Post by Will Washington on Mar 2, 2013 23:03:24 GMT -6
{We open up inside of a hotel suite, where Will Washington sits on a couch, with his phone in his hands. He pecks away at it for a moment and lays the phone down on a small table. Suddenly, he feels a hand on his shoulder, and looks up, seeing his fiance standing over him.}
Kristen: "What'cha doin'?"
Will Washington: "Just sending out a new Tweet. The fans love it."
Kristen: "You're really into Twitter all of a sudden."
Will Washington: "Eh. It's fun for the fans to get to interact with their idols. Plus, I always get to remind them how much better I am than them. Win-win."
Kristen: "I'm just glad you've got something to keep your mind off of your match tomorrow. I thought for sure you'd be obsessing over it."
Will Washington: "Yeah... and you just reminded me of it."
Kristen: "Crap!"
{Will laughs at the expense of Kristen, and quickly replies to another tweet.}
Will Washington: "I'm just kidding. It's been on my mind all week, but you know... thinking about it isn't going to make it come any faster."
Kristen: "I know how excited you are for it, but to be honest, I'm pretty nervous."
Will Washington: "What? Why?"
{Kristen sits down next to Will with her body turned towards him.}
Kristen: "It's just... I know you can beat Nathan Webb, and I know you can beat Roberto Verona... but what happens if they screw you over somehow and you lose? In a fair fight you can beat anybody, but people in NCW don't fight fair."
Will Washington: "I don't fight fair either. So no big deal."
Kristen: "Yeah, I know. But you worked so hard to get here, and I'd hate to see those guys cheat you out of your dreams. Who knows what they'll try and pull? To top it all off, this could be your last chance at the title."
Will Washington: "They'll probably have something planned, but you know I've got some tricks up my sleeve as well. I've fought like hell to get here, and I'll fight like hell to stay here."
Kristen: "Of course you will."
Will Washington: "You've gotta have some faith that I can handle anything they throw at me. Even then, I trust Webb enough that he wouldn't just let those guys screw me over. He's man enough to not let that go down."
Kristen: "So worst case scenario you end up needing to team up with Webb again to protect yourself?"
Will Washington: "And what happened last time we were forced to team up?"
Kristen: "You beat the champion and his BFF?"
Will Washington: "Exactly. But truthfully, I don't expect anything to go down this weekend. I'm going to beat Webb, and then I'm going to go in for the fight of my life next weekend. That's the one to get ready for."
Kristen: "Well. Whether you win or you lose..."
Will Washington: "Hey! Stop. Don't even consider that possibility."
Kristen: "I'm just saying that no matter what, I'm going to be so proud of you. And I know your family is proud of you, and whatever fans you have will be proud too."
{She reaches over and hugs him.}
Will Washington: "Good grief. You make it sound like I'm dying or something. I'm going to win this Sunday. End of story. I like Webb... I respect him... but I'm going to beat him."
Kristen: "He does seem like a nice guy. It's a shame that you guys have to go against each other for the shot. But that's the business, right?"
Will Washington: "He deserves a shot at Roberto, but not at my expense. Plus, beating him validates the endgame."
{Kristen rolls her eyes.}
Kristen: "Oh great. Now you're getting into the serious wrestler talk again. I really botched this pep talk, didn't I?"
Will Washington: "This was supposed to be a pep talk? If so, don't quit your day job."
Kristen: "There goes my second career as a motivational speaker."
Will Washington: "I probably wouldn't recommend you to any underdog little league teams any time soon."
{She folds her arms and stands up, smiling.}
Kristen: "I'll let you get back to your tweeting then. I know you're ready for tomorrow, and I don't want to get in your way or anything."
Will Washington: "Just so you know... I really do appreciate all of the support. I did this all on my own last time, so I'm glad to have someone by my side this time around."
Kristen: "I'm happy to help. And on the plus side for me, I can't wait to make all of my friends jealous once I can gloat about marrying the World's Champion. I mean... how awesome is that?"
Will Washington: "So you're finally ready to admit how awesome I am?"
{Kristen laughs and begins to walk away.}
Kristen: "Win the belt first, and then we'll talk!"
{Will chuckles to himself as he sits for a moment, letting the good aura soak in.}
Will Washington: "This time tomorrow... everything changes."
{Will sighs and regains focus on the task at hand. He goes back to the insignificance of tweeting, but tomorrow's match continues to run through the back of his head as we fade out.}
________________________________________________________________________________
"I've been here before."
