A Fresh Start
"Sean, Sean, Sean...SEAN...."
(Fadein, Cameron Cruise in front of an Empire Pro Wrestling Unleashed backdrop., dressed in a black sports coat with a blue undershirt., his hair slicked back and wearing matching Anarchy-style shades.)
CRUISE: At this point in your career, Stevens, most people would consider it an honor to be in the ring with you, no less on a PPV in one of the biggest, if not the biggest sports entertainment companies in the world. But, excuse my French, it don’t mean shit to me right now, not when we've started where we started from.
You’re not the man I want.
You’re not the opponent I deserve at "EPW's Unleashed", yet I’m stuck with you like a birth defect. I have to look into the camera, smile and sell.
Sell, Sell, Sell like you and I are pieces of fucking real estate we’re desperate to unload.
Cameron Cruise vs. Sean Stevens NO...Disqualification.
We have unsettled business, that's for sure, so I can make it work. I will take you to a level you haven’t reached in YEARS, if not EVER, but if you think I’m going to be happy about it. If you think I WANT to be dancing the Tango with Triple X, well…
I’ve got some swamp land in Florida to sell you.
The reality is, Stevens I’ve already beaten you...but whether or not you can see it, you just don’t know it yet.
The second I collapsed Impulse’s world and made everything he stands for a lie, I took your swagger. And without a bunch of huff and puff and bullshit, you’re nothing. You’re a former EPW World Heavyweight Champion...a 2-time Champion even, the things you've done makes you an icon in this business.
You could walk away TODAY and still be a Hall of Famer for the things you've done, but none of this matters to me, Stevens.
Why?
Because like a Pharaoh driven from ancient Egypt by the next slave master, this kingdom…EPW, is mine now.
So what if people laugh at me for the efforts I've made or the things I've done, whether or not it's been in the Project or Anthology, I don't care.
I’m crazy.
I’m full of shit.
Go ahead and say it, but here’s what I know. This is what I’m doubling down on.
TEN MINUTES.
For ten minutes this company was mine and Cameron Cruise was finally a World heavyweight champion.
I’m sorry, not “a” champion....I've been one of those multiple times before, no...
....THE champion.
You have men like IMPULSE who live by a code but don’t mind showing you Rose’s scrapbook of his big title win in another land. I hear he wants his own parking space now. If he wins, if he beats The First, we can only imagine how insufferable he’ll be. I mean, I don't hate the man, but should he defeat The First they may have to start selling ad space on his head and flying it above EPW arenas.
I was THE champion in this business.
Maybe I’m supposed to whine and carry on about how it was taken away....but last I checked, Knox is doing enough of that for me already.
Ten Minutes.
So much can happen in ten minutes.
Lives are born and lost.
Fortunes gained and life alternating mistakes made.
But for me?
What happened in ten minutes?
Validation.
Not from my peers or the business as a whole because I’m already thankful to have been a success.
Multiple-World Tag Champion, Multiple IC champion, I’ve headlined PPvs and made a small fortune in this business.
I’ve even had the luxury of seeing Joey Melton’s true face in the morning, something he wouldn’t even let Lindsay Troy see, not even on Skype.
(Cruise shudders.)
No, I finally gained validation from MYSELF. Because if I’m honest, and we should all be at some point in our lives, I really didn’t think I could do it. I was confident against the First, but I don’t think I really believed I could win not after the eight years I spent here, I don’t ever saw myself as a World champion, fronting the company I love.
Then it happened.
I wasn’t able to defeat the bastard again and hold the title, take it home and show it to my family. But in those ten minutes I saw my career flash in front of me and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt one day I’ll win the title again and this time, wake up the next morning as the World Champion.
Not just a day dream.
I should be in the Main Event with a chance to make that dream come true, but instead we’re all treated to The First and Impulse show.
Lifetime Movies Of The Week should be so thrilling, as here we are subjected to the two of them bickering about when Impulse should have taken the belt off Anarky and whether or not a code of honor makes you a pussy.
I find both of them a chore to listen to, and I've already got things to do.
I tainted your code Knox, but it doesn’t amount to much. What would a fan admire more? A wrestler who doesn’t cheat, or a man who doesn’t
eye a beautiful woman the minute his girlfriend is out of the room. Say no to brass knuckles if you want, but we’re all gonna laugh at you one day son when you’re doing exactly what Magic Johnson did twenty years ago. Face the cameras you’re so found of speaking in front of and admit you’ve contracted HIV from a group of pigmies.
And First.
(Cruise looks up at nothing in particular for a second)
Oh, First…
Ha.
You think the little show you create makes you strong, shows a desire to live.
It’s smoke and mirrors and desperation.
The fact is that no one gave a shit when you lost the Tag Team titles, no one cared while you were gone, and nobody gave a shit about you until they thought you were Lindsay Troy returning.
People were actually HAPPY though, that you were willing to put your career on the line, because at least people could finally be rid of you and not have to hear anything about what you think you know and wonder if you're going to continue having tea parties and dress up as fairy tail characters at thirty-plus years old...it's pathetic.
Fact is, First, she made the mask look better, I have to admit it.
Sorry Joey.
One day, and it’ll be soon,…all the kings horses and all the kings men won’t be able to put the First back together again and when you’ve run out of cards to play, when you reach into your utility belt and come out with nothing, when you see that nothing is beating me that day, I’m going to stand over you, smile, and knock you the fuck out.
And THAT is a REALITY CHECK you just....won’t like.
As for you Sean, this is Year Zero for Cameron Cruise.
The year my career resets and I rewrite a bit of history nobody saw coming.
Year Zero in EPW is here.
You can’t stop it.
Impulse can't stop it.
And The First DEFINITELY can't stop it....but please, you’re more than welcome to try.
Let’s make it a good show, the Cruise Nation deserves as such.
Remember what your Mommy, Ivy and Rose told you.
Smile....and then Sell, sell, sell.
It's my land now, my world to create as I see fit.
FADEOUT