Ghost of Christmas Present

[Joe Everyman]

On a cold winters morning
In the time before the light
In flames of death's eternal rain
We ride towards the fight
When the darkness is falling down
And the times are tough alright
The sound of evil laughter
Falls around the world tonight
Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel
Through the wastelands evermore
The scattered souls will feel the hell
Bodies wasted on the shores

The scene opens up in a very desolate place. The camera is looking down a street in a very large city, littered with trash, filled with think fog and with the smell of fires burning in the distance. Through the fog, a speeding car can be seen, followed closely by a police car, hot on it's trail. After a few moments, a window high up on the building on the left breaks open, and a thick folder is thrown down and blows apart as soon as it hits the hard concrete street below. After a calm...a single gun shot is heard, from that same room.

...you have no idea what you're up against Lance...

A black cat runs across the street with haste as come trash cans get knocked over on the right side of the street. Finally, he emerges. A man slowly walks out of the dense fog and walks down the street. He looks around the street for a moment, just taking in the sights.

Joe Everyman: On the blackest plains in hell's domain...we watch them as they go...in fire and pain, now once again we know.

After a few more moments, the man is reviled to be Joe Everyman, proudly wearing the nCw National Championship around his waist. His look is a very content one, not leaning towards happy or mad or sad.

...everything I said was proven true...

Joe Everyman: Lance, a few weeks ago, I stated that anger brings out the bests in people. It also brings out the truth. It shows the inner workings of man. It shows what the mind's eye holds. And it seems that my words have finally opened that up in you, Lance. You are normally a man who can take any comment and just shrug it off, and fight for the greater good. In my entire career here in nCw, I have seen men say horrible things to you, in hopes to get inside your head, and it always bounces right off. People, saying things that would make a normal man break down and cry...were just throw off like useless garbage. But here I stand, finally seeing the true Lance Ryan. I am the first man in your entire history here to finally get under your skin. I got in your head for the first time. You can say all you want that it is the unwritten code to not talk about others families...but why would I start to follow a rule that so many others have broken before me?

The true Lance Ryan is finally emerging, and to be honest...I like it. Since returning these many months ago, you turned soft. You said you were a family man, a changed man...but how much truth did that really hold? Instead of defending your family, you cast a continues fire unto them. But, maybe it's what they all deserve. It seems that they always hated you, Lance. People with horrible mothers and abusive fathers are the best kind of people. They don't let anyone get in their head, because they have seen it all before. They are the people who can walk down a street...a street like this very one, and just shrug off the hellish intents of everyone around them. They people can go on to live fruitful lives, and never have a care in the world about the dark outside. And yet...you proved this standard wrong. I finally got in your head, I finally destroyed your little legend bubble that you carry around everywhere you go. I finally found the real Lance Ryan. The true Icon that builds all of this hype.

...darkness fills the void in your heart...

Joe continues walking deeper into the smog filled street. He is just looking around, taking in the horrific sights. He turns the corner and another torn up street is shown. Motionless bodies fill the sidewalks. The only bright thing shown down the entire area is the National Championship, shining brightly through all of the filth.

Joe Everyman: Lance...now that I know your dark past, allow me to share a little bit of my life with you. I hear the same things from you Lance. You try to gaze into my soul, and it comes up blank to you. You try to get into my head with your bullsh*t, and it comes back twice as hard. A long time ago, you and I were inseparable. Every night, we would leave the arena and just go have a beer, have some laughs and have some great times. When I challenged you for the nCw World Heavyweight Championship, I still considered you my friend going into that match. But during that match, it all hit me. It hit me that you were a changed man. You weren't the man you used to be. And I did the only thing I could do...I cast the first stone into the Iron Curtain of Lance Ryan. These stones started gaining momentum and size until they became lethal. Nuclear missiles, bombs, guns, tanks...all of these are well and good to destroy a nation, but sometimes...you need something more simple. Lance, I was able to destroy your nation with a Twist of Fate off of a ladder. I have already destroyed your life once...but you were able to get your revenge.

After a long while, I began trusting you enough, and we formed the Age of the Revolution. This story has been told a thousand times. Needless to say, you cast the next stone, and destroyed everything I had going to me. I didn't show it on the outside, but that made my blood boil. It made my heart turn into blackness. I tried my best to contain it, but eventually...I just snapped. Jack Hammond just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and felt every ounce of my wrath. But then...it quickly became your turn for this. I heard rumors in the back that the Icon was resurfacing. I heard rumblings that the man who cost me everything on more than one occasion was coming back. Did you honestly not expect me to come out and put an end to your lies and slander? I knew you were going to come out and say the exact same things they all say. That you wanted to taste the limelight again, and see if you could still hang with the boys the best you used to be able to. Brett Favre tried it, Brad Kane tried it, Spike Kane tried it...and all of these men were never the same. Both of the Kanes tried their hardest to defeat each other, and it led to the destruction of both of their careers. Does our future hold the same fate, Lance?