"I've had number one contender's matches before. Heck, I've BEEN number one contender before, so this isn't new to me. You've seen one big match, you've seen them all. And yet... Sunday feels still feels special to me. Being in the Road to the Gold finals in my sixth match in the company was awesome... wrestling Xavier Cross for a title shot at Mind Games was incredible... and winning the Coliseum was a star-making moment. I even main-evented our biggest show of the year. But this... this is something entirely different."
"All of that stuff... all of those accolades... they came within the first few months of my NCW career. From the very moment I stepped through the door, I was making history. Yet, it all felt hollow to me. When success comes so easily, sometimes you take it for granted. You start to think that you'll always be at the top, and nothing will ever change. I mean... I fought like hell for all of my early successes, but to me, it seemed like the good times would never end."
"... cut to today."
"Somewhere along the line, people stopped looking at me as the future, and started seeing me as the lost promise. I became the guy who should have had it all, but missed his shot. Everyone started seeing me as the poster-child for 'What could have been?' Every single guy I've faced in the last three years has proclaimed me as either a waste of talent or as a guy who couldn't get the job done. Well now I'm here to break the news to my detractors right now..."
"... I'm not dead yet."
"The past is the past, and right now, I've got the opportunity to dictate my future. I can't go back in time and fix what I did wrong, but what I can do is write my own story. For too long I've let the Will Washington story be written and recorded by those people who think I'm a choker. It's time now for me to take back the reigns and make history again, instead of letting people revise it."
"That's why Collision is so important this week. I've had to fight, scratch, and claw to even get to this point. I've fought doubter after doubter in that ring and behind the scenes. I have been overlooked and forgottten time and time again, as people like Roberto Verona and Andrew Jacobsen are given chances, when everyone knows that I'm better than every single person in that lockerroom. I embarrassed Jacobsen all throughout the summer last year, and what ended up coming from it? He became World Champion and I was left on the outside. People have been afraid to even let me get a sniff at the World Title because of past mistakes."
"So I took control and forced Kelly's hand, and FINALLY, she had no choice but to listen. My actions inside that ring, and your constant badgering outside of it made her give me this opportunity. The opportunity to beat Roberto Verona at Crossroads... to wear the gold... to fix NCW. The opportunity for me to take every single detractor's words and throw them right back into their face. I may have blown chances in the past, but Sunday is a new day, and I am a new man."
"... 2010 Will Washington was great. I'm better."
"And who is the man standing in my way this time? No, it's not Roberto Verona or Xander Famularo for once. It's the man that I lead to victory last weekend, Nathan Webb. Honestly, I couldn't think any more highly of you, Webb. There have been very few guys to come through NCW that I can say I respect fully, and you're one of them. We've got similar backgrounds and similar goals. That's why Sunday is going to be so hard."
"... well... hard for you."
"At the end of the day, you're stepping on my toes. Sure your cause may be noble and your fight is inspired, but you've managed to step into my path. You're trying to take something from me now, and for as much as I respect you, I'm going to have to hurt you."
"I fully expect you to say something along the lines of 'May the best man win', but to be frank with you, Webb... there's no question who the best man is. The best man HAS to win. As much as people want to doubt and question me, I'm forced to do the same thing with you. I look into myself and know that I have what it takes to beat Roberto Verona at Crossroads, but when I look at you, I don't feel the same. One of us has to beat Roberto, and I know within my heart of hearts that I'm the man for the job. Can you say the same?"
"Take that for what you will, but I'm not sure you've got it in you to conquer the golden boy of NCW. Just last month you couldn't even beat his lackey, and now I'm expected to expect otherwise? Because as good of a man as you are, you don't understand Verona like I do. You can't see into his head like I can."
"... You're the hero here, Webb. I'm a villain."
"You're the natural foil for Roberto, but mentally, you're not on his level. I'm above it. I've seen both sides of the fence, and I know what it's like on each. I tried to be the hero during my first road to the World Title, and I'm telling you right now, Nathan... it doesn't pay off. You play the upright, good guy game, and you end up getting screwed over. You'll fall into the same traps I did, and you'll end up losing to Verona just like I lost to Angel. To beat the bad guy, you have to be worse. You have to be willing to go to places darker than you've ever been."
"... And I've been to those places."
"That's why I'm going to become number one contender this Sunday. You haven't been where I've been, Webb... so you can't go where I'm going."
"It's going to take a lot more than hard work and determination to finally save NCW from Roberto Verona. It's going to take someone willing to go to hell and back to do it. I've already been to hell... and I'm not afraid of going back. On Collision, you face a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain."
