Post by Ander Carvetti on Nov 27, 2011 3:58:57 GMT -6
”For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday.” – Raul Julia as M. Bison, “Street Fighter”
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(Word gets around in this company. Sometimes, a promo gets dropped that really puts everyone on notice. It's the kind of thing that happens every once in awhile. One that just makes you stop dead in your tracks and really think...)
”Thoughts, babe?”
(I had been out most of the evening, right up until midnight. It was another late night training session. Somehow, I decided that jogging through Millennium Park would be a great idea. I wanted to be sharp for my first title defense. I wanted to be ready. I didn't want this to be like my tag title match where... Well, yeah.)
”Hmm...”
(When I came in to the hotel that Amy and I were staying at, The Silversmith, and entered my room, Amy heavily insisted that I watch all three of Joe's promos. She had a definite look of worry on her face.)
”Was that Joe Everyman?”
(I could tell why. Joe was coming out like a bat out of hell. Two promos straight out of a Tarantino film, with a final one that just screamed “I am the best and there's nothing you can do to stop me.” I had to give him some credit...)
(The production costs on those had to be expensive.)
”Looks like it.”
”He really wants your attention....”
”No kidding.”
(Something in me kind of knew what this match meant to him. For me, it was the first title defense. A chance to set the tone of my entire reign. Perhaps a chance to erase the ghosts of being a one-and-done former champion. For him though... well, you just knew that there was so much more at stake... but that's always been Joe Everyman's M.O. Every opponent, no matter how much he's downplayed them before, is his next chance at a big break. Naturally, there was only one course of action I could take...)
”What did you think of it?”
(...Joe wanted to really know how much I cared. He was about to find out. I had my travel bag next to me, and I proceeded to reach inside of it. I pulled out the same digital camera I've recorded so many promos on before. There would be nothing fancy about this. No really fancy editing tricks. No obvious Tarantino influence. Just good ole' boring Ander Carvetti at his finest.)
”Not bad, but I would have added one more to his comparisons on the second one.”
(I grabbed the camera and decided to step outside of the room. Amy saw me going for the door...)
”Really? Before you go, tell me what you would have said?”
(I could only grin. I thought it was a good one, anyway.)
”You're the Joe Everyman to the nCw Roster."
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Joe Everyman, let me go ahead and fill you in on a little story. It took place last year.
Come to think of it, it actually all culminated at last year's Breaking Away.
You see, last year... That's when Johnny and I dethroned Blood Ties as the Tag Champs of nCw. It was a very celebratory affair after the match. Really, I don't remember much of that night. I know that I enjoyed it though and that's really all that mattered.
A moment of Joy and celebration that I vaguely remember.
That's all I need to remember about the aftermath.
...You want to know what I do remember quite well though?
The weeks leading up to that rematch.
The disappointment of not beating them the first time around and having to openly eat crow in front of the entire nCw roster, all oh whom who wanted to see my egotistical ass fail. And trust me, I did eat crow. I was disappointed.
You want to know what else I vividly remember?
Anger.
Rage.
Hate.
Fury.
Not a week or two later, I watched Alex Jones push my friend off of a balcony and into a dumpster. I watched them try to end his career just to prove that we new guys should learn our place in the company and just deal with it. It was a message being sent to me that I better understand exactly where I belong in this company and even if I didn't like it, I better just damn well accept it.
I want you to understand something about my friendship with Johnny Holliday, of whom is no longer with us in this company. Understand that Holliday was a friend who took care of me, paid for surgery on my behalf, and made sure that when I was recovering, that I would not go without. He was the whole reason that I even decided to give this business another chance after retiring once before.
Yeah, retired once before. This business burns me out really quickly. It's left me bitter, frustrated, and jaded on more than one occasion. The politics, the favoritism, the greed, and for some reason I continue to subject myself to it. More on that later.