...the blood of the righteous will cast down the corrupted...

Joe Everyman: You were my mentor...you were my friend...you were my brother...and you destroyed this bond. Do you have any f*cking clue what those things did to me, Lance? Someone I trusted with my life, someone I could tell anything to. You were that man Lance, and you destroyed it. I could have stayed in that back that night, and I could have let the indestructible Lance Ryan have his day. I could have let you come back with full strength, and let you win the nCw World Heavyweight Championship for a record third time...but my heart would not let me do so. It was corrupted with the taint of you, Lance. It kept burning...telling me that I could defeat that man who always held me down. And do you remember what happened, Lance? In our first ever match...I defeated you. Then, you preached that you would take the National Championship from me, not as an achievement, but as a trophy. A trophy that will remind everyone that you destroyed nCw's future. And you didn't take it. I still hold onto what you want. I still hold with me the one thing that is burning at you...and it is not this championship belt.

I know you, Lance...possibly even better than you do. As you said, not many men can say they have defeated you once. And when they do, they never come back looking for a second fight, let alone a third. But I did...because I am dangling the prize above your head. Lance, you see...I know what your heart truly wants. You could care less about my National Championship. You could care less about a championship belt when it comes between us. What you truly want...it my soul. I saw what you became this week. I saw your inner blackness. It has become much more than this title belt. It has become about respect. It has become about pride. And it has become about your career, and my future.

You claim that you want to take my blood, Lance. Something you have spilled before. Back then, it meant nothing to you. You saw my blood and believed you were on the winning side. I saw my blood, and knew I had to step up my game. But now...when you see my blood, a rage will grow inside of your heart. A flame strong enough to melt iron. A flame bright enough to turn away even the most hardened warriors. And yet...this is not something I am afraid of. Because when I see my blood, I will know how much you want this. But Lance...you are not the only twisted individual in this match. I showed you this last month. I showed you how much a win against you means to me. And now...I see it in you too. I see that you must achieve a win against me to be able to even function in this business anymore. You want to hurt me, I can see that. But Lance...deep down, you have no idea what you're up against this time. Darkness boils over my body...something that has happened for a long time now. I have seen yours finally reach the light of dawn this week. I find the true Lance Ryan...but you are yet to see the true Joe Everyman.

...you will feel the pain of a lifetime in one moment of time...

Joe walks to the end of the street, that crumbles below him as he walks. He reaches the end, and a cliff appears. A drop of several hundred feet down. Joe then waves his arm in front of him, dispersing the smog and smoke in front of him. A burning, destroyed city emerges. It is Washington D.C, Joe's hometown. The Capital building is destroyed. The Washington Monument is cut down at the knees. And the White House is set ablaze.

Joe Everyman: Lance...this is my world. This is what my mind sees every single day. I see a destroyed world. I see a darkness that creeps further and further every hour of every day. I see a void, filled with lies, slander, and destruction. I see children starving, not being able to spend their lives doing exactly what they want to do. I see mothers crying because their lives didn't turn out the way they wanted. I see fathers killing themselves because they sons were failures. I see people every day destroying themselves because life just didn't work in their favor. Lance...you are one of these men. But you didn't choose for yourself to do the pain...you chose me. You subconsciously chose me to destroyed the Lance Ryan kingdom. And to be honest...it's what I wanted to do these many months. It is exactly what I have wanted to do. And it is finally time. It is almost like having Christmas come a month early...because I wouldn't have been able to ask for a better Christmas present than to see a broken and bloody Lance Ryan, a failure of his past life.

The fires will burn this Sunday, Lance. This match will simply be our final chapter. This will prove once and for all who is the better between us. You may think you will destroy me because of the wrongs I cast upon you. But it is your own past that will destroy you. Your past created this world for me. Your past...all of those moments when you were cheered and I was booed with be your downfall. All of those moments, all of those minutes you stood proud as the World Heavyweight Champion...all of those moments...will make you a bloody mess. It has become so much more than this championship I carry. And if I have to put it on the line to make my wishes come true...so be it. After Mind Games, only one of our careers will be able to continue on it's current course. And the other...will fall back down. They will fall into the volcano and just melt away for the rest of their career. Lance...it's about time. Darkness surrounds us both. Darkness will guide us. Darkness will be our weapon. Your darkness has just surfaced...while mine has run it's course for years now. Hellfire and death will be the only thing the Lance Ryan era has at it's end. Everyone will remember you Lance...as the man who propelled Joe Everyman into the top tier. The heavens beckon Lance...but only hell awaits for your lost soul...

The scene then fades to black.

As the red day is dawning
And the lightning cracks the sky
They will raise their hands to the heavens above
With resentment in their eyes
Running back through the midmorning light
There's a burning in my heart
We're banished from a time in a fallen land
To a life beyond the stars

In your darkest dreams you still believe
Our destiny this time
And endlessly we'll all be free tonight