“Hi Eric.”

 

[We don’t have a picture of anything on the screen right now, just a black screen.  The voice is known, though...that of The Last Nighthawk, Christian Light.]

 

“The Last Nighthawk” Christian Light[v/o]:

Guess you were busy the other week, which is cool.  Hope you put a stomping on Rook Black, Team Danger style.  

 

Listen, reason I was calling was to say we’re almost at the Finals of the tournament, and we’ve got a pretty good shot at this one.  Between myself and Claira, we’re in great shape.  I know Evo’s got Heidi, who’ll facekick Alceo’s head off, but I think the odds are in our favor.  Hopefully I’ll catch ya backstage; between Defiance and that soccer tournament, we’ve got a lot to talk about.  Catch ya later.

 

[A beep.]

 

Light[v/o]:

Where is he?

 

[And then a word across a screen.]

 

Chalk

 

[And after a few seconds, these words fade, and we see The Last Nighthawk standing in front of us.  He’s got that red and black Heritage football jersey on, and after the fourth or fifth time seeing him in red, it doesn’t look so weird anymore.]

 

Light:

For those of you who are unfamiliar with tournaments, Bracketology, and some of the other various terminologies that are involved with tournament play in major sports, let me bring one of those terms over to our sport.

 

“Chalk”

 

[A pause to let the term sink in.]

 

Light:

When a tournament is referred to as “chalk”, that means it’s followed the course everyone’s expected.  

 

An example of chalk would be if the annual March NCAA tournament came around and all four of the top seeds made the finals. That would be called a tournament that progressed by the chalk.

 

How does that relate here?

 

Well, take the Heritage brand for example.

 

At first glance, the Heritage bracket has progressed by the “chalk”.  Ever since TLC, the same two people have been leading in the points tables, and that would be Claira and I.  Now, on the tournament’s final day, the same two wrestlers that have been at the top of the table for the group stage are the two wrestlers to the finals.  

 

But at the beginning, neither one was even on the Heritage radar.

 

[Pause]

 

Light:

Claira’s performance has been well-documented, both accurately by Kai Scott and inaccurately by Alceo Dentari, so I’m not going to go into too much more detail about it.  Suffice it to say, it’s an amazing run...one that may not be duplicated for a long time.  Claira has well-exceeded expectations.

 

And me, I wasn’t even drafted at the beginning of this show.  Though, as Jeff Andrews so astutely pointed out on commentary that show, I had no interest in even exposing myself to the possibility of working against Eric Dane on this one.  So I can understand if people who picked guys like Waterman, Cage, or Brooks felt that their brackets got cheated.  But to me, this was a big picture issue that I wasn’t going to leave to chance.

 

Two different stories of domination.   Claira, the upstart with the dominant performance against all preset odds.  And me... I’ll quote a woman I respect a heck of a lot in this business, Heidi, and I think I’ll go on record as being “a retired ‘legend’ who came back and managed to stay back”.  

 

Two different chalky paths.

 

[Pause.]

 

Light:

Claira and I have to face each other earlier in the night before the main event triple-threat match.  To be honest, I was a little wary of this for a time, thinking this was either a Goldman setup or it would be a great time for us to get attacked by someone else with their own agenda.  But as time’s gone on, I’ve warmed to the idea of a rematch with Claira, even if any gloves that were on the last time will have come off for this one. 

 

The match we had at Heritage 8 was one of the most epic in the history of Defiance, and while it left me a little worse for wear, I was very happy with my overall performance.  

 

The questions, though, are piling up for the rematch.

 

What will happen this time?  Will Claira go after Christian’s arms?  What does Christian have to try and counter the submission game of Claira St. Sure, which didn’t really come into play all that much the last match?  Will Kai Scott and Diane Parker have something new up their sleeves for this match?

 

Can they top the last epic?

 

[Pause.]

 

Light:

I can hypothesize the answers to a lot of these questions, and most of my guesses end with some form of the words “no quarter asked, no quarter given”.  I don’t expect any mercy or any kind of special strategy that Claira wouldn’t employ against me normally for any reason other than “hey maybe this will work instead of what we did last time.”

 

So I’m not going to sit here and pretend to know what the Truly Untouchable camp is thinking.  Nor will I tell anyone around how this next match will go, because I don’t exactly know.

 

But I do have one thing that I need to say to Claira before we face off for a second time.

 

[Light maintains a serious look on his face for a moment before a small smile creeps onto his face.]

 

Light:

Thank you.

 

I don’t mean to be disrespectful of my previous opponents.  I know Adam Waterman tried like crazy, and so did Cancer Jiles.  But before that match...before Heritage 8...I was winning matches almost in cruise control, with the only possible exception being the one-on-one with Jiles.  

 

It was probably fun for the fans to watch, but to be honest, it was a little...well, dull for me.  

 

And then came you, Claira.

 

I think that koppu kick you threw at me...that was the watershed moment.  

 

From that point forward, it wasn’t just a return tour.  It wasn’t just me working with some kid like Michel or Impala to try and get them up to snuff.  It wasn’t just putting on the best show possible with whatever I had to work with.

 

You locked me back into that zone.

 

It’s because of that kick, and the moment of clarity that kick provided, if you will...that I reached deep down and grabbed at a finisher that I was, quite honestly, scared to use at first for fear of doing grievous bodily harm to my opponents.

 

And when I used that finisher on you...when I brought you crashing to the ground head-first...all those career-defining moments that the Sledgehammer earned for me flashed before my eyes.

 

It felt good.

 

And you know what?

 

[Pause.]

 

Light: 

I think I’m gonna keep it on the table for just a little bit longer.

 

After all, I’ve got another big night coming up.

 

And I do need something special if I’m going to wipe your chalk line off the bracket.

 

[End.]