“There are times when I really start to feel like I’m not cut out for this shit anymore.”
 

[No fade in.  Snap on.]

[Troy Matthews.  Sitting alone, on a wooden chair, backwards, hands gripping the top of the chair’s back.  Looking down at the floor, at his feet.  Crestfallen?  Broken?  Who knows?]

TROY:

That I should stop kidding myself and call it a day, and just walk away.  Swear off this stupid fucking business, go work for my father back home in Blackwood, and just start up a family I can bore with stories of the time when Daddy was a wrestler.

[He sighs.  This is a definite change of pace from the usually confident, spunky Jersey Devil.]

TROY:

If it’s not one thing, it’s the next.  A ruptured Achilles tendon.  A dislocated knee.

[His eyes meet us for the first time.]

TROY:

A goddamn CAMERA finally breaking down after UMPTEEN YEARS of working perfectly without the slightest problem.

[He spits on the floor.]

TROY:

And now a team just waltzin ’onto the scene out of nowhere, with visions for puttin’ me out of this business once and for all.  Callin’ out all of my faults and missteps, and I’ll be the FIRST to tell you there are many, while holdin’ out some invisible carrot of what might have been.  You think I’m shaken?

[A beat.]

TROY:

You’re goddamn right I’m shaken.  I try really hard to just let it roll off my back, and it usually works, especially against some big talkers who haven’t proven ANYTHING until they step in a ring across from me.  But this time?

[He stands to his feet, a visible shake in his left leg.]

TROY:

And you know what the worst part is?  What REALLY sucks?  It’s the fact that I don’t even know WHY it’s affecting me like it does.  Trendkiller didn’t faze me like this.  Dan Ryan didn’t faze me like this.  And now some skeezoid schmuck and his good little toy soldier finally have me contemplating my place in DEFIANCE?  My place in this BUSINESS?

[Troy looks down at his leg, almost as if he were addressing it directly.]

TROY:

Was it the knee injury from the Trendsetter when I fought the Fuckbolts?  Was it when my old partner Alex Markham told me he was happy in retirement and suggested that I try it too?  Was it the whole “Slayer of Giants” thing?  Was it just plain hitting my thirties and losing some intangible aspect?

CRACK!

FSHH--

[That sound you heard was Troy’s foot kicking the chair away, and said chair scraping along the floor.]

TROY:

[sigh] Things like this keep me up at night, when I used to laugh at every big dumb shit who used to say they’d wipe the floor with me. Hell, you know why they call me the Emerald Supernova, right?

[He rolls his eyes.]

TROY:

Because I explode and shine real bright for a while, then everything goes dark.

“Your wavering confidence is where I come in, young Troy.”

TROY:

Eddie... glad to see you.

[And Dante isn’t alone.  He’s got the masked monster Mushigihara at his side, fists balled and face expressionless (of course).]

EDDIE:

I know you asked me to handle the lion’s share of the dialogue before our matches, but I must say, there’s a lot of spirit in your words.

TROY:

Ha... thanks.

[Eddie nods.]

EDDIE:

But we are not here to make you feel good, Troy... we are here to address the Shadowmen.  Or rather, the so-called “skeezoid shmuck” and his “good little toy soldier.”

[The Jersey Devil rolls his eyes and lets out a little chuckle.]

TROY:

Lemme guess, kings always need to be confident, huh?

[The Gentleman Brawler just shakes his head.]

EDDIE:

No, no, Troy.  Kings, even the mightiest ones, show doubt in themselves and their abilities from time to time; KINGS, Troy, not GODS.

[And now Eddie makes eyes with the camera.]

EDDIE:

Which is why I suggest Donovan Torment consider his bauble of “Manager of Kings” before a trio of REAL kings put it to bed in Santa Barbara.  As young Troy has stated, for all of your hot air, you’ve yet to show anyone any true acumen, physical OR mental, in the ring.  Sure, Omar Wise is an intimidating individual, but none of it matters for now.

Torment, you’ve stated that Wise was a high-caliber competitor in Exodus Pro.

As my green-haired accomplice here might say, “whoop-dee-shit.”

[Eddie finally cracks a grin, the first seen in this promo.]

EDDIE:

In fact, I’d dare say that Private Wise is a coward for running away from things in San Diego, as you yourself have stated was the case, Torment, as if DEFIANCE wrestling will provide some kind of safe haven from the Big Bad Wolves over in E-Pro.

Too bad the only Three Little Pigs’ whose houses will be blown down... are yours.

MUSHIGIHARA:

[deep breath] OSU.

EDDIE:

You may have two monsters in Honon and Wise, but we have one more than capable of dealing with both of you.  Mushi here?  Sure, he’s smaller than either one of those beasts, but he will be MORE THAN HAPPY to demonstrate the raw power he possesses. Torment, you might possess two impregnable fortresses and a certifiable lunatic that lives and breathes every Scandinavian black metal archetype known to man...

[At this point, Troy has marched himself over to the camera’s view, right beside the other two Kings.  Eddie is now in the center, with Mushi at his left, and Troy at his right.]

EDDIE:

...but we are the Roman forces who will use our shovels to dig into the ground and weaken your foundation... and when your walls start to wobble...

[Eddie slaps Mushi in his broad chest.]

EDDIE:

Mushigihara here will charge in and topple them, leaving Troy and myself ready to lay siege to your team, Torment.  Omar Wise, Honon the Shaman, Marcus Grinde... before you start your campaign to conquer DEFIANCE’s Trios division, you will need to prove yourselves worthy of the reputation you’ve tried to conjure with words.

We, on the other hand, have a lot more to prove.

[Eddie grits his teeth.]

EDDIE:

And we have no intentions to lay down and pray for a quick end.  Whatever rabbit we need to pull out of our collective hats; whether we need to land a tactical strike, or circle around you for seven days like the Hebrews in Jericho...

We.

Will.

Persevere.

If your boys intend to make a good first impression, Torment, it will ONLY happen, NOT when there is no more gas in our proverbial tanks, or when our batteries die.

Victory will only come to you when all three of us are totaled and cubed like cars.  Until then?  We’ll keep coming like the undead.  And we don’t think you have it in you to destroy the head.

[Eddie grins.]

TROY:

Santa Barbara... will it be a disaster area as you guys are predicting?  Or are you nothin’ but smoke ‘n mirrors, waiting to be cleared and cracked?

You might want to make a name for yourselves... but we’re trying to hold on to ours.  And we’re gonna keep a death grip on it then even YOU won’t be able to break.

[Troy reaches from behind and gives the Sumo Beast a quick pat on the back.]

TROY:

Tell ‘em, Mushi.

[No theatrics, no stalling, just an arm being raised quickly, and a sharp, loud...]

MUSHIGIHARA:

OSU!

[Troy strikes a pose, and Eddie bows his head politely.  And we’re out.]

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