Post by The Ace on Mar 1, 2012 21:10:33 GMT -6
We open on some footage of Ricky Johnson doing what he does so well, talking absolute trash to the camera.
"Make no mistake about it Roberto, in now way am I discounting your skills and abilities. I am thoroughly impressed with you and your current title run. The way you have carried that title makes a former champion like me proud to have worn it. But let me explain something to you right now; that title that is currently around your waist is NOT what I am after. They knew exactly what they were doing when they put me against Zane last month. They knew what the outcome would be. They knew my pride and ...well I guess my sense of doing what's right, would not allow me to allow filth like Zane anywhere near any title match where his 0.001 percent chance of winning might actually happen...."
The footage then fades to a simple black screen with the words in white:
The footage then resumes with more of that unique Ricky Johnson wisdom:
"I'm running out of time Roberto. I need to win this Sunday. If I take your title, there may be use for it elsewhere. I can hand it to Joe Everyman and make him a four-time champion. I could melt the belt down into a ring. I could do a number of things with it, because I have no real use for it as a belt to hold and defend.
Truth is I beat Zane because he needed an ass-kicking. If it wasn't fine-printed into the contract I signed to face Zane, We wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. I wouldn't have to deal with you...."
The footage fades to more simple white words:
Before more clips of the current reigning and defending two time nCw National Champion play:
"But me? Look, I'm stuck here, facing you for the National title, when Curtis Kanyon, who hasn't done anything in the past 3 months, is walking into Breaking Away a challenger for the world title. Doesn't that upset you Roberto? It surely does annoy me. I have a goal, and the only way to accomplish it, is to win the world title. Yes, I know the Riot is drawing near, and that is a great opportunity, and I've already made my plans, and become strategical about the event. But that is the future. Kanyon can simply walk into Chicago and take the world title, and you and I will be left scratching our heads. They dusted him off while it should be me. Who else is worthy?"
"You want my title Curtis? As I said before I’m not a hard man to find. I will be in the ring Sunday, ready to fight, ready to hurt, ready to do whatever it takes to hold on to my title. Even if it means ending your career. Believe me, I would much rather not, but as the old saying goes…"
“If you want blood…you got it.”
"You want my title Curtis? As I said before I’m not a hard man to find. I will be in the ring Sunday, ready to fight, ready to hurt, ready to do whatever it takes to hold on to my title. Even if it means ending your career. Believe me, I would much rather not, but as the old saying goes…"
“If you want blood…you got it.”
From that iconic image we fade into another - the blinking amber lights of a Spade - we zoom out to see it is the same light up sleeveless jacket we saw The Ace wear last week, and as he turns around to face the camera, we come face to face with the most iconic smug smirk there has ever been in nCw stretched out across the face of a former World Champion in his amber-tinted shades.
Correct me if I'm wrong here Ricky, but isn't the motto you live by 'Seek The Truth?' Why don't you tell me what the truth is here Ricky? Better yet, why don't you tell all of those fans who have bought a ticket specifically to see you kick my ass all around the arena this Sunday and walk out of Crossroads still the nCw National Champion the truth, Ricky?
Or don't you think they deserve it?
Don't you think your fans Ricky deserve the truth?
Tell them which of your flip-flop arguments they should believe. Tell them what the National Champion reall means to you. Are you proud of your accomplishments or resentful that despite your considerable tenure here you've never actually managed to win the big one? I know which it is, I know which it is thay eats away at you at night? Yhat gnaws away at your soul every time you have to look at your wife in her big beautiful eyes and accept the lies she tells you as the truth.
"Oh Ricky, you've never let me down."
"Oh Ricky, you've never disappointed me."
Wake up man and see the truth! Realise that she's your wife, she made a commitment to you, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, therefore she's obligated to tell you whatever makes you feel better about yourself. Whatever makes you feel richer. Your wife Ricky will tell you anything. Anything but the truth...
Just like you will tell your fans anything but the truth.
Fine, if you won't tell them the truth, I will, because I'm still the bad guy in all of this, I'm still the villian, and that's what villians do. Villains are honest, and that's why they're hated so much because they tell the truth and the truth is ugly. So what's the ugly truth behind Ricky Johnson?