Johnny has been my rival, my enemy, my friend, and sometimes all three at once. He was the guy that I would drive sixteen hours down a long stretch of highway with and we'd start the car ride trying not to kill each other, and by the end of it, we'd be laughing in anticipation at the mischief we would cause. We would joke, we'd laugh, we'd make fun, and at the end, we'd forget why we wanted to kill each other in the first place.
So when I found out what those two did to Johnny....
Oh yes, there was anger. There was lots of it.
I could barely contain it. For once, I was biting at the chance to get into the ring with one of those two. I didn't care how good Angel was, or what legacy he had in this company. I wasn't bothered by the fact that Alex Jones had war after war with him and taken him to the limit. All that mattered to me was that if I could throw one kick at one of their heads, I'd make it count.
Hell, if I got to throw a second one before I went down, even better.
If I nailed one of them so hard, I gave them a grade-2 concussion and forced an early retirement, it'd be well worth the beating I'd take for it.
I wanted to rip those two limb from bloody limb like a savage beast. I would chase them each to the ends of this company to get an opportunity at vengeance. I was going to satiate my anger, and make no mistake, I was not going to stop until it was done.
So come Breaking Away, one surprise partner making his appearance, and a Headshot later, Johnny and I were tag champs. My anger was resolved.
Now Joe, you might be asking at this moment exactly what was the point of that story? Why go into detail about something that's a year old? Johnny Holliday isn't here and you aren't Angel or Alex Jones, so why waste the breath? What does that little story have to do with you and I right now? What does this have to do with our title match?
Simple.
Those three were actually worth something to me.
For sure, I wanted to leave Angel and Alex in a pool of blood. I wanted them to suffer. I wanted them to feel failure. Hell, to paraphrase myself, I wanted to crucify “Savior X” and have him die for his religion that he called nCw. In the process, I was going to avenge my best friend. I was going to our retribution and as a bonus, we were going to take those tag titles and proceed to rub it in the faces of any other established legend who wanted to come after us.
Now let's cut to a year later. Breaking Away 2011, not even 24 hours away at this point. Here I stand ready to face you, but well...
It's just not the same, Joe.
Don't get me wrong. I get where you're coming from. I get the emotional outburst, believe me....
You've never had to see me in the locker rooms, absolutely livid after a loss, wrecking everything in front of me...
...Or for that matter, the frustration that's followed those losses and having to pick myself back up.
You've never rode with me to the next show and watched me lay back in my seat, at peace and as tranquil as a cloudless, summer day with a bright blue sky.
You've probably seen plenty of me training, and have a good idea of why I train so hard. Ambition to be the best in this business is what keeps me going.
By the way? Those moments where you would question my happiness? Am I really a happy person at all.
Sometimes, actually. Two I can think of, off hand.
The moments that I spend with Amy are amazing and bring me great joy.
The other?
You'd never know it, but it's the whole reason I've stayed in this business. Only reason I haven't quit yet.
Because I actually enjoy those moments where I'm in the ring fighting.
Fighting makes me happy.
So yes, Joe. Contrary to what you and the rest of this company think, I actually run a wide variety of emotions...
I'm just very selective on who sees them.
Everyman, I'm not your monkey. Just because you say jump, doesn't mean that I'm going to jump. Just because you wanted me to feel distraught or terrified, doesn't mean I'm going to cower. And just because you want me to show emotion to you, be it anger, jealousy, frustration, fear, or irritation, just so you can feel acknowledged... doesn't mean that I'm going to give it to you.
The fact is Joe, you're nothing to me, just like you're nothing to everyone else in this company.
You're a scrub.
A bottom-feeder.
An attention whore who gives everything and begs, cries, and pleads for what little he can get in return.
When I've watched every promo you've aired this week that's been directed towards me, I've been shown the same 12-year old petulant child routine from you that we've been seeing every month now since the day of nCw's creation. The same overly emotional appeals where you swear up and down that this time it's really going to be different and that the people are going to stand up for you and chant your name and you're finally going to make the impact that we've been waiting for since 2007.
