestrcible forces of nature coming off losing titles and starting on the path of redemption, and really, the best you can put together is to run down my so called lack of wrestling ability? For shame Larry, cause you're usually that much better. You see me worrying about wrestling you? Talk about how no one wants to wrestle you, son I RELISH the chance to get in the ring with you. So here's what I suggest you do. You come to the ring, and you bring your armbars, supplexes, Indian deathlocks, front face locks, figure-four leglocks, step-over toeholds, rear naked chokes, triangle chokes and whatever other WRESTLING moves you think you're going to teach me, cause I'm serving notice to you, and the rest of that locker room, that the Payne you think you know, you really don't know."

"So here's where you stand Larry. Your facing an opponent who you clearly think is one dimensional and predictable, when it fact, he's multi-layered, schooled in many different wrestling techniques and holds, and add to that, years of putting my body through tables and impaling it with tacks has made me tougher than most could ever hope to be. Hell, any sane person would want to keep a lot of that from thier opponent Larry, but not me. And the reason is simple. When I beat you Larry, not if...but WHEN I beat you Larry, I want you to have a complete and total understanding of what it was that happened. Then maybe you can back to being savior of the promotion or division or whatever it is you think you're the savior of."

Payne starts the car, it's engine rumbling to life.

Payne - "Countdown's starting Larry, and when your time is up, this 'sh**stain" will have you 'sh***ing your pants, as well as having the locker room sh***ing thier pants because for years you've been blinded to what's been lurking in your midsts. Not any longer Larry. Time to open your eyes, and if you refuse to open them, then I'll open them for you. Count on it, Jack."

Payne puts the shifter in reverse and pulls out of the parking lot, leaving the camera behind as we FTB.