Post by Philip Burns on Sept 28, 2008 7:10:40 GMT -6
Our final scene with Philip Burns before Road to the Gold opens with not much detail. There is darkness. There is Phil. He is seated with his right side to the camera. Hr wears a black jacket with a white undershirt. The brightness of his shirt is giving off a sort of hazy glow effect to the camera. His wrists are taped and his hands are cupped together. Burns’ head weighs heavy as his chin rests on his hands. He is pensive, in a trancelike state. It seems possible that he may never say anything. The soft light source is faint but place just cleverly enough so that we can see the emotion in his face. There are hints of optimism. He has high hopes for the pay-per-view. There are touches of anger. Why have so many dismissed him as a fleeting challenge, barely meaning anything to them? Most overwhelming is pride. The definitive look on his face conveys that he will not be held down by the words or actions of others. As though a switch had been toggled he snaps out of it and begins to speak.
Burns: (whispering) “Look, listen to my voice
If you're making the choice
Tell me all the girls and the boys
Either scream or rejoice
Let's make that noise
Either move or we will all be destroyed”
His voice becomes normal, a tone and affliction we are accustomed to.
No one listens to a thing I say. What is it about me that gives off the impression that I am not worthy to share a ring with two self obsessed punks? Who else do I have to bring down to prove it? I have been listening. I have paid in a lot of time to learning just who I am dealing with here. You guys are friends. You’re not friends. You both think I suck, you both think the other is going to lose. You can’t agree, you rarely disagree. You guys are like the entire Republican Party. There is so much inconstancy here I can barely wrap my head around it all. But I fully expect two cohorts to come at me with this. Psyching me out to at least insure the title stays in your ranks was a noble idea but I just don’t see it happening. I don’t need friends; I don’t need to air my affairs on TV. I am what you call a decent respectable man. I won’t bring women and children into the spotlight to be subject to the trials of being a wrestler on the road. I am more responsible than that.
Phil turns, facing the camera. The light still barely reveals anything about the scene. His eyes pierce the viewer with a gaze of intent. Intent to do what exactly is unclear. His voice speaks again. And again it is a whisper.
“Can you hear me? Stop, look, listen to my voice,
It was never my choice to feel all alone
This is my home
Back up , you don't know if you've never been here,
You've never been to the place inside, I face my fears
It takes everything I am”
His voice returns to normal. He stares ahead, not directly into the camera but in the direction of possibly the camera man. It is eerie, a side of Philip Burns unfamiliar to most.
Steve Awesome is our current World Champion. What a sad state of affairs we are in. I haven’t seen a worse role model since MTVs anti drug campaign. I really like some of the stuff you have been saying. You hit the nail right on the head with all of it. One of my favorite bedtime stories was the riveting tale of how I am only in the finals because you allowed me to be. By Angel not facing me you handed me my spot in the tournament, my big break if you will. We thank you papa Steve. I would have guessed that a World champion would take his opponents seriously and do a little research. I just wanted to once again thank you for handing me my spot instead of feeding me to Angel, a man I could never beat. Because it is so impossible for me to beat Angel I guess I never did manage to defeat him for the PWW United States title four years ago.
Yeah I suppose I am just not good enough for that. I just don’t know what I would do with myself if I were in the ring with someone I had never beaten before, like Angel who I beat four years ago for the PWW United States title. Now I wouldn’t expect Steve Awesome to know that. I wouldn’t expect half the people on the roster to know that. I know, it was ages ago but the point is IT CAN HAPPEN. Even Angel who, by the way, is the man I beat is talking smack about how bad I am. Really!? I would expect it from someone who doesn’t know better but Angel would do well to shut his damn mouth.
See this is why we have a problem. Everybody is their own hype machine. This game has become a series of buzz words to generate hype and sales so every can be rich. (A sarcastic undertone develops in his voice) “Hey! The Burning is gaining momentum and popularity, therefore he must be stopped! Let’s act like he sucks so people will spend money on us and NOT him! We should use buzz word like choke so everyone thinks that he isn’t capable of doing anything noteworthy! That’s right; Philip Burns is a choke artist! He chokes just like Davey Ortega. Yea! Don’t like Davey either!”
