Post by Andrew Jacobsen on Sept 22, 2012 22:41:18 GMT -6
”Even when the deck…is stacked against me…even when there should be nothing I can do, no way I can win…I find a way. Because that’s what I do. I fight on, no matter what obstacles get thrown in front of me. And I am sick and tired of being pushed around. I’m fed up with being told I don’t know what I’m doing, that I’m not worthy of my spot or that I just don’t understand. Most importantly, I’m through with being told my role by people that have no right to be ordering me to do anything.”
“For all his protests about how he works for one man and one man only, Lex Sense is exactly what I said he was: a hired goon. He’s drifted from one master to the next, from me to Ricky Johnson and now to Kelly Fox. Even when he was ostensibly alone he had Megan Sanderson leading him around by the gentleman’s region. And no matter what he threw at me last week, I survived, and I kicked his damn head into the Passaic River. If Velez hadn’t saved him with that BS disqualification, he’d have to live with the fact that a man he’s mocked for so long would have a win over him in the record books.”
“But this is so much better, isn’t it Lex? There’ll be an asterisk by that match, but you’ve got the win, and that’s all that really matters to you. The moment you opened your mouth, you proved that you’re content to make excuses all you want. I’ve owned up to my failures. I wasn’t the leader the Young Guns deserved. It should have been you or Roberto. But I’m the leader nCw needs now. They’re calling it Team Jacobsen vs. Team Kelly…and if this is really my team, I need to step up and do what’s expected of me…no. No. I need to go one step beyond…I need to stun the world.”
“That’s my goal, and I promise each and every person watching that they won’t be disappointed. Because, as I’ve said…if I have a cause I believe in, I can’t be stopped. With allies that believe as strongly as I do…WE can’t be stopped. You can fight, but you’ve pushed us around, and there’s hell to be paid to each and every one of you. If you thought you could ambush us and put us through tables and, in one special case, out of the company…and just get away with it…you’re in for the rudest of awakenings.”
Open on Andrew Jacobsen sitting in his locker room in the bowels of the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, wearing street clothing. He sighs, running a hand through his hair, and pulls out his phone, unlocking it and beginning to hurtle through the photo reel. Amongst the many pictures of Andrew with his family and friends, including several candid shots of him with Emma Danielson, he finally skids to a stop on one in particular: a group shot of Team INfamous before Battlegrounds 2011. He sighs, shaking his head, but he frowns upon noticing that Rob Diamond was putting bunny ears over him. Andrew rolls his eyes, smirking, and keeps scrolling. A knock comes at the door, and he looks up, blinking.
”Yeah, come on in.”
The door swings open, and the Hardcore Hellion walks into the locker room, looking around and smirking at her surroundings.
”The men’s locker room. I expected much more debauchery and general ring-rattiness. Seems you’ve exerted your Boy Scout influence here too.”
Andrew shrugs, holding his hands up helplessly. Emma walks over, sitting down. She runs a hand through his hair, causing him to bat it away. Emma grins at his fussiness, putting her arm around him and looking down at her phone. The grin grows even wider at what she sees.
”Did Rob Diamond seriously pop bunny ears on you? That’s…that’d be adorable if it weren’t…who the hell am I kidding, that’s hilarious!”
Andrew rolls his eyes, groaning, and locks the phone, putting it away. He slips it back into his pocket, and Emma looks over at him, raising an eyebrow at his attire.
”You’re unusually clothed. Shouldn’t you be in your ring gear, out there stretching some hapless newbie to get prepared?”
Andrew shakes his head, smirking at the implication, and he turns towards Emma again, folding his hands before him.
”Em…I might have, but…I don’t know. I feel like I’ve done all the training I can…if I burn myself out, I’ll be dead meat, and I don’t want to let down Kyle or Trent. I…I can’t afford to. I’m being given the role of leader because it’s been my neck on the line week in and week out. Kyle got dragged into this, and Trent’s wading back into the fray…but once again, it’s me against the soulless minions of orthodoxy. That sounded really overdramatic, didn’t it?”
