The present before you.
"Back to the same ol' bit, huh Paul?"
(Fadein, Cameron Cruise in front of a blue backdrop with the italic, Pee-Dubya-See letters in white. Dressed in a Black T-shirt and blue jeans, Cruise slowly paces back and forth with his arms crossed across his chest.)
CC: That's right...I said PAUL.
See, for fifteen years, despite my personal idea and feeling about you, I'd had always called you "Hornet", simply out of the RESPECT. Not for YOU, but for the mere fact that you had such the incredible VETERAN status over me that I didn't. But that status wasn't what was bothering me.
At least until now anyway.
But before I get ahead of myself, let's set this straight and cut the pleasantries.
I know who you are, and I know you know who I am.
But, I meant what I said last week to Marx, I don't just not like you...I DETEST you.
You see, after the first few years you and I had been on the same circuit, it never really occurred to me to think about the fact that things had been changing. Sure, it's an ongoing process despite that but in the offset fact that most of us just try to roll with it...it never occurred to me that you'd really been slowing down.
Not because you're older, hell...it wasn't 'til after the first few years that I realized that you'd lightened your booking schedule, and I don't just mean the autograph-and-photo sessions, but actual TIME IN THE RING.
'Course, I never really was one to mind OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS, at least not like you did, Paul.
Never one time did I appoint myself a REFEREE while another was incapacitated; not while another man was competing against another, regardless of whether or not a Championship title and/or accollade was on the line.
And I surely didn't do it for leverage against a company owner, muchless one like Chad Merritt.
I said it before, and I'll say it again...since then, alot's changed, but some things stay the same.
I've accomplished quite abit in the last fifteen-plus years, Hornet.
Winning the Pier Six Brawl in A1E, becoming World Champion and nearly the longest-tenured WORLD Champion at that...
Defending multiple championships in the same company, at the same time.
Putting together quite possibly the single-greatest faction in this business, in Anthology.
I could keep going but I'd just be delaying my point, which is simply this: ten years ago when I was CSWA Presidential Champion, you might've been able to do what you did and get away with it....and you DID.
But ten years later, I've become a big-time player, and unlike you....I still USE the ol' stompin' grounds from time to time to put in some work for a match or much like alot of men do with their time....collect their thoughts.
Ten years later, you show up two or three times for a "One-Time return" to what you make "Brett-Favre-like" career moves in process, and it's all of a sudden like you never left.
Fanfare, cameras, fame, hell...you're Apollo Creed in Rocky Four.
Only except I'm not Russian, I don't speak Russian, I don't have a hankering for Brigitte Nielsen and well...to be candid and obvious...
You're not black.
Impulse has it on good authority what happens after the first round of any given tournement, and quite honestly, he's right.
To an extent.
You see, with all-due respect to Jonathan Marx, this IS the round that starts MY version of the tournament, because you see...even as a "big-time" player...no one expects a man like me to get this far, much less win it.
Hell, no one expects ME at all.
See, Impulse can say that because in Round Two he stands in the ring across Lane Cash.
Michael Manson hasn't been seen in almost five years by anyone, but despite whose in this tournament he's practically called the tournament already his.
Even my "ol' partner" Joey Melton is dialed in on doing this tournament, only Adrien's wrong; Melton's always thought about himself first, hell, it's ALWAYS been about Joey Melton.
And me?? Cameron Cruise??
Hell, no one expects ME at all.
And that's okay because the idealization of myself winning the PWC tournament while unconventional, I use as the biggest piece of motivation there is.
I've beaten Melton, Beast and Dan Ryan in three straights, I've even taken Mike Randalls to the limit draw while thought of as complete Wrestling Fodder with the Unified Title on the line while doing what I've done for fifteen years, something that Hornet WON'T do.
Keep to a schedule.
But for myself, if I'm going to win this thing, not only do I have to beat you Paul, but with all due respect to Alex Austin, I've gotta take on Michael Manson before getting to the Finals, either Impulse or Joey.
Friggin' Murderers' Row if you ask me.
Which is just fine, I wouldn't want it any other way...except for me...EVERY match from here on out is a Final Slash Championship match.
As for Paul...let's call this what it is, really.
If Melton is still willing to sit back and rely on his laurels for a chance to enter a tournament like this, and you're willing to do the same to get in on the Main Event at Crash 50 which means you're willing to do the same for this.
You're not too slow, Paul. Albeit, I was prepared regardless but after last week...that excuse is no longer valid.
I've beaten Adrien Willard, on more than one occasion actually...so that excuse is out, as well as the strength question.
Willard was probably the youngest person in the competition, so youth WAS on his side.
But again...you managed that hurdle.
Of course they care, as long as you're able to get out there on a walker or in a wheelchair..they'll ALWAYS care.
You're HORNET.
Greatest American Hero...Golden-Boy...Master of the Scorpion Deathlock, the monikers can go on I'm sure.
Paul.
HORNET
Call it whatever you want....people are going to remember you, remember you for the passion, for the Championships and Accollades you received, and the battles you've won...but most of all Hornet, people are going to remember you...
...quite frankly because you won't let them FORGET.
You see, because you could keep in good condition by any other virtue than a match with Championship connotations, it's just not you.
At least it didn't use to be.
Then lastly, after all those questions you'll be able to answer the last one...what do you have to lose??
Just one thing, Paul. You can lose the match...and I'm not asking you to just take the victory and give it to me and go home.
(Cruise smirks)
No, that honor was presented to me while I was in the Hotel room I shared with Melton in Huntsville, Georgia, an event Joey insisted on labeling "Melton-Fest '04", while entertaining two strippers he insisted that I pay for while on the phone with Lindsay Troy, long distance.
But you can lose the match, Hornet, that's what you can do.
The best thing about it??
You won't be any worse off than you were before.
But at least you'll be able to go home and enjoy your semi-realistic retirement, at least until the next tournament comes around that is.
As far as picking between those last two men, what can I say...
(Cruise shrugs)
I'm optimistic??
FADEOUT