Another Week

[Ghost Spike]

Another week, and another name gets added to the list. Another person becomes a part of history, and yet another “superstar” tries to make their case for their own fortune, at my cost of course. Another week, and another friend lies through their teeth and stands across from me telling me that everything I do is wrong, another week, and another knife in my back. Welcome to the list Alex Jones, you’ll enjoy the company…...but you’re gonna have to get in line just like everybody else… 

Rob Diamond. 

Davey Ortega. 

Joe Everyman. 

Xavier Cross. 

Mike Machado. 

Mike Laszlo. 

The Ace. 

Xander Famularo. 

Hell, probably even Lex Sense. 

It’s a pretty big line. Everyone wants to beat me, everyone wants to topple the king from his throne, everyone hates me and wants to destroy my Empire. Some even think they’ve been successful, but they are wrong Alex. They have no god damn idea how wrong they are…..because this? This is just the beginning….and once again I am forced to defend my championship for the third time. I’m the only person to successfully defend the Imperial Championship, and now it’s time to go for the third defence…..before the deck begins to get stacked against me even further. I could whine, I could complain, I’ve defended the tag team championships and the Imperial title almost every week since I won the damn thing. It’s either one or the other, and the one time it’s not? 

Rob Diamond steals a victory. 

Toot your horn Rob, throw a damn parade. You won a tag match…..seems like that’s your domain really, you couldn’t beat Laszlo, and you couldn’t beat me. You only do well when somebody carries you to victory. Yeah, that’s right, I carried InFamous and now everybody can see clearly that it’s the truth. You had Alex and Xavier carry you to victory last week, with Laszlo’s little slut getting involved too…..I may be a horrible nasty bastard, I may be the monster you’ve all painted me as… 

But I never let a woman fight my battles for me, and of course….then there’s Alex Jones. 

How many times does this have to happen before you realise you always pick the wrong side? How many times do you have to try and push your own career at my expense? Everytime people seem to forget who Alex “AJ Pheonix” Jones is…...you find yourself on the opposite side of the ring from me. I know where it all stems from Alex, I remember vividly, and I’ll never forget. 

The night I eliminated you from the Rumble. 

Everyone was pipping you or MGK for the nod, you were going to win and go on to Night of Champions and become the new face of the federation. We were friends at the time, we had each others backs, despite Overdrive always making me the butt of the jokes...I had both of your backs, then shit went down and I had to make a choice. I made one, and it was the wrong one….it almost cost me your friendship…..but I honestly believe the night I eliminated you and forced you to have to fight for another title a seed was planted inside of you that has grown and festered over the years. 

I remember when you betrayed Hardaway and myself, the New Blood. 

For all the good it did you, The Young Guns and their pathetic grip hold of their spots killed off that federation, so we all left. I found a new home, and what a surprise that Alex Jones comes limping along after me, trying to use my name to claim some fame, to steal some spotlight. It’s all you’ve ever done Alex….leech, feed, move on. You saw the chance I offered you, to be by my side, like the good old days. To be my knight of wrath and strike down any who oppose me…..you thought of the glory and fame it would bring, but then you thought of all the attention you would get if you held up your answer. People would want to know, people would demand an answer…..people would have to talk to you and not ignore you, right? So you dilly dallied, and delayed….put it off, until Rob crawled up your ass and made you choose the side of flowers, bunnies, and sugar coated bullshit! 

You chose someone you don’t even like over one of your best friends, and I’m the bad guy? 

It’s always been this way Alex, even if you’re too blind to see it for yourself. I’ve always been the bigger fish, and sometimes I don’t think you can accept that. It was the “rookie” of Overdrive who broke out, who was the next big thing, not MGK, and not AJ Phoenix…...but Spike Kane. The one everyone overlooked, the one everyone thought was doomed to be in your shadow…..turns out, I fucking eclipse you dude. My career is one of the greatest that this industry has ever seen, and no matter who stands against me, no matter who tries to stop me….it still continues. My own brother drove a frickin’ train spike through my hand to stop me….what did you do? 

You got your ass handed to you in the Dragon’s Den. 