Best of all, I've seen the same hypocritical approach from you that I've seen a million times before. Call someone else a failure, and throw a blanket over your own. The things that come out of your mouth, I swear to God, they would make so much more sense if you looked in a mirror when you said it..
Every week of every month of every year is the exact same thing from you. It's going to be different this time. It has to be. Joe Everyman is going to give it everything and his opponent better know it....
Except we've all seen it. We all know what's coming. We all know the song and dance routine because everyone in this company has had to deal with it at some point or another. We all know that you care way more about your opponent than they do about you, and really, why should they? What have you done to make anyone care but keep playing the plucky sympathy card? It's old and everyone is tired of it. As usual though, you need that attention. You need someone to care, so you'll let your own emotions betray you again and again if it means everyone hears Joe's plea one more time. This week was really no different. The Tarantino spoofs and the rendition of Joe's Technicolor Dreamcoat all came to the same thing... the same thing we've heard a million times before...
“I'm going to beat you and show everyone that I'm not a joke! Everyone will finally respect me!”
“Everyone will acknowledge me!”
“Everyone will pay attention to me!”
Well Joe... you have my attention. You've had it since the beginning of the month. You've had it since the day they announced you as my number one contender. You were going to get that regardless.
It just wasn't going to be the kind of attention that you wanted.
It wasn't going to be that kind of emotion that you were dying for.
You aren't Angel. You aren't Alex Jones. You aren't Paul Star. You aren't Johnny Holliday.
….You aren't Amy Marshall.
They earned my emotion. They earned my capacity to care, whether it be hate, disdain, joy, or...
Hell, even Love.
...What they've seen in me, they're the select few.
Joe Everyman?
The only thing you've earned is my indifference. Boring, gray, indifference. The bare minimum that I'm willing to care about you. The absolute least amount of emotion that I can show for you.
That's all you have from me and that is all you are going to get, now and forever.
And I'm pretty sure the rest of nCw would stand behind me on that.
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
(Word gets around in this company. Sometimes, a promo gets dropped that really puts everyone on notice. It's the kind of thing that happens every once in awhile. One that just makes you stop dead in your tracks and really think...)
”Thoughts, babe?”
(I had been out most of the evening, right up until midnight. It was another late night training session. Somehow, I decided that jogging through Millennium Park would be a great idea. I wanted to be sharp for my first title defense. I wanted to be ready. I didn't want this to be like my tag title match where... Well, yeah.)
”Hmm...”
(When I came in to the hotel that Amy and I were staying at, The Silversmith, and entered my room, Amy heavily insisted that I watch all three of Joe's promos. She had a definite look of worry on her face.)
”Was that Joe Everyman?”
(I could tell why. Joe was coming out like a bat out of hell. Two promos straight out of a Tarantino film, with a final one that just screamed “I am the best and there's nothing you can do to stop me.” I had to give him some credit...)
(The production costs on those had to be expensive.)
”Looks like it.”
”He really wants your attention....”
”No kidding.”
(Something in me kind of knew what this match meant to him. For me, it was the first title defense. A chance to set the tone of my entire reign. Perhaps a chance to erase the ghosts of being a one-and-done former champion. For him though... well, you just knew that there was so much more at stake... but that's always been Joe Everyman's M.O. Every opponent, no matter how much he's downplayed them before, is his next chance at a big break. Naturally, there was only one course of action I could take...)
”What did you think of it?”
(...Joe wanted to really know how much I cared. He was about to find out. I had my travel bag next to me, and I proceeded to reach inside of it. I pulled out the same digital camera I've recorded so many promos on before. There would be nothing fancy about this. No really fancy editing tricks. No obvious Tarantino influence. Just good ole' boring Ander Carvetti at his finest.)
”Not bad, but I would have added one more to his comparisons on the second one.”