The ugly truth is you don't want that title, even though it is the pinnacle of all you've managed to ever achieve here in nCw, it's not enough for you, you want more, yet in spite of your greatest ambition, as the months go by and you're starting to realise that maybe, just maybe the National Championship is the best you'll ever do, you've resigned yourself to that fact. Now that you're stuck with it and everybody else around you is moving on around you, men who you've always considered beneath you are moving on to greater things, suddenly holding that National Championship isn't so bad, suddenly it makes you better than Curtis Kanyon. Suddenly it makes you better than me...
Suddenly it makes you think you have the right to criticise my World Championship reign and how I haven't had a sniff of it in three years since Adam Knite beat me. Really? Tell me Ricky, when's the last time you had a sniff of the World Championship around your waist?
What's that, you say? Never...
That's what I thought. I know it eats away at you Ricky that you;ve become the stepping stone to everybody else's success here in nCw. Win, lose or draw against you, everybody else moves on, moves up...and all the while you're stuck lamenting the fact that you'll never be better than second best. Oh sure, some might say after how adamantly you beat Kanyon last month, about how you suddenly went from not wanting the National title to willing to end careers to defend it that you've suddenly embraced the idea of being second best...but I say no.
What you have done instead Ricky is realise that once you lose that title, you lose your spot, you get kicked down into the pit of obscurity and lose whatever relevance to the company you might have...and that scares the crap out of you, doesn't it, Ricky?
You realise that you suddenly cannot afford to lose that title or the increased pay bonus that comes from holding it and defending it, not now, not with twins on the way and your wife unable to work....so now you've settled. You've accepted it, and you continue to do whatever you can outside of nCw just in case somebody better than you happens to step up and take the security that title provides away from you and your growing family...
That's why you suddenly will die to defend that title, isn't it? It has to be, because the only other explanation for your flip in attitude to this whole thing is that you're an idiot. Now I know, wrestling fans are renowned for having notoriously short memories, hence my little presentation at the beginning - to remind them of just who it is they're counting on to step up and be their hero this week. You might not want to be, you might not claim to be, no true hero ever really has a choice in the matter. Circumstances demand that somebody step up to the plate and defeat the villain here, and whether you like it or not Ricky, these people have appointed you their salvation at Crossroads.
That's why you'll threaten to end my career this week, that's why you'll say you'll beat me, just like you told Kanyon last month, because you need to beat me, to appease them...to make them happy...to reward their steadfast belief in you...but I don't need to beat you...just like Jimmy Zane didn't, and now he's fighting for the World Championship inspite of losing to you. I know thay eats away at you Ricky, to know you are nothing more than a rung on a ladder, that you are nothing more than a cog in the machine, and that even as the second best wrestler in the company, you are nothing more than expendable...
You know what else is funny Ricky? The first time you took the spotlight from me and I made you pay for it, you whined and cried like a little bitch about how I was nothing more than a cheap shot artist...and yet last week, you ended up doing the same thing that you accused me of doing, laying me out with a cheap shot after my wife and I beat you and your little stand in, why? Because you know you can't argue with my methods and the results they deliver, either that or ypou're just a hypocrite who can't keep the facts straight and given what I've seen of you the last few months, I'd say either shoe fits. Say what you want about me Ricky, mock me for being a transitional World Champion, and I'll say at least I have been a World Champion, mock me for being a transtional National Champion and I'll remind you and the rest of the World that your first reign was just as lacklustre. Call me out for losing to Adam Knite and I'll tell you it's no bad thing and even he has bad days like having lost to Joe Everyman this week...
Whatever you say Ricky, just remember the last man who beat me for the National Championship had to play the 'revenge for retiring my friend' card to beat me, and before that, at Crossroads two years ago, the man who isn't here even here now had to play the 'my wife died' card to beat me, what card will you play? What emotional tragedy will you get the sheep to invest in to give you the edge?
Roxi suffers a miscarriage?
Roxi dies in a car crash?
You run out of hair shampoo for those gorgeous golden locks of yours?
Whatever it is, whatever inexplicably contrived turn you want to pull Ricky, you better make it good, your fans are expecting a show worth their money, and if you don't give them one...I will...
