“What the **** were you thinking turning down that money! AND you lost your title shot!”
<o> </o>
<o> </o>
Yeah, SB’s heard a lot of that lately. He doesn’t give much of a damn, after all he’s still the Icon, right? Yes, he did want that title shot – but if he caused Dan Ryan any bit of grief at all, it was worth it. More title shots will come his way when he’s earned it, not when it’s handed to him by some slimeball owner in CYA mode. Newsflash, Dan: SB doesn’t want your sympathy. He wants your HEAD.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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[A hotel room somewhere in <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Denver</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Colorado</st1:State></st1lace>. SB has a match at EPW’s Black Dawn. Not quite the one he thought he’d get, but maybe this one is better than the rest. Yeah, Dan’s trying to use SB to drive a wedge between Beast and the other “A1E Insurgents”, if you will, but both he and Beast are smarter than that. What could be better than two A1E guys stealing Dan Ryan’s show? Because baby, the whole damn world knows when you put a guy like Beast and an Icon like SB in the same ring, you can consider your show STOLEN. SB sits in an armchair, dressed in a powder blue polo shirt, khakis, and Italian leather dress shoes that would make 4 Horsemen Era JJ Dillon eat his heart out. He pulls off his shades, runs his hands over his head, and speaks]
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SB: Everyone wants to know what I’m going to do next. It feels like I can’t walk down the street to buy a loaf of bread without some guys who think they know how this business works asking me why I didn’t take the money and get my title shot. You know what I tell them?
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I tell ‘em I ain’t a God damn sellout. I tell ‘em that when I give a MAN like Marcus Westcott my word, that I keep it till the day I die. Me an’ him, we’re in this for the long haul. Fight till the finish, till either Dan Ryan and EPW are standin’ tall, or A1E sits back on top of the wrestling business, with no other natural predators to come and try to snake us right out of our own backyard.
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You might hear what Marcus has to say about me and think he’s blowin’ smoke, but fact is I gained a lot of respect for the man since he dumped me out of the Pier Six Brawl. He was ready to give up everything so that the fans and the boys in the back could keep A1E – the richest tradition in sports still operating. He would have laid down his job so that I could keep mine. That might not sound like a whole hell of a lot, but that’s food in my mouth, a roof over my head, and clothes on my back. There’s not a whole hell of a lot more than a man can give to another in this world. If that’s not brotherhood, then I don’t know what is. I never had a brother, but if I did, I wish he could be half the man Marcus Westcott is.
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And now, I gotta fight him. I know, I know. I’m a competitor. I’m supposed to soldier on no matter what and keep chasing the top spot and the almighty dollar, but even Icons like myself need to draw the line somewhere. I didn’t want to fight James and <st1:City w:st="on"><st1
lace w:st="on">Troy</st1
lace></st1:City> last week, but Dan, you made me. You’ve become so concerned with making me and Marcus pay that you stopped putting out good wrestling shows as your top priority. If there wasn’t so much damn talent on this roster, every card would be a ****ing dud the way you string ‘em together to suit your own agenda. I see now why killing A1E wouldn’t bother you a damn bit. You’re so out of touch with what the crowd truly wants to see, it’s a miracle you haven’t been bought out yourself already. But someone’s gonna come along one day with more money than I, and you’ll have to pay the band for all those years of dancing to the music of dollar signs over that of satisfied customers.
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Marcus, I don’t want this match any more than you do. I’d rather just announce my no-show now and tank a nice chunk of the buy-rate for Black Dawn than go out there and steal the show. But like I said, that just wouldn’t be me, would it? I’ve made my reputation by stealing shows, not tanking them. Even when I lose, you get a show like no other from a one-of-a-kind superstar. So I’ll take you up on your offer. This match isn’t gonna be bull****. No punches will be pulled.
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A1E’s gonna steal the show indeed, daddy-o. Right out from under Dan Ryan’s nose.
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SB winks and smiles at the camera.
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Fade out…