(I grabbed the camera and decided to step outside of the room. Amy saw me going for the door...)
”Really? Before you go, tell me what you would have said?”
(I could only grin. I thought it was a good one, anyway.)
”You're the Joe Everyman to the nCw Roster."
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
Joe Everyman, let me go ahead and fill you in on a little story. It took place last year.
Come to think of it, it actually all culminated at last year's Breaking Away.
You see, last year... That's when Johnny and I dethroned Blood Ties as the Tag Champs of nCw. It was a very celebratory affair after the match. Really, I don't remember much of that night. I know that I enjoyed it though and that's really all that mattered.
A moment of Joy and celebration that I vaguely remember.
That's all I need to remember about the aftermath.
...You want to know what I do remember quite well though?
The weeks leading up to that rematch.
The disappointment of not beating them the first time around and having to openly eat crow in front of the entire nCw roster, all oh whom who wanted to see my egotistical ass fail. And trust me, I did eat crow. I was disappointed.
You want to know what else I vividly remember?
Anger.
Rage.
Hate.
Fury.
Not a week or two later, I watched Alex Jones push my friend off of a balcony and into a dumpster. I watched them try to end his career just to prove that we new guys should learn our place in the company and just deal with it. It was a message being sent to me that I better understand exactly where I belong in this company and even if I didn't like it, I better just damn well accept it.
I want you to understand something about my friendship with Johnny Holliday, of whom is no longer with us in this company. Understand that Holliday was a friend who took care of me, paid for surgery on my behalf, and made sure that when I was recovering, that I would not go without. He was the whole reason that I even decided to give this business another chance after retiring once before.
Yeah, retired once before. This business burns me out really quickly. It's left me bitter, frustrated, and jaded on more than one occasion. The politics, the favoritism, the greed, and for some reason I continue to subject myself to it. More on that later.
Johnny has been my rival, my enemy, my friend, and sometimes all three at once. He was the guy that I would drive sixteen hours down a long stretch of highway with and we'd start the car ride trying not to kill each other, and by the end of it, we'd be laughing in anticipation at the mischief we would cause. We would joke, we'd laugh, we'd make fun, and at the end, we'd forget why we wanted to kill each other in the first place.
So when I found out what those two did to Johnny....
Oh yes, there was anger. There was lots of it.
I could barely contain it. For once, I was biting at the chance to get into the ring with one of those two. I didn't care how good Angel was, or what legacy he had in this company. I wasn't bothered by the fact that Alex Jones had war after war with him and taken him to the limit. All that mattered to me was that if I could throw one kick at one of their heads, I'd make it count.
Hell, if I got to throw a second one before I went down, even better.
If I nailed one of them so hard, I gave them a grade-2 concussion and forced an early retirement, it'd be well worth the beating I'd take for it.
I wanted to rip those two limb from bloody limb like a savage beast. I would chase them each to the ends of this company to get an opportunity at vengeance. I was going to satiate my anger, and make no mistake, I was not going to stop until it was done.
So come Breaking Away, one surprise partner making his appearance, and a Headshot later, Johnny and I were tag champs. My anger was resolved.
Now Joe, you might be asking at this moment exactly what was the point of that story? Why go into detail about something that's a year old? Johnny Holliday isn't here and you aren't Angel or Alex Jones, so why waste the breath? What does that little story have to do with you and I right now? What does this have to do with our title match?
Simple.
Those three were actually worth something to me.
For sure, I wanted to leave Angel and Alex in a pool of blood. I wanted them to suffer. I wanted them to feel failure. Hell, to paraphrase myself, I wanted to crucify “Savior X” and have him die for his religion that he called nCw. In the process, I was going to avenge my best friend. I was going to our retribution and as a bonus, we were going to take those tag titles and proceed to rub it in the faces of any other established legend who wanted to come after us.
Now let's cut to a year later. Breaking Away 2011, not even 24 hours away at this point. Here I stand ready to face you, but well...