Emma shrugs, holding her thumb and forefinger up as she mouths “a little.” Andrew nods, smirking to himself, and looks away again. Andrew twiddles his thumbs, looking back up and biting his lower lip before he speaks again.
”Well, honestly…everything they’ve put me through, I…I feel like I can’t give up now. Not with them depending on me. Not with those fans expecting so much from me. This is my crossroads. If I can’t get the job done, if they’re right…then I’m a choke artist. I can’t compete on the main event stage. But I can’t think that they’re right. Not for a heartbeat. Because I know I’m better than they say I am. I can beat any opponent put before me, I can outwrestle anyone in that locker room, and I can make them submit. No matter how much lying they do, they can’t take away the fact that I’m the best technical wrestler in this business today.”
Emma nods, pondering the statement, and she smirks, looking over to Andrew.
”You don’t need to convince me. I know you can win. You don’t need to convince the fans. They wouldn’t be cheering you on still if they didn’t think you could win. You’re never going to convince Team Kelly until they have to acknowledge it by pounding the mat. I don’t know who you’re trying to convince with that big pump-up speech…you’re right. You can’t doubt yourself. And you shouldn’t.”
Andrew looks to her, suspicious, as his eyes narrow.
”Emma, are you saying that I don’t believe in myself?”
Emma shrugs, a wry grin spreading across her face again.
”Well, you eat your vitamins, say your prayers and train hard…there’s only one piece of the jigsaw left.”
Andrew nods, mulling over her words, when realization dawns in his eyes.
”You didn’t just.”
Danielson’s grin grows even wider at this reaction.
”You know I did. Whatcha gonna do about it, pretty boy?”
Andrew rolls his eyes, groaning, and Emma ruffles his hair again. He bats her hands away, and she begins batting back. The #1 contender and Danielson begin tussling with each other, falling over onto the locker room floor entangled. They continue to struggle, rolling over and over, as we fade to black.
“As for you, Charlie…haven’t we had this argument before? You, representing the Fox family and a stranglehold on this company that won’t be broken except by force. Me, fighting for everyone else in that locker room and everyone in those stands…fighting for the idea that you earn your spot by hard work, not by sucking up to the boss. And last time that happened…you took me out of the equation. It’s been two years since then. Two long years…and as far as you’re concerned, I’m still no threat to you. After all, if you disposed of me so handily in your return, then what threat am I now?”
“You know damn well what kind of threat I am. After all, you saw firsthand. Even with your masterful job of officiating, Lex still couldn’t beat me. You can throw everything and the kitchen sink at me, Charlie. You can bring up my failures as a leader, you can point out that you’ve beaten me in the past, you can rattle on and on about how I’ll Thank You Later—copyright Velez Industr…oh, sore spot? Sucks, doesn’t it? You get your company stolen by a girl who’s barely out of training bras and then your beloved Young Guns get ground into the dirt by a rookie who you think isn’t fit to shine your boots. Man, 2011 was just a rotten year for you, wasn’t it? Sorry, 2012’s not going to get any better.”
“Charlie, you think I’m generic and unremarkable? Last year, I convinced everyone in this company that you were coming back. It didn’t take a whole lot of effort. Just acting utterly egocentric, throwing out some insults, a little condescension here and there…and an awkward buildup to an unsatisfying catchphrase. You might want to rethink that one, by the way. Update your marketing slogan, get a better foothold in the market…who knows? If it works out, though, be sure to…
Thank Me Later.”
“The 2011 of Charlie Velez is a stark contrast to the man who’s captaining your ship of fools…here we are. Round Two. Xander, you can put me down. You can break my body. But I told you once, and if I have to tell you a thousand times I will…you CANNOT break my will. No matter how much you try, I’m going to fight until my bones are dust. And you’d like to think you can do that. You’d like to think that you can outlast anything I throw at you and just shrug it off with one big shot…but we both know better, Xander.”
