(Fade in to a personal private gym. The room is huge One wall is lined halfway with cardio machines; a treadmill, stair climber, stationary bike, and eliptical machine, before giving way to a corner that has been taken over by a humongous universal gym. The second wall has various free weight stations and weight racks, and the third has a heavy bag and speed bag stations that give way to a beverage and food, complete with water and Gatorade stations, and another packed with energy bars and fresh snacks. The fourth wall has the gym door and a long mirror. But in the middle of the large room lies a wrestling ring. In the middle of the ring is a 20 foot ladder, with the former EPW World Heavyweight Champion Marcus Westcott sitting atop it, wearing a red and white Detroit Red Wings t-shirt and black track pants, along with the new striped Eddie Van Halen high tops.)
Marcus: Well, through all of this, Anarky... throughout this entire, poor excuse for an Unbeatable Banzuke Challenge... you've taken at least one thing away from it all, and realized a very important, singular truth...
You've REALLY f*cked yourself this time.
(Marcus takes a few steps forward down the ladder and jumps down to the ring below. He lands and bounces forwards a step, and comes to stand in front of the ladder.)
Marcus: And you've got no one to blame but yourself.
Don't trust anyone? You're just NOW figuring this out? I've been through it all, 'Nark... come on, you've been around long enough to know. I've ran the gamut of trust, mistrust, and betrayals. I've had best friends stab that knife in my back and almost end my career. I've had the women of my life take that knife and twist it around until I thought the pain would never end.
Hell, Anarky... I've been the guy that's used the knife myself.
Maybe I've been gullible in my time... maybe I've been a bit naive. But eventually, I learned.
Maybe it took too many times... maybe it took all the former friends to each take their turns betraying me and each taking their shot at making sure I'd never step in the ring again. Maybe it took all the women who tried to do the same thing with my emotions... maybe it took wrestling for a man that tried to humiliate me, degrade me, and keep me down at every turn to realize that NOT EVERYONE in this business is going to be there to look out for what's best for me. Maybe it took a f*cking YEAR of all this sh*t... all the backstabbing, lying, and deceiving while two entire federations and guys like you and me tried to tear each other apart over the ULTIMATE betrayal...
(Marcus is all fired up now, pacing fast across the ring. He grabs the ladder and DUMPS it over the top rope of the ring, and it clatters to the floor, making a huge commotion.)
Marcus: ... to figure out on my own that the only person I can depend on... IS ME.
Maybe...
...maybe... maybe I've got issues.
To hell with all the small children... *I* need therapy.
(Marcus slowly turns around in a circle, his arms spreading wide as if he's trying to encompass everything.)
Marcus: But all of this... everything that's happened between us... between Miles... 'Nark... this is all YOUR fault.
You've REALLY f*cked yourself, and you sonofab*tch, you DESERVE IT!
Look at yourself, Anarky with a "k".
(Marcus stops pacing in the center of the ring, and YELLS out.)
Marcus: LOOK AT YOURSELF!!!
You... Anarky... the bringer of chaos... the man that people FEARED to get into the ring with... hell, the man that even *I* get nervous about stepping into the ring with... having a freaking nervous breakdown...
All over Craig Miles.
After everything he's put me through over the last few months... did you REALLY think you could TRUST him to do the "right thing" in that match? Did you really think he was going to call that match down the middle? Has that guy ever done ANYTHING legit?
YOU CHOSE THIS PATH, ANARKY!!
YOU'RE the stupid F*CK that went after Miles in that match a couple Aggressions ago! Yeah, he blasted you with some flame, but he f*cked ALL of us in that match! YOU'RE the one that had to take it to the next level! YOU'RE the one that broke a f*cking BASEBALL BAT over the back of his head! YOU'RE the one that hit him with a Chaos Breaker on that tag belt! YOU'RE the one that put him in that barbed wire crossface!
YOU'RE the one that brought all of this on!
Me... I was content to wrestle that match, as crazy as it was, but Miles got in your head, and you LET it happen. You COULD have left it alone, Anarky. After all, aren't you the one that told me before that this was just all business and nothing personal? Or was that only when it served your purposes during the EPW/A1E war, and now that it's hit a little closer to home, what, now that the shoe's on the other foot and YOU'RE the one that's been wronged, all of a sudden it's a big f*cking deal?
Whatever floats your boat, pal. I'm not the one sitting here freaking out about how deep Miles is going to bury that knife into my back.
I KNOW it's going to happen.
This was MY fight, Anarky. Miles was MY problem. And now you've gone and made it YOUR problem, and YOU get to suffer for it.
You said it yourself, 'Nark. You wanted to play.
A couple of Aggressions ago, you and I got into that ring, and we fought a f*cking WAR alongside Red in that ring! We beat the sh*t out of each other on levels the rest of the hacks in the locker room could only WISH to duplicate, and where most guys would fall and stay down in a ever-growing pool of their own blood... we not only GOT UP... but we ENDURED.
I went through HELL in that match, Anarky... we all beat the HELL out of each other, and when you brought those thumbtacks out... I STILL managed to fight back and send BOTH of you into the pile of those little metal bastards! You destroyed me with a chair... you put me through a F*CKING FLAMING TABLE, and I got back up.
And that's exactly what I'm going to do when Miles tries to drive that knife into my back this week. Can you say the same? Or are you going to let him BEAT you?
What the hell are you going to expose me for? Being a standout WRESTLER that can also dish and take his licks, and keep on ticking?
This match... this isn't about you and me, 'Nark. This isn't even about the #1 contendership to the EPW World Heavyweight Championship. All that takes a back seat to making you an example to HIM. It doesn't matter that it's you across the ring from me this week. It could be you, it could be Sean Stevens himself, it could be Dan Ryan... it could be Beastlet for all I f*cking care...
But all it means that my opponent is a stepping stone to getting to Craig Miles, and 'Nark, I'm going to use you as an example to HIM. This match is going to be even more brutal than the one we went through two weeks ago. The pain, the blood, the SH*T that we do to each other is going to be off the charts, given there's a ladder and barbed wire involved.
I. DON'T. CARE.
You, my friend, are going to be NOT the carcass you take out of obscurity as you plan... no... but you are going to be the beaten, bloody, shredded, mutilated, F*CKED UP form that *I* toss at Miles' feet in challenge to HIM.
As a statement to HIM. To let HIM know that he's NEXT.
You... Anarky... are just a sack of sh*t to be tossed away when it's all over and done with.
And then the REAL war can begin.
(Fade out.)