If you think these fans are so naïve the rush in to that then by all means I want you to do your damndest. Slander me until there is no tomorrow. But when throngs of people and the teeming masses show up to chant my name and wear a shirt with my face on it you will know that your lack of faith in these people is a weakness you carry almost like you are proud of it.
Awesome, you have a lot going on. You have a title defense against possibly your “best friend” (depending on who you ask) The Ace who apparently is also a douche bag who like to make up a lot of garbage and smile every ten seconds. Or was it grin? Champ, I am not going to throw silly puns at you. I have been buried in the dirt up to my neck and stoned with puns all week long. This is the guy you give more credit than me? This man, who pretty much admits to being a tool and it in a sense trying to be always up your ass, is who you expect to face? I get it. Since you were on a team with him you have watched him without any extra effort. It was in your best interest to dip your hand in the mix. But watching what I have done would have too much extra work for the man carrying the strap, eh? Fair enough.
I know your kind. You surround yourself with people who are just good enough to help you stay champion but not good enough to take the title away from you. Maybe this is your insurance policy to keep the title. Perhaps the reason you are expecting Ace to advance and face you is because you know enough about him to realize you can beat him. But you have no idea about me. You have no idea, as seen by your assumption that I could never stop Angel, where I have been and what I have done outside the confines of nCw. And to be perfectly honest I have no idea about you either other than what I see on Collision every week. But unlike you I prepared for the worst instead assuming you ARE the worst. What happens when you step into the ring with me assuming it will be easy and you end up lying on your back for a very un-needed three second tan?
His gaze loses focus almost like he saw something on the horizon but it is just a sound stage. There was nothing. He turns back away from the camera, once again facing his right side to the viewer. He whispers again, this time noticeably clearer, more audible, and with a bit more deliberation.
“I come crashing to the floor
And I know there must be more like me
I've seen this all before, I can't carry this anymore, break free
Breath, and leave until the storm is over
'Cause underneath, there's a diamond passing over
So breath, let's leave until the storm is over,
Because I want to take you away”
Philip unclasps his hands and runs one of them over his beard for just a moment. He is fixated on the ground, not staring aimlessly, but more like attempting to gather his thoughts. His mind is not a blank but there are so many things to say. Steve Awesome, in the mind of Philip Burns, is truly discrediting everything that the championship stands for.
I am beginning to think that when I decided to come back and hatched this plan that it almost wrote itself. I barely had to partake. I just had to convince a friend on the boards that I would be a credit to this company regardless of what the Fox family thinks. In a way maybe I had to only agree to say I would do their bidding. I wondered why they would so easily agree to just not only just hand my job back to me (despite the ailing Mr. Fox’s objections) but to give me amnesty and say not to worry about being held to the normal rules and regulations. That is a lot to throw on a “nobody” eh Steve? But it hit me when I started advancing in this tournament. The board has hired me as their own personal restoration tool. They counted on me going against the grain and being a maverick.
Maybe twenty years ago being a maverick meant doing exactly what most people do now. Defy authority, play the numbers game, show total disrespect to everyone around them… But today to be different you have to take a stand for what you believe in. In this day and age one must look at all the dissention, all the anti-heroes, and all the low lives who call themselves champions or worthy of being on television and say NO. One must say NO to deception and manipulation as tools to advance and as means to an end. This business should never be about taking people out, leaving people possibly crippled, or assaulting someone without cause.
I will step up in this modern era of dissenters and would-be bad-asses and say “Not in MY nCw!” Forget Ace. Steve, this is your future (he turns back and looks into the camera). I know that in this business it’s not about what you have done. It’s about what you have done lately. So yes, I look worse for wear compared to you. But it’s more than that. That, my friend, is the easy way of looking at it. Do I see a future for you as the nCw Champion? Do I see a place for your ego or room for your buzz word driven hype machine? Is there space set aside in the locker room so your family can come with you and watch first hand as you render a championship belt everything but meaningless?
Not in my nCw.
