FADE IN.

 

"You can't keep doing this."

 

RYAN:

"You know, Bronson, there was a time period in my life when I would have fileted your skin from your bones and made a trophy of it for half the things you've said to me. I have been called many despicable names over the last sixteen years. In almost every case, every bit of it was true and I relished in it. I enjoyed the fear. I demanded the respect. And they gave it -- oh, they gave it, because whether it was voluntary or not, in the end they had no choice."

 

"It is a double gift to be supremely skilled and frighteningly violent when one's chosen profession is to beat people up for a living."

 

"I used to ruin people's lives, Bronson."

 

"You talk about Boston Bancroft so much, you should have his name trademarked for your retirement fund. But other than that one glorious time in your life, how often have you held a man's entire future in the palm of your hand? How often have you held your fist around the neck of a man and had the power to squeeze the life right out of it? I've held my hand around the throat of entire companies, Bronson. I've literally had my hand on the lightswitch with the power to turn it off, and I've turned it off."

 

"I've taken an entire roster of men and women and put them on the street out of spite, because someone from their group said the wrong thing about my company."

 

"My company, Bronson."

 

"And yet here you are, the name of my firstborn dangling from your lips like a casual cigarette smoke after some cheap groupie sex."

 

"There comes a time in every man's life, no matter who he is, where he must consider the rest of his life. I stood unchallenged as the best professional wrestler in the world five years ago. I had two paths in my sights.... destroy everything in front of me, crush everything and everyone until there was nothing left to destroy.... or do something different."

 

"I chose the second path. I chose to build something for once instead of tearing it down. I chose to help create a new generation for this sport instead of trying to stamp them from existence."

 

"You make your speeches..."

 

"You make your speeches and you think it's your place to educate me on what the faithful want. You think I'm a tool to be used to ingratiate yourself to the frothing hangers on that feed your existence and make you into the myth and legend of Bronson Box."

 

"I am MORE ...than you know....Bronson........BOX."

 

"I am much... much.... more than another man inside a wrestling ring, practicing headlocks on a foam rubber dummy."

 

Ryan exhales... deeply.

 

RYAN:

"I've told you a million times, given you more than fair warning, and yet you still don't listen. I've given you small tastes, thrown you through walls and opened you up in the ring, and yet you still don't listen. You talk to me like being forcably tied to you and made to fight is a point of fear when it's EVERYTHING I WANT."

 

Ryan puts a hard emphasis on the "T" in "want", and his eyes open slowly. Meanwhile, the pace of his words speeds up.

 

"You-ask-where-I'll-be-when-we're-fighting-in-bingo-halls. I-say-right-here."

 

"You-ask-where-I'll-be-when-the-cameras-are-gone. I-say-right-here."

 

"You-ask-what-I'll-do-when-there-is-no-bloody-network. I-say-YOU....are the one who will be....bloody."

 

Pause...

 

Ryan goes into a near-whisper.

 

RYAN:

"You ask what Ascension means..... I say.... it means.... ESCALATION."

 

"You don't like the jokes, so I'll be very concise and clear. I'm about to take you somewhere that you don't wanna be, Scotsman. I've earned the right to punch my ticket in this business, and whether you like that or not, Bronson, I really couldn't give less of a FUCK what you think about it. I've put myself in a position to put you in a hospital with massive internal injuries, then buy out the facility just for fun so I can do it again."

 

"You can keep taking shots at a deceased family member who meant more than everything in the world to me at one point in my life...."

 

The words trail off as Ryan's eyes close again, he cocks his head slightly to the left, and opens them again..... and smirks.

 

RYAN:

"Say what you want, Bronson."

 

"Everyone has their soft spot....."

 

Ryan's eyes go empty, almost glassy as he stares a hole into the empty space in front of him...

 

"I will zero in on yours, and when I do, I will make you feel more pain, more anguish than you could ever cause me. I will put my fist around your throat... and I will squeeze, and I WILL NOT LET GO.... until I get tired of looking into your stupid fucking mongoloid-ass dead eyes. And you will, finally, learn something you never had to learn before...."

 

"REGRET.

 

Ryan's eyes close once more, and he turns his head to the side, as if shaking something off, then opens them.

 

"You've overplayed your hand, my friend."

 

"I made a promise to someone.... a long long time ago... and now, I'm gonna break it."

 

"I'm sorry."

 

Ryan turns and walks off as the camera fades out....

 

FIN.