"Make no mistake about it Roberto, in now way am I discounting your skills and abilities. I am thoroughly impressed with you and your current title run. The way you have carried that title makes a former champion like me proud to have worn it. But let me explain something to you right now; that title that is currently around your waist is NOT what I am after. They knew exactly what they were doing when they put me against Zane last month. They knew what the outcome would be. They knew my pride and ...well I guess my sense of doing what's right, would not allow me to allow filth like Zane anywhere near any title match where his 0.001 percent chance of winning might actually happen...."
The footage then fades to a simple black screen with the words in white:
EPIC LOL!!!
The footage then resumes with more of that unique Ricky Johnson wisdom:
"I'm running out of time Roberto. I need to win this Sunday. If I take your title, there may be use for it elsewhere. I can hand it to Joe Everyman and make him a four-time champion. I could melt the belt down into a ring. I could do a number of things with it, because I have no real use for it as a belt to hold and defend.
Truth is I beat Zane because he needed an ass-kicking. If it wasn't fine-printed into the contract I signed to face Zane, We wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. I wouldn't have to deal with you...."
The footage fades to more simple white words:
This is your National Champion, nCw???
Before more clips of the current reigning and defending two time nCw National Champion play:
"But me? Look, I'm stuck here, facing you for the National title, when Curtis Kanyon, who hasn't done anything in the past 3 months, is walking into Breaking Away a challenger for the world title. Doesn't that upset you Roberto? It surely does annoy me. I have a goal, and the only way to accomplish it, is to win the world title. Yes, I know the Riot is drawing near, and that is a great opportunity, and I've already made my plans, and become strategical about the event. But that is the future. Kanyon can simply walk into Chicago and take the world title, and you and I will be left scratching our heads. They dusted him off while it should be me. Who else is worthy?"
TODD WILLIAMS, LEX SENSE AND JIMMY ZANE OBVIOUSLY!
"You want my title Curtis? As I said before I’m not a hard man to find. I will be in the ring Sunday, ready to fight, ready to hurt, ready to do whatever it takes to hold on to my title. Even if it means ending your career. Believe me, I would much rather not, but as the old saying goes…"
“If you want blood…you got it.”
WAIT, WHAT???
"You want my title Curtis? As I said before I’m not a hard man to find. I will be in the ring Sunday, ready to fight, ready to hurt, ready to do whatever it takes to hold on to my title. Even if it means ending your career. Believe me, I would much rather not, but as the old saying goes…"
“If you want blood…you got it.”
From that iconic image we fade into another - the blinking amber lights of a Spade - we zoom out to see it is the same light up sleeveless jacket we saw The Ace wear last week, and as he turns around to face the camera, we come face to face with the most iconic smug smirk there has ever been in nCw stretched out across the face of a former World Champion in his amber-tinted shades.
Correct me if I'm wrong here Ricky, but isn't the motto you live by 'Seek The Truth?' Why don't you tell me what the truth is here Ricky? Better yet, why don't you tell all of those fans who have bought a ticket specifically to see you kick my ass all around the arena this Sunday and walk out of Crossroads still the nCw National Champion the truth, Ricky?
Or don't you think they deserve it?
Don't you think your fans Ricky deserve the truth?
Tell them which of your flip-flop arguments they should believe. Tell them what the National Champion reall means to you. Are you proud of your accomplishments or resentful that despite your considerable tenure here you've never actually managed to win the big one? I know which it is, I know which it is thay eats away at you at night? Yhat gnaws away at your soul every time you have to look at your wife in her big beautiful eyes and accept the lies she tells you as the truth.
"Oh Ricky, you've never let me down."
"Oh Ricky, you've never disappointed me."
Wake up man and see the truth! Realise that she's your wife, she made a commitment to you, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, therefore she's obligated to tell you whatever makes you feel better about yourself. Whatever makes you feel richer. Your wife Ricky will tell you anything. Anything but the truth...
Just like you will tell your fans anything but the truth.
Fine, if you won't tell them the truth, I will, because I'm still the bad guy in all of this, I'm still the villian, and that's what villians do. Villains are honest, and that's why they're hated so much because they tell the truth and the truth is ugly. So what's the ugly truth behind Ricky Johnson?