See….that is the difference. My brother wanted to stop me, but you? You just want the spotlight. You want the fame, the glory, the limelight that is so fixated on me ever since I stopped hiding what was really going on, stopped hiding the fact that I already had a grip hold on this company and it’s going to take nothing short of a god damn army to stop me. This isn’t make believe, this isn’t a comic book. The plucky hero and his SIDEKICK will not triumph over the evil emperor…..not in the slightest. My reign has begun, and it will be a long ass time before it finishes, and it will finish only when I decide it will. 

Not a single one of you can stop me. 

~~~ 

Spike sits in the changing rooms immediately after the events that ended that nights showing of IWF Sacrifice. He sits with the Imperial Championship on the bench before him, and the tag team championship sticking out of his back. He lowers his head and places his face in his hands.



===FLASH===



A much younger Spike Kane is walking down the street talking with Alex Jones, the two are having quite a heated debate and are both wearing “Overdrive” t-shirts.



Alex: I tell you man X-Men: Last Stand is going to be a great movie!



Spike: Nah dude, I saw the trailer and it just looks over crowded and stupid.



Alex: Just because Wolverine isn’t the focus of the story.



Spike: No. It’s the dark pheonix saga.



Alex: That sounds good…..I might need to use that. Oh, hold on.



Alex pulls a marker out of his pocket as he and Spike walk up to a stop sign and Alex gets a boost from Spike before writing “HAMMER TIME” underneath where it says “STOP” the two burst out laughing as they continue to walk down the street.



Spike: Heard they’re making a new Superman movie? They’re calling it Superman Returns.



Alex: Is it a remake?



Spike: I don’t think so, think it’s going to follow up on the last one BUT, I heard that Kevin Spacey is going to be Lex, and that sounds awesome! Oooh, my turn.



This time Alex gives Spike a boost as Spike scribbles “IN THE NAME OF LOVE” underneath the word “STOP” the two begin laughing again as the camera fades out a bit, showing that they’ve written all over every stop sign in their path.



===FLASH===



“You have to put him down”



Spike is standing now, sweat pouring from his body as he stares at the mirror at the dark reflection glaring back at him.



“I know. I will…...again”

~~~ 

Do you remember last January Alex? Do you remember the pain that I inflicted upon you in the Dragon’s Den? The structure that surpasses even the “Devil’s Playground”? Huh? That contraption was built by me, for me. It was built to destroy people, to shorten and even end careers. I became the master of that structure, and only one man ever came even close to taking that title. The man who now hides behind his wife, afraid to get in the ring because he knows he doesn’t have it anymore. He knows who he is, but for the rest of you…..let’s just say he like’s to gamble…..and he likes cats. 

I’m a button pusher. 

It’s what I do, I rub people the wrong way and watch them lose their shit. I take this world and I take all the fun out of it, I bring home how serious what we do in the ring really is. I show the world how fragile people are, I show the world your weaknesses, and I make them watch as I tear you apart. You can talk the talk Alex, you always have been able to do so, put you always fall flat when it comes to actually delivering. It’s why you’ve never had the career that people expected you to, the career you might have thought was ahead of you - until I came into your life. Ever since then you’ve played second fiddle dude, and we both know it. However, we are both remembered for our exploits in nCw. I’m remembered as the man who took the Empire to the heights it was meant for, I crushed Lance Ryan and ended the era of NWS. I was ushered into the hall of fame…..you? 

You were the ultimate butt of the ultimate joke. 

But, it means you’ll be remembered, and that’s what you wanted, right? Nobody will ever forget the night that Alex Jones was completely and utterly humiliated. I felt for you that night, I knew what it felt like to be screwed over by nCw and it’s corrupt staff. I knew exactly how you felt when you were the last ever person in nCw to be on your back looking at those lights. Not that you deserved the shot in the first place, and we both know that, we both know I had an issue with that….but that’s besides the point. Then you came here, you came with all the glitter and bluster and penash that follows the walking paparazzi magnet that is Alex Jones, and hyped yourself up, you hyped everything you could. 

But nobody cared. 

So you became a pawn in my games, a chess piece for me to manipulate around the board however I wanted. Everyone turned their back on you, nobody trusted you. Why? BECAUSE YOU’VE GIVEN EVERYONE A DAMN GOOD REASON NOT TO TRUST YOU! See, kids in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Nobody trusted you, because you’re a selfish, arrogant, self-absorbed