“I know that you’re not immortal. If you deal out that much punishment, there’s no way you’re going to not get some of it back, especially since I have backup. This time, the playing field is leveled. No matter how much you and your goons try to devalue them, I would take Kyle Braddock and Trent Helms as partners seven out of seven days of the week. Kyle is a Hall of Famer, and Trent’s career is Hall of Fame-worthy without a moment’s doubt. I believe that we can beat Xander, Lex and Charlie. Why? Why would I think that, you ask? After all, if they’re so elite and so amazing, what makes us pissants worthy of challenging them?”
“Because they don’t think we’re a threat…when we’re the biggest threat any of them could face. We’re a united front, a powerful force dedicated to one thing: ending their reign of terror. Nothing is quite as powerful as a group of people with nothing to lose and everything to gain. See, if you beat us, then by your own admission you’ve lost to nobodies, peons, people you shouldn’t have been threatened by…but if you lose? Then we prove our point. Then we humble you and make you realize that you’re not gods…you’re just men.”
"I'm not just fighting for me. I'm fighting for the Alex Joneses and Roberto Veronas and Simon Dayes of the world. I'm fighting for the right to be rewarded based on ability and performance, not surname and sycophancy. I'm fighting for the right to be able to say what you want, to whoever you want, and not have to worry that some overmuscled goon with delusions of monstrosity is going to pop you in the back of the head. I'm not out there, putting my body on the line because I think I'm overdue a shot at the big one. That was the last thing on my mind. I'm out there, fighting day in and day out, getting beat from pillar to post, because it's the right thing to do."
“Make no mistake, if what it takes to break the stranglehold Kelly has on this company is taking the World Title from under her thumb, then I will. But that’s not why I did any of this. Kelly’s fighting for a stagnant status quo, the same tyranny we’ve come to expect from the Fox family, especially those in the CEO position. She wants this company to be her show and hers alone. She pulls the strings, says jump, and we have no choice but to obey…I refuse to believe that that’s how things should be run. Consider my boot on Xander’s jaw my formal complaint.”[/i]
“For all his protests about how he works for one man and one man only, Lex Sense is exactly what I said he was: a hired goon. He’s drifted from one master to the next, from me to Ricky Johnson and now to Kelly Fox. Even when he was ostensibly alone he had Megan Sanderson leading him around by the gentleman’s region. And no matter what he threw at me last week, I survived, and I kicked his damn head into the Passaic River. If Velez hadn’t saved him with that BS disqualification, he’d have to live with the fact that a man he’s mocked for so long would have a win over him in the record books.”
“But this is so much better, isn’t it Lex? There’ll be an asterisk by that match, but you’ve got the win, and that’s all that really matters to you. The moment you opened your mouth, you proved that you’re content to make excuses all you want. I’ve owned up to my failures. I wasn’t the leader the Young Guns deserved. It should have been you or Roberto. But I’m the leader nCw needs now. They’re calling it Team Jacobsen vs. Team Kelly…and if this is really my team, I need to step up and do what’s expected of me…no. No. I need to go one step beyond…I need to stun the world.”
“That’s my goal, and I promise each and every person watching that they won’t be disappointed. Because, as I’ve said…if I have a cause I believe in, I can’t be stopped. With allies that believe as strongly as I do…WE can’t be stopped. You can fight, but you’ve pushed us around, and there’s hell to be paid to each and every one of you. If you thought you could ambush us and put us through tables and, in one special case, out of the company…and just get away with it…you’re in for the rudest of awakenings.”