Philip spins the chair around, facing completely away, with his back to the camera. The back of his jacket has his familiar “B” logo emblazoned across it. Phil stands up and begins to walk away but after a few steps hesitates as though he is going to turn around and say something else. But there is nothing. He walks off as his theme “Move” by Thousand Foot Krutch plays and cuts to video of his advancement in Road to the Gold. The final image is from a year ago; Philip Burns standing over The Ace, victorious.
Fade to black.
Burns: (whispering) “Look, listen to my voice
If you're making the choice
Tell me all the girls and the boys
Either scream or rejoice
Let's make that noise
Either move or we will all be destroyed”
His voice becomes normal, a tone and affliction we are accustomed to.
No one listens to a thing I say. What is it about me that gives off the impression that I am not worthy to share a ring with two self obsessed punks? Who else do I have to bring down to prove it? I have been listening. I have paid in a lot of time to learning just who I am dealing with here. You guys are friends. You’re not friends. You both think I suck, you both think the other is going to lose. You can’t agree, you rarely disagree. You guys are like the entire Republican Party. There is so much inconstancy here I can barely wrap my head around it all. But I fully expect two cohorts to come at me with this. Psyching me out to at least insure the title stays in your ranks was a noble idea but I just don’t see it happening. I don’t need friends; I don’t need to air my affairs on TV. I am what you call a decent respectable man. I won’t bring women and children into the spotlight to be subject to the trials of being a wrestler on the road. I am more responsible than that.
Phil turns, facing the camera. The light still barely reveals anything about the scene. His eyes pierce the viewer with a gaze of intent. Intent to do what exactly is unclear. His voice speaks again. And again it is a whisper.
“Can you hear me? Stop, look, listen to my voice,
It was never my choice to feel all alone
This is my home
Back up , you don't know if you've never been here,
You've never been to the place inside, I face my fears
It takes everything I am”
His voice returns to normal. He stares ahead, not directly into the camera but in the direction of possibly the camera man. It is eerie, a side of Philip Burns unfamiliar to most.
Steve Awesome is our current World Champion. What a sad state of affairs we are in. I haven’t seen a worse role model since MTVs anti drug campaign. I really like some of the stuff you have been saying. You hit the nail right on the head with all of it. One of my favorite bedtime stories was the riveting tale of how I am only in the finals because you allowed me to be. By Angel not facing me you handed me my spot in the tournament, my big break if you will. We thank you papa Steve. I would have guessed that a World champion would take his opponents seriously and do a little research. I just wanted to once again thank you for handing me my spot instead of feeding me to Angel, a man I could never beat. Because it is so impossible for me to beat Angel I guess I never did manage to defeat him for the PWW United States title four years ago.
Yeah I suppose I am just not good enough for that. I just don’t know what I would do with myself if I were in the ring with someone I had never beaten before, like Angel who I beat four years ago for the PWW United States title. Now I wouldn’t expect Steve Awesome to know that. I wouldn’t expect half the people on the roster to know that. I know, it was ages ago but the point is IT CAN HAPPEN. Even Angel who, by the way, is the man I beat is talking smack about how bad I am. Really!? I would expect it from someone who doesn’t know better but Angel would do well to shut his damn mouth.
See this is why we have a problem. Everybody is their own hype machine. This game has become a series of buzz words to generate hype and sales so every can be rich. (A sarcastic undertone develops in his voice) “Hey! The Burning is gaining momentum and popularity, therefore he must be stopped! Let’s act like he sucks so people will spend money on us and NOT him! We should use buzz word like choke so everyone thinks that he isn’t capable of doing anything noteworthy! That’s right; Philip Burns is a choke artist! He chokes just like Davey Ortega. Yea! Don’t like Davey either!”
If you think these fans are so naïve the rush in to that then by all means I want you to do your damndest. Slander me until there is no tomorrow. But when throngs of people and the teeming masses show up to chant my name and wear a shirt with my face on it you will know that your lack of faith in these people is a weakness you carry almost like you are proud of it.
