Impact (PPV RP)

[The Ace]

Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center
Las Vegas, Nevada
January 1st, 2013
3:13 AM

Sat anxiously in the waiting area of the accident and emergency ward is Richard Conway, his elder brother Jake Conway, as he is cradling a shaking Kathy, who has a cut bandaged up on the side of her forehead in his arms. Sat next to them, is Caleb Lockwood and Tiffany, also huddled in each other's arms as Tiffany has her face buried in his shoulder. A pair of cops, one male, one female are taking statements.

Tiffany: It all happened so fast...there we were walking along the Strip celebrating New Years, having a good time...

Caleb: In the blink of an eye, one minute we were all on the sidewalk, the next there were screams and I just remember the lights as I pulled Tiffany away, and dived to the side.

Jake: It was like a bat out of hell, black...sports car, lambo I think...damn punks hit my wife in the head with a vodka bottle as they drove away. I just hit the deck with my wife as we dived out of the way.

Richard: It was swerving out of conrol, even as it sped away...the driver was obviously drunk. I wish I had caught the plates...black, looked like a lamborghini, wouldn't be surprised if it was stolen.

Kathy: I remember screaming and whooping and laughter coming from the passenger side, they must have been doing at least 70, I couldnt catch all of the plate, I just remember the letters A and X. I couldn't give you a description of the driver or the passenger, I was pulled to the ground by my husband as I was struck in the head by an empty vodka bottle that was thrown out of the car as it sped away...I wouldn't know too much about the car except it looked damn expensive and was definitely a sports car...

At this point, Jake's parents, Thomas and Margaret arrive with Solitaire and Domino, and the Jones' are right behind them as they rush to their daughters, Kathy and Tiffany.

Margaret: Jake! Richard! Thank God!

Thomas: Are you boys alright?

Jake and Richard nod.

Margaret: Where's Jason and Laura?

Jake: Mom, they've been rushed into surgery, haven't heard anything yet.

Solitaire and Domino are hugging their parents as Kathy cries, hugging both her daughters that little bit tighter. Suddenly an elder Chinese surgeon appears and removes his surgical mask, bringing everybody to their feet in anticipation of the news.

Surgeon: Jason Conway is unconscious but stable...we're recommending a minimum stay of 48 hours due to the nature of his injuries to monitor his condition, but it looks like he will pull through...

Tiffany: And Laura?

The surgeon pauses, and the slight shake of the head tells them everything before the words confirmed it.

Surgeon: I'm sorry. Laura Smith was killed upon impact and pronounced dead on arrival. We're going to need to contact her family. You have my deepest condolences...

The whole family looks down, struck by the grief as it hit each of them, only this time there was no diving out of the way for any of them, the impact had been brief, but the effects would last forever.

---

Andrew Jacobsen.

Former NCW World Heavyweight Champion. A dual annual award winner in the eyes of your fans as they voted you the Most Improved Superstar of 2012, and the Face of the Year. Whatever you're peddling Jacobsen, the people who watch you bust your ass on television are obviously buying it and loving it. Some of your...colleagues however, some of the boys in the back, some of the men we should be proud to call our peers and maybe even our friends like to paint a different picture of you. They like to deny the impact you've made in this business.

In fact I don't think its any stretch of the imagination to say that in spite of our different approaches to life and to this business, certain people in this company like to paint us with the same brush. To them we are untalented and overrated, and whilst we might be able to explain it all away as the bitter rantings of a bitter, ignorant, unfulfilled, perpetually unsatisfied douchebag if it was only Alex Jones banging that particular drum as he does every week, irrespective of whether he is gacing you or not, when men like Simon Daye and Xander Famularo share his opinion and like to run you down, it makes me wonder exactly why that is.

Why is it that nobody can buy your act? Why can't people believe you are every bit the boy scout you say you are? Why can nobody who works with Andrew Jacobsen just pat you on the back and congratulate you for finally winning the big one? Maybe it's because none of them ever believed you could do it, and now you have, they don't like being slapped in the face by the reality that every dog, even the underdog, can have his day. You've had your fifteen minutes of fame and in spite of the popular opinion around here, you've done it fairly. You pinned Xander Famularo, in a tag team Warfare situation, you won the right to call yourself the World Heavyweight Champion, by playing by the rules - as you always do.