The ugly truth is you don't want that title, even though it is the pinnacle of all you've managed to ever achieve here in nCw, it's not enough for you, you want more, yet in spite of your greatest ambition, as the months go by and you're starting to realise that maybe, just maybe the National Championship is the best you'll ever do, you've resigned yourself to that fact. Now that you're stuck with it and everybody else around you is moving on around you, men who you've always considered beneath you are moving on to greater things, suddenly holding that National Championship isn't so bad, suddenly it makes you better than Curtis Kanyon. Suddenly it makes you better than me...
Suddenly it makes you think you have the right to criticise my World Championship reign and how I haven't had a sniff of it in three years since Adam Knite beat me. Really? Tell me Ricky, when's the last time you had a sniff of the World Championship around your waist?
What's that, you say? Never...
That's what I thought. I know it eats away at you Ricky that you;ve become the stepping stone to everybody else's success here in nCw. Win, lose or draw against you, everybody else moves on, moves up...and all the while you're stuck lamenting the fact that you'll never be better than second best. Oh sure, some might say after how adamantly you beat Kanyon last month, about how you suddenly went from not wanting the National title to willing to end careers to defend it that you've suddenly embraced the idea of being second best...but I say no.
What you have done instead Ricky is realise that once you lose that title, you lose your spot, you get kicked down into the pit of obscurity and lose whatever relevance to the company you might have...and that scares the crap out of you, doesn't it, Ricky?
You realise that you suddenly cannot afford to lose that title or the increased pay bonus that comes from holding it and defending it, not now, not with twins on the way and your wife unable to work....so now you've settled. You've accepted it, and you continue to do whatever you can outside of nCw just in case somebody better than you happens to step up and take the security that title provides away from you and your growing family...
That's why you suddenly will die to defend that title, isn't it? It has to be, because the only other explanation for your flip in attitude to this whole thing is that you're an idiot. Now I know, wrestling fans are renowned for having notoriously short memories, hence my little presentation at the beginning - to remind them of just who it is they're counting on to step up and be their hero this week. You might not want to be, you might not claim to be, no true hero ever really has a choice in the matter. Circumstances demand that somebody step up to the plate and defeat the villain here, and whether you like it or not Ricky, these people have appointed you their salvation at Crossroads.
That's why you'll threaten to end my career this week, that's why you'll say you'll beat me, just like you told Kanyon last month, because you need to beat me, to appease them...to make them happy...to reward their steadfast belief in you...but I don't need to beat you...just like Jimmy Zane didn't, and now he's fighting for the World Championship inspite of losing to you. I know thay eats away at you Ricky, to know you are nothing more than a rung on a ladder, that you are nothing more than a cog in the machine, and that even as the second best wrestler in the company, you are nothing more than expendable...
You know what else is funny Ricky? The first time you took the spotlight from me and I made you pay for it, you whined and cried like a little bitch about how I was nothing more than a cheap shot artist...and yet last week, you ended up doing the same thing that you accused me of doing, laying me out with a cheap shot after my wife and I beat you and your little stand in, why? Because you know you can't argue with my methods and the results they deliver, either that or ypou're just a hypocrite who can't keep the facts straight and given what I've seen of you the last few months, I'd say either shoe fits. Say what you want about me Ricky, mock me for being a transitional World Champion, and I'll say at least I have been a World Champion, mock me for being a transtional National Champion and I'll remind you and the rest of the World that your first reign was just as lacklustre. Call me out for losing to Adam Knite and I'll tell you it's no bad thing and even he has bad days like having lost to Joe Everyman this week...
Whatever you say Ricky, just remember the last man who beat me for the National Championship had to play the 'revenge for retiring my friend' card to beat me, and before that, at Crossroads two years ago, the man who isn't here even here now had to play the 'my wife died' card to beat me, what card will you play? What emotional tragedy will you get the sheep to invest in to give you the edge?
Roxi suffers a miscarriage?
Roxi dies in a car crash?
You run out of hair shampoo for those gorgeous golden locks of yours?
Whatever it is, whatever inexplicably contrived turn you want to pull Ricky, you better make it good, your fans are expecting a show worth their money, and if you don't give them one...I will...