It's just not the same, Joe.
Don't get me wrong. I get where you're coming from. I get the emotional outburst, believe me....
You've never had to see me in the locker rooms, absolutely livid after a loss, wrecking everything in front of me...
...Or for that matter, the frustration that's followed those losses and having to pick myself back up.
You've never rode with me to the next show and watched me lay back in my seat, at peace and as tranquil as a cloudless, summer day with a bright blue sky.
You've probably seen plenty of me training, and have a good idea of why I train so hard. Ambition to be the best in this business is what keeps me going.
By the way? Those moments where you would question my happiness? Am I really a happy person at all.
Sometimes, actually. Two I can think of, off hand.
The moments that I spend with Amy are amazing and bring me great joy.
The other?
You'd never know it, but it's the whole reason I've stayed in this business. Only reason I haven't quit yet.
Because I actually enjoy those moments where I'm in the ring fighting.
Fighting makes me happy.
So yes, Joe. Contrary to what you and the rest of this company think, I actually run a wide variety of emotions...
I'm just very selective on who sees them.
Everyman, I'm not your monkey. Just because you say jump, doesn't mean that I'm going to jump. Just because you wanted me to feel distraught or terrified, doesn't mean I'm going to cower. And just because you want me to show emotion to you, be it anger, jealousy, frustration, fear, or irritation, just so you can feel acknowledged... doesn't mean that I'm going to give it to you.
The fact is Joe, you're nothing to me, just like you're nothing to everyone else in this company.
You're a scrub.
A bottom-feeder.
An attention whore who gives everything and begs, cries, and pleads for what little he can get in return.
When I've watched every promo you've aired this week that's been directed towards me, I've been shown the same 12-year old petulant child routine from you that we've been seeing every month now since the day of nCw's creation. The same overly emotional appeals where you swear up and down that this time it's really going to be different and that the people are going to stand up for you and chant your name and you're finally going to make the impact that we've been waiting for since 2007.
Best of all, I've seen the same hypocritical approach from you that I've seen a million times before. Call someone else a failure, and throw a blanket over your own. The things that come out of your mouth, I swear to God, they would make so much more sense if you looked in a mirror when you said it..
Every week of every month of every year is the exact same thing from you. It's going to be different this time. It has to be. Joe Everyman is going to give it everything and his opponent better know it....
Except we've all seen it. We all know what's coming. We all know the song and dance routine because everyone in this company has had to deal with it at some point or another. We all know that you care way more about your opponent than they do about you, and really, why should they? What have you done to make anyone care but keep playing the plucky sympathy card? It's old and everyone is tired of it. As usual though, you need that attention. You need someone to care, so you'll let your own emotions betray you again and again if it means everyone hears Joe's plea one more time. This week was really no different. The Tarantino spoofs and the rendition of Joe's Technicolor Dreamcoat all came to the same thing... the same thing we've heard a million times before...
“I'm going to beat you and show everyone that I'm not a joke! Everyone will finally respect me!”
“Everyone will acknowledge me!”
“Everyone will pay attention to me!”
Well Joe... you have my attention. You've had it since the beginning of the month. You've had it since the day they announced you as my number one contender. You were going to get that regardless.
It just wasn't going to be the kind of attention that you wanted.
It wasn't going to be that kind of emotion that you were dying for.
You aren't Angel. You aren't Alex Jones. You aren't Paul Star. You aren't Johnny Holliday.
….You aren't Amy Marshall.
They earned my emotion. They earned my capacity to care, whether it be hate, disdain, joy, or...
Hell, even Love.
...What they've seen in me, they're the select few.
Joe Everyman?
The only thing you've earned is my indifference. Boring, gray, indifference. The bare minimum that I'm willing to care about you. The absolute least amount of emotion that I can show for you.
That's all you have from me and that is all you are going to get, now and forever.
And I'm pretty sure the rest of nCw would stand behind me on that.