Open on Andrew Jacobsen sitting in his locker room in the bowels of the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, wearing street clothing. He sighs, running a hand through his hair, and pulls out his phone, unlocking it and beginning to hurtle through the photo reel. Amongst the many pictures of Andrew with his family and friends, including several candid shots of him with Emma Danielson, he finally skids to a stop on one in particular: a group shot of Team INfamous before Battlegrounds 2011. He sighs, shaking his head, but he frowns upon noticing that Rob Diamond was putting bunny ears over him. Andrew rolls his eyes, smirking, and keeps scrolling. A knock comes at the door, and he looks up, blinking.
”Yeah, come on in.”
The door swings open, and the Hardcore Hellion walks into the locker room, looking around and smirking at her surroundings.
”The men’s locker room. I expected much more debauchery and general ring-rattiness. Seems you’ve exerted your Boy Scout influence here too.”
Andrew shrugs, holding his hands up helplessly. Emma walks over, sitting down. She runs a hand through his hair, causing him to bat it away. Emma grins at his fussiness, putting her arm around him and looking down at her phone. The grin grows even wider at what she sees.
”Did Rob Diamond seriously pop bunny ears on you? That’s…that’d be adorable if it weren’t…who the hell am I kidding, that’s hilarious!”
Andrew rolls his eyes, groaning, and locks the phone, putting it away. He slips it back into his pocket, and Emma looks over at him, raising an eyebrow at his attire.
”You’re unusually clothed. Shouldn’t you be in your ring gear, out there stretching some hapless newbie to get prepared?”
Andrew shakes his head, smirking at the implication, and he turns towards Emma again, folding his hands before him.
”Em…I might have, but…I don’t know. I feel like I’ve done all the training I can…if I burn myself out, I’ll be dead meat, and I don’t want to let down Kyle or Trent. I…I can’t afford to. I’m being given the role of leader because it’s been my neck on the line week in and week out. Kyle got dragged into this, and Trent’s wading back into the fray…but once again, it’s me against the soulless minions of orthodoxy. That sounded really overdramatic, didn’t it?”
Emma shrugs, holding her thumb and forefinger up as she mouths “a little.” Andrew nods, smirking to himself, and looks away again. Andrew twiddles his thumbs, looking back up and biting his lower lip before he speaks again.
”Well, honestly…everything they’ve put me through, I…I feel like I can’t give up now. Not with them depending on me. Not with those fans expecting so much from me. This is my crossroads. If I can’t get the job done, if they’re right…then I’m a choke artist. I can’t compete on the main event stage. But I can’t think that they’re right. Not for a heartbeat. Because I know I’m better than they say I am. I can beat any opponent put before me, I can outwrestle anyone in that locker room, and I can make them submit. No matter how much lying they do, they can’t take away the fact that I’m the best technical wrestler in this business today.”
Emma nods, pondering the statement, and she smirks, looking over to Andrew.
”You don’t need to convince me. I know you can win. You don’t need to convince the fans. They wouldn’t be cheering you on still if they didn’t think you could win. You’re never going to convince Team Kelly until they have to acknowledge it by pounding the mat. I don’t know who you’re trying to convince with that big pump-up speech…you’re right. You can’t doubt yourself. And you shouldn’t.”
Andrew looks to her, suspicious, as his eyes narrow.
”Emma, are you saying that I don’t believe in myself?”
Emma shrugs, a wry grin spreading across her face again.
”Well, you eat your vitamins, say your prayers and train hard…there’s only one piece of the jigsaw left.”
Andrew nods, mulling over her words, when realization dawns in his eyes.
”You didn’t just.”
Danielson’s grin grows even wider at this reaction.
”You know I did. Whatcha gonna do about it, pretty boy?”
Andrew rolls his eyes, groaning, and Emma ruffles his hair again. He bats her hands away, and she begins batting back. The #1 contender and Danielson begin tussling with each other, falling over onto the locker room floor entangled. They continue to struggle, rolling over and over, as we fade to black.