"A wise man once proclaimed he'd 'been to the mountaintop'. This is my time to say the same. Because you've gotta go through hell to get to heaven..."
"For me, heaven is the NCW World Championship."
"....and that's where I'm going."
Kristen: "What'cha doin'?"
Will Washington: "Just sending out a new Tweet. The fans love it."
Kristen: "You're really into Twitter all of a sudden."
Will Washington: "Eh. It's fun for the fans to get to interact with their idols. Plus, I always get to remind them how much better I am than them. Win-win."
Kristen: "I'm just glad you've got something to keep your mind off of your match tomorrow. I thought for sure you'd be obsessing over it."
Will Washington: "Yeah... and you just reminded me of it."
Kristen: "Crap!"
{Will laughs at the expense of Kristen, and quickly replies to another tweet.}
Will Washington: "I'm just kidding. It's been on my mind all week, but you know... thinking about it isn't going to make it come any faster."
Kristen: "I know how excited you are for it, but to be honest, I'm pretty nervous."
Will Washington: "What? Why?"
{Kristen sits down next to Will with her body turned towards him.}
Kristen: "It's just... I know you can beat Nathan Webb, and I know you can beat Roberto Verona... but what happens if they screw you over somehow and you lose? In a fair fight you can beat anybody, but people in NCW don't fight fair."
Will Washington: "I don't fight fair either. So no big deal."
Kristen: "Yeah, I know. But you worked so hard to get here, and I'd hate to see those guys cheat you out of your dreams. Who knows what they'll try and pull? To top it all off, this could be your last chance at the title."
Will Washington: "They'll probably have something planned, but you know I've got some tricks up my sleeve as well. I've fought like hell to get here, and I'll fight like hell to stay here."
Kristen: "Of course you will."
Will Washington: "You've gotta have some faith that I can handle anything they throw at me. Even then, I trust Webb enough that he wouldn't just let those guys screw me over. He's man enough to not let that go down."
Kristen: "So worst case scenario you end up needing to team up with Webb again to protect yourself?"
Will Washington: "And what happened last time we were forced to team up?"
Kristen: "You beat the champion and his BFF?"
Will Washington: "Exactly. But truthfully, I don't expect anything to go down this weekend. I'm going to beat Webb, and then I'm going to go in for the fight of my life next weekend. That's the one to get ready for."
Kristen: "Well. Whether you win or you lose..."
Will Washington: "Hey! Stop. Don't even consider that possibility."
Kristen: "I'm just saying that no matter what, I'm going to be so proud of you. And I know your family is proud of you, and whatever fans you have will be proud too."
{She reaches over and hugs him.}
Will Washington: "Good grief. You make it sound like I'm dying or something. I'm going to win this Sunday. End of story. I like Webb... I respect him... but I'm going to beat him."
Kristen: "He does seem like a nice guy. It's a shame that you guys have to go against each other for the shot. But that's the business, right?"
Will Washington: "He deserves a shot at Roberto, but not at my expense. Plus, beating him validates the endgame."
{Kristen rolls her eyes.}
Kristen: "Oh great. Now you're getting into the serious wrestler talk again. I really botched this pep talk, didn't I?"
Will Washington: "This was supposed to be a pep talk? If so, don't quit your day job."
Kristen: "There goes my second career as a motivational speaker."
Will Washington: "I probably wouldn't recommend you to any underdog little league teams any time soon."
{She folds her arms and stands up, smiling.}
Kristen: "I'll let you get back to your tweeting then. I know you're ready for tomorrow, and I don't want to get in your way or anything."
Will Washington: "Just so you know... I really do appreciate all of the support. I did this all on my own last time, so I'm glad to have someone by my side this time around."
Kristen: "I'm happy to help. And on the plus side for me, I can't wait to make all of my friends jealous once I can gloat about marrying the World's Champion. I mean... how awesome is that?"
Will Washington: "So you're finally ready to admit how awesome I am?"
{Kristen laughs and begins to walk away.}
Kristen: "Win the belt first, and then we'll talk!"
{Will chuckles to himself as he sits for a moment, letting the good aura soak in.}
Will Washington: "This time tomorrow... everything changes."
{Will sighs and regains focus on the task at hand. He goes back to the insignificance of tweeting, but tomorrow's match continues to run through the back of his head as we fade out.}
________________________________________________________________________________
"I've been here before."
"I've had number one contender's matches before. Heck, I've BEEN number one contender before, so this isn't new to me. You've seen one big match, you've seen them all. And yet... Sunday feels still feels special to me. Being in the Road to the Gold finals in my sixth match in the company was awesome... wrestling Xavier Cross for a title shot at Mind Games was incredible... and winning the Coliseum was a star-making moment. I even main-evented our biggest show of the year. But this... this is something entirely different."
