Normally, you'd see someone sit here and talk about the past week then move onto their opponent for the week but I'm going to just jump right out there and say something to Rick Mad.
Really?
You really think that you're going to walk into Animosity and be able to pin me as you've said this week. Because if you do then you need to check yourself into the Heritage Clinic of Mental Health off Market Street because you're nuts. Just like Scott Myers did you fail to acknowledge my past here in TGW. Be it only being pinned twice, just a few loses, being a former TGW Champion, or the fact that I've been at the top since day one. Last week I didn't lose because Myers was the better man, I lost because Russell Franchise decided he wanted a measure of revenge and try to screw me out of the Volitionary Tournament, being afraid to face me will do that I suppose.
Rick, you might not have been watching but Myers landed a kick on the referee. I dropped his ass with the Last Call and had him beat. Franchise made his way to the ring and proceeded to screw me out of the match. That's why I'm still here in the tournament, Ms. Taylor knew that I deserved to win that match.
Just like this week when I beat you Rick, getting one step closer to capturing the TGW Volitionary Title and becoming the only person in TGW to win both of the titles. This isn't a game to me, I'm not going out and being a Hollywood star and be in commercials about laxatives. I'm putting my name in the record books of TGW, Rick. Can you say the same? Going out and getting pinned by Jessie Blake, beating up an old woman, and playing second fiddle to a tag team that has yet to impress isn't making a name for yourself. It's something that the kids do when they want to make a cheap buck, to try and look good for the high school girls.
Me?
I'm out there winning matches, winning titles, impressing everyone. Who was the first person Wade Mason called when he needed someone to represent the company in the CWC Invitational? Me. Who was the first person called when they wanted to urge Franchise to come back? Me.
Why?
Because he has it in his head that I screwed him out of his title months ago, they knew he wanted someone to be able to give him a challenge he deemed worthy, they knew that it would be ratings.
Rick, I don't know who you slept with to get to the top of PCW but I think everyone is waiting for something big from you. Make that impact that a former World Champion would. Don't just come in here and fizzle out like Ol' Blazenwing did in his first stint and the past 2 years of his career no matter where he is. This Tuesday I earn my spot in the final match of the Volitionary Tournament, against two others. Blake? Tallin? Franchise? Myers? It doesn't matter which two it is because I will be walking out of that match with the Volitionary Title.
Can you picture it, Rick? Can you imagine what it's going to feel like as I hit the Last Call and pin you in the middle of the ring in front of the packed house of Google's SDWF Arena? What will the feeling be like knowing that I was right and you were wrong? This week is just another match for me to keep on my path, what is it for you? Sure, winning would really shed those first few weeks being here but what does losing do? I mean besides proving me right about how so far you've done nothing worthy here in TGW? What is your next step going to be?
Mine?
I'll be backing my bag to Miami and thinking about how I want to celebrate winning my new title. I hear your Last Call, Rick. Times up.
Sunday, March 14th, 2010. 8:20PM
San Diego, California. Princess Pub & Grill.
1665 India St.. San Diego, CA 92101
“I'll take another, Jim.”
A glass clangs down on the bar top and a hand slides it forward.
“You sure do like the Belhaven, big Scottish Ale fan are ya?”
“Right now, I'm an anything fan. It's been one of those weeks 'ya know? Work was less than stellar, girlfriend walked out on me, wondering if this is the right town for me.”
“Ye, I know the feeling mate. I thought that same thing many ayears ago but I stuck it out, fought it out, and I'm still here. I wouldn't have it any other way. As far as your laddie problems, there are plenty out there for the pickin'. Don't let one break your heart and make ya miss another.”
His British accent was heavy, he placed the beer down in front of him.
“What's your name mate?”
“AJ.”
“Well, drink up and wash 'yer troubles away.”
AJ nodded and lifted the brew to his lips, Belhaven being one of his favorite ales. The week had been spent mostly drinking his thoughts away, not wanting to think of Cassie walking out on him last week. He had decided that he wanted to return to TGW and he wasn't going to look back at that, it was his dream. She didn't understand because her father had spend a portion of her life trying to achieve the same dream and she felt that she wasn't good enough, she was just too hard on herself, thinking that it was always her fault for something happening.
She spent years thinking that it was her fault that her parents got divorced in the first place, but what kid doesn't from time to time? She didn't want to lose AJ to him getting hurt, obsessed with the industry, or the road. That wasn't something she wanted to take a chance on so she let go.
She was the first person that AJ had met when he moved to San Diego and the only person he really talked to. AJ had been a loner most of his life but there was something about Cassie that just changed him, now she was just the girl who lived in the same building as him. He had been lucky and over the week they hadn't ran into each other at all in the lobby, something he was thankful for. Though, most of the week he had only been seen in bars and pubs like this one.
The only thing stopping him from just becoming a full on drunk was the fact that he was so close to the Volitionary Title, so close to showing everyone that he still had it after getting injured at the hands of the Blacklist, and he was so close to proving himself right to Russell Franchise. That he was better than the A Game.
He already planned on calling Franchise out after he won the title, defending it against him.
AJ reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, checking the time as it seemed to tick tock away. He had lost himself in more beer than he planned on, the time flashing 1:05AM. He knew he had to get home because as he learned from real life, and How I Met Your Mother, nothing good happens after 2AM.
He closes out his tab, dropping some cash on the bar and shaking the hand of Jim the Bartender, his best friend of the night. AJ Spins around and sees a woman looking at him from across the room, possibly a few years older than he was. Her red hair shimmered in the lights of the pub, a sparkle in her eyes, a few inches shorter than AJ. She approached him and smiled.
“Hi, I'm Jenna.”
“I'm AJ. It's a pleasure, Jenna.”
“You're about to leave aren't you? I saw you getting up.”
“Actually yes I was.”
“Well, you see, this is pretty embarrassing. My friend left here with some guy and no way for me to get home and I just gave the bartender the rest of my cash... So if you are headed out do you think I could get a ride?”
He smiled and part of him said yes, part of him said no.
“Sure, what the hell.”
She smiled and started to put her address into his phone for directions, AJ having mixed feelings. Part of him felt he needed to look up, bounce back from Cassie. A beautiful girl talking to him, his career in TGW about to bloom again, and he always had his health. The other part of him said he was forgetting about someone that meant the world to him and it was wrong. At this point though, there was no turning back.
Just like there would be no turning back when he beat down Rick Mad on Tuesday in front of all of the fans. Just like there is no turning back from him capturing the Volitionary Title. Just like there would be no turning back for Franchise, his Last Call coming.
“Ready?”, she asked.
“Ready.”