I'm not about to take any of that away from you, I'm not about to declare the biggest win of your career a fluke, no, because I know what that's like. They said the same thing to me when I won the World Championship three years ago - truth be told, I'm a little envious of your reign Jacobsen. We both held it for a month, but at least you got to see your name mounted upon that belt. I got no such luxury. Adam Knite had his name all over that belt a month before he officially won it. The Ace was just a placeholder for his inevitable reign, I lost not because all of my peers believed I would be beaten by Adam Knite again, but because I allowed myself to believe it. I let him get in my head, I conceded defeat before the ink even dried on the contract...

Never Again.

Now I can't say whether that happened to you Andrew, only you know what went wrong in your match against Roberto, and because I'm not stupid, I know you're looking to correct whatever small oversight you made on that night at my expense this Sunday. I don't doubt for a second that you've learned from your mistakes, you're going to come at me, possibly harder and faster than you ever have before, and I'd be a fool not to be prepared for it.

You have a point to prove. You have doubters to silence. You have credibility to salvage, and you know as well as I do that this will not be your last shot to do so by any stretch of the imagination, it just might be your best. It is well documented in the NCW record books that The Ace doesn't do so well at his first defense of any title unless your name is Sexy Jason. To the afficinados, you have the advantage, the odds are on your side, history makes a compelling case for you to win the National Championship this Sunday.

I know this Championship you see resting on my shoulder right now, is so much more than a consolation prize for you after losing the World Championship, for Andrew Jacobsen, its the chance for you to start 2013 in much the same way you ended 2012, by making an impact and winning a few more trinkets. Adding your name to a few more lists, etching your name in a few more record books. What then? What happens once the Last Boy Scout earns finally earns his Triple Crown merit badge? Will you finally get the respect of your peers? Nope, because I didn't either. Will everybody finally stop downplaying your accomplishments? Nope, because they still downplay mine. Will they finally see the shine of the North Star for what it should be? Nope, because they still insist on not accepting the true value of The Ace.

So if nothing will change, no matter what you do, why do it at all? Personal pride? Ambition? Greed? Ego? What fuels you Andrew? What's driving you into this match this Sunday? What is the last action hero fighting for? Tell me its something more than ten pounds of gold and five pounds of leather? Tell me the war you're waging against me still has a purpose. Are you mad at me because I've given your little sister Callie a stable job and a means to support herself? Or are you mad at me because I've saved your best friend Emma and kept her employed in NCW? Or are you mad because you look at me and the happiness I share with Kathy and still resent the fact that you and Danielle Chase never got the chance? Or are you still hung up on what happened the last time you teamed with me inside an NCW ring?

Whatever it is Andrew, I've got to tell you buddy, I'm struggling to explain it to my six year old daughter right now. You remember her right? Solitaire Marie Conway. Your greatest fan. The little girl you went out of your way to take pictures with and sign autographs for. How do I tell her what Daddy and Andy are fighting for without making it sound all so incredibly petty and wholly unnecessary? She's already had her world rocked once this week, her Uncle Jason is laid up in the hospital, her Auntie Laura is dead, and now daddy and her hero are fighting...

And neither of us even know why any of this is happening. Hasn't she been through enough? Please don't force me to add any more to her trauma by forcing my hand into doing something we'll both regret this Sunday. Please, don't make my little baby cry Andy, I can't stand to see her tears, especially when she's so looking forward to our match. It's the little nugget of gold at the end of her rainbow this week. I know you won't cheat me out of this Championship Jacobsen, I'm not above giving you a clean match, the match my daughter deserves to see.

Winning a Championship is deceptively easy. Defending it, not so much. Both of us know this better than most in this company. It's easy to hit the target when you're the one in the driving seat speeding towards it. It's not so easy to avoid being mown down when you're the target under attack by some senseless idiot, swerving and twisting the facts to serve his own paranoid agenda and selfish delusions. I have done nothing to your family and friends Jacobsen, except maybe look after them. Maybe a little too well. Maybe that's why you hate me so much, because I've done what should have been your job so much better than you...

I'm sorry Andrew, I truly am. If that is your driving force and the brunt of the impact that I must overcome this Sunday, it will not be enough, I'll escape with my title and a flesh wound. If it is something more, something I've missed, please tell me. I will never deny the impact you've already made in NCW, I just don't want you to be killed by trying to make another. Another spin of the wheel and you just might lose control, and before you know it, it'll all become so senseless, so numb, without rhyme or reason, it'll all end in tears and you'll realise just as I have that as short as our reigns have been, life is even shorter. And I intend to make the most of both and waste neither...

Not this time.