"All of that stuff... all of those accolades... they came within the first few months of my NCW career. From the very moment I stepped through the door, I was making history. Yet, it all felt hollow to me. When success comes so easily, sometimes you take it for granted. You start to think that you'll always be at the top, and nothing will ever change. I mean... I fought like hell for all of my early successes, but to me, it seemed like the good times would never end."
"... cut to today."
"Somewhere along the line, people stopped looking at me as the future, and started seeing me as the lost promise. I became the guy who should have had it all, but missed his shot. Everyone started seeing me as the poster-child for 'What could have been?' Every single guy I've faced in the last three years has proclaimed me as either a waste of talent or as a guy who couldn't get the job done. Well now I'm here to break the news to my detractors right now..."
"... I'm not dead yet."
"The past is the past, and right now, I've got the opportunity to dictate my future. I can't go back in time and fix what I did wrong, but what I can do is write my own story. For too long I've let the Will Washington story be written and recorded by those people who think I'm a choker. It's time now for me to take back the reigns and make history again, instead of letting people revise it."
"That's why Collision is so important this week. I've had to fight, scratch, and claw to even get to this point. I've fought doubter after doubter in that ring and behind the scenes. I have been overlooked and forgottten time and time again, as people like Roberto Verona and Andrew Jacobsen are given chances, when everyone knows that I'm better than every single person in that lockerroom. I embarrassed Jacobsen all throughout the summer last year, and what ended up coming from it? He became World Champion and I was left on the outside. People have been afraid to even let me get a sniff at the World Title because of past mistakes."
"So I took control and forced Kelly's hand, and FINALLY, she had no choice but to listen. My actions inside that ring, and your constant badgering outside of it made her give me this opportunity. The opportunity to beat Roberto Verona at Crossroads... to wear the gold... to fix NCW. The opportunity for me to take every single detractor's words and throw them right back into their face. I may have blown chances in the past, but Sunday is a new day, and I am a new man."
"... 2010 Will Washington was great. I'm better."
"And who is the man standing in my way this time? No, it's not Roberto Verona or Xander Famularo for once. It's the man that I lead to victory last weekend, Nathan Webb. Honestly, I couldn't think any more highly of you, Webb. There have been very few guys to come through NCW that I can say I respect fully, and you're one of them. We've got similar backgrounds and similar goals. That's why Sunday is going to be so hard."
"... well... hard for you."
"At the end of the day, you're stepping on my toes. Sure your cause may be noble and your fight is inspired, but you've managed to step into my path. You're trying to take something from me now, and for as much as I respect you, I'm going to have to hurt you."
"I fully expect you to say something along the lines of 'May the best man win', but to be frank with you, Webb... there's no question who the best man is. The best man HAS to win. As much as people want to doubt and question me, I'm forced to do the same thing with you. I look into myself and know that I have what it takes to beat Roberto Verona at Crossroads, but when I look at you, I don't feel the same. One of us has to beat Roberto, and I know within my heart of hearts that I'm the man for the job. Can you say the same?"
"Take that for what you will, but I'm not sure you've got it in you to conquer the golden boy of NCW. Just last month you couldn't even beat his lackey, and now I'm expected to expect otherwise? Because as good of a man as you are, you don't understand Verona like I do. You can't see into his head like I can."
"... You're the hero here, Webb. I'm a villain."
"You're the natural foil for Roberto, but mentally, you're not on his level. I'm above it. I've seen both sides of the fence, and I know what it's like on each. I tried to be the hero during my first road to the World Title, and I'm telling you right now, Nathan... it doesn't pay off. You play the upright, good guy game, and you end up getting screwed over. You'll fall into the same traps I did, and you'll end up losing to Verona just like I lost to Angel. To beat the bad guy, you have to be worse. You have to be willing to go to places darker than you've ever been."
"... And I've been to those places."
"That's why I'm going to become number one contender this Sunday. You haven't been where I've been, Webb... so you can't go where I'm going."
"It's going to take a lot more than hard work and determination to finally save NCW from Roberto Verona. It's going to take someone willing to go to hell and back to do it. I've already been to hell... and I'm not afraid of going back. On Collision, you face a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain."
"A wise man once proclaimed he'd 'been to the mountaintop'. This is my time to say the same. Because you've gotta go through hell to get to heaven..."
"For me, heaven is the NCW World Championship."
"....and that's where I'm going."