“As for you, Charlie…haven’t we had this argument before? You, representing the Fox family and a stranglehold on this company that won’t be broken except by force. Me, fighting for everyone else in that locker room and everyone in those stands…fighting for the idea that you earn your spot by hard work, not by sucking up to the boss. And last time that happened…you took me out of the equation. It’s been two years since then. Two long years…and as far as you’re concerned, I’m still no threat to you. After all, if you disposed of me so handily in your return, then what threat am I now?”
“You know damn well what kind of threat I am. After all, you saw firsthand. Even with your masterful job of officiating, Lex still couldn’t beat me. You can throw everything and the kitchen sink at me, Charlie. You can bring up my failures as a leader, you can point out that you’ve beaten me in the past, you can rattle on and on about how I’ll Thank You Later—copyright Velez Industr…oh, sore spot? Sucks, doesn’t it? You get your company stolen by a girl who’s barely out of training bras and then your beloved Young Guns get ground into the dirt by a rookie who you think isn’t fit to shine your boots. Man, 2011 was just a rotten year for you, wasn’t it? Sorry, 2012’s not going to get any better.”
“Charlie, you think I’m generic and unremarkable? Last year, I convinced everyone in this company that you were coming back. It didn’t take a whole lot of effort. Just acting utterly egocentric, throwing out some insults, a little condescension here and there…and an awkward buildup to an unsatisfying catchphrase. You might want to rethink that one, by the way. Update your marketing slogan, get a better foothold in the market…who knows? If it works out, though, be sure to…
Thank Me Later.”
“The 2011 of Charlie Velez is a stark contrast to the man who’s captaining your ship of fools…here we are. Round Two. Xander, you can put me down. You can break my body. But I told you once, and if I have to tell you a thousand times I will…you CANNOT break my will. No matter how much you try, I’m going to fight until my bones are dust. And you’d like to think you can do that. You’d like to think that you can outlast anything I throw at you and just shrug it off with one big shot…but we both know better, Xander.”
“I know that you’re not immortal. If you deal out that much punishment, there’s no way you’re going to not get some of it back, especially since I have backup. This time, the playing field is leveled. No matter how much you and your goons try to devalue them, I would take Kyle Braddock and Trent Helms as partners seven out of seven days of the week. Kyle is a Hall of Famer, and Trent’s career is Hall of Fame-worthy without a moment’s doubt. I believe that we can beat Xander, Lex and Charlie. Why? Why would I think that, you ask? After all, if they’re so elite and so amazing, what makes us pissants worthy of challenging them?”
“Because they don’t think we’re a threat…when we’re the biggest threat any of them could face. We’re a united front, a powerful force dedicated to one thing: ending their reign of terror. Nothing is quite as powerful as a group of people with nothing to lose and everything to gain. See, if you beat us, then by your own admission you’ve lost to nobodies, peons, people you shouldn’t have been threatened by…but if you lose? Then we prove our point. Then we humble you and make you realize that you’re not gods…you’re just men.”
"I'm not just fighting for me. I'm fighting for the Alex Joneses and Roberto Veronas and Simon Dayes of the world. I'm fighting for the right to be rewarded based on ability and performance, not surname and sycophancy. I'm fighting for the right to be able to say what you want, to whoever you want, and not have to worry that some overmuscled goon with delusions of monstrosity is going to pop you in the back of the head. I'm not out there, putting my body on the line because I think I'm overdue a shot at the big one. That was the last thing on my mind. I'm out there, fighting day in and day out, getting beat from pillar to post, because it's the right thing to do."
“Make no mistake, if what it takes to break the stranglehold Kelly has on this company is taking the World Title from under her thumb, then I will. But that’s not why I did any of this. Kelly’s fighting for a stagnant status quo, the same tyranny we’ve come to expect from the Fox family, especially those in the CEO position. She wants this company to be her show and hers alone. She pulls the strings, says jump, and we have no choice but to obey…I refuse to believe that that’s how things should be run. Consider my boot on Xander’s jaw my formal complaint.”[/i]