Awesome, you have a lot going on. You have a title defense against possibly your “best friend” (depending on who you ask) The Ace who apparently is also a douche bag who like to make up a lot of garbage and smile every ten seconds. Or was it grin? Champ, I am not going to throw silly puns at you. I have been buried in the dirt up to my neck and stoned with puns all week long. This is the guy you give more credit than me? This man, who pretty much admits to being a tool and it in a sense trying to be always up your ass, is who you expect to face? I get it. Since you were on a team with him you have watched him without any extra effort. It was in your best interest to dip your hand in the mix. But watching what I have done would have too much extra work for the man carrying the strap, eh? Fair enough.
I know your kind. You surround yourself with people who are just good enough to help you stay champion but not good enough to take the title away from you. Maybe this is your insurance policy to keep the title. Perhaps the reason you are expecting Ace to advance and face you is because you know enough about him to realize you can beat him. But you have no idea about me. You have no idea, as seen by your assumption that I could never stop Angel, where I have been and what I have done outside the confines of nCw. And to be perfectly honest I have no idea about you either other than what I see on Collision every week. But unlike you I prepared for the worst instead assuming you ARE the worst. What happens when you step into the ring with me assuming it will be easy and you end up lying on your back for a very un-needed three second tan?
His gaze loses focus almost like he saw something on the horizon but it is just a sound stage. There was nothing. He turns back away from the camera, once again facing his right side to the viewer. He whispers again, this time noticeably clearer, more audible, and with a bit more deliberation.
“I come crashing to the floor
And I know there must be more like me
I've seen this all before, I can't carry this anymore, break free
Breath, and leave until the storm is over
'Cause underneath, there's a diamond passing over
So breath, let's leave until the storm is over,
Because I want to take you away”
Philip unclasps his hands and runs one of them over his beard for just a moment. He is fixated on the ground, not staring aimlessly, but more like attempting to gather his thoughts. His mind is not a blank but there are so many things to say. Steve Awesome, in the mind of Philip Burns, is truly discrediting everything that the championship stands for.
I am beginning to think that when I decided to come back and hatched this plan that it almost wrote itself. I barely had to partake. I just had to convince a friend on the boards that I would be a credit to this company regardless of what the Fox family thinks. In a way maybe I had to only agree to say I would do their bidding. I wondered why they would so easily agree to just not only just hand my job back to me (despite the ailing Mr. Fox’s objections) but to give me amnesty and say not to worry about being held to the normal rules and regulations. That is a lot to throw on a “nobody” eh Steve? But it hit me when I started advancing in this tournament. The board has hired me as their own personal restoration tool. They counted on me going against the grain and being a maverick.
Maybe twenty years ago being a maverick meant doing exactly what most people do now. Defy authority, play the numbers game, show total disrespect to everyone around them… But today to be different you have to take a stand for what you believe in. In this day and age one must look at all the dissention, all the anti-heroes, and all the low lives who call themselves champions or worthy of being on television and say NO. One must say NO to deception and manipulation as tools to advance and as means to an end. This business should never be about taking people out, leaving people possibly crippled, or assaulting someone without cause.
I will step up in this modern era of dissenters and would-be bad-asses and say “Not in MY nCw!” Forget Ace. Steve, this is your future (he turns back and looks into the camera). I know that in this business it’s not about what you have done. It’s about what you have done lately. So yes, I look worse for wear compared to you. But it’s more than that. That, my friend, is the easy way of looking at it. Do I see a future for you as the nCw Champion? Do I see a place for your ego or room for your buzz word driven hype machine? Is there space set aside in the locker room so your family can come with you and watch first hand as you render a championship belt everything but meaningless?
Not in my nCw.
Philip spins the chair around, facing completely away, with his back to the camera. The back of his jacket has his familiar “B” logo emblazoned across it. Phil stands up and begins to walk away but after a few steps hesitates as though he is going to turn around and say something else. But there is nothing. He walks off as his theme “Move” by Thousand Foot Krutch plays and cuts to video of his advancement in Road to the Gold. The final image is from a year ago; Philip Burns standing over The Ace, victorious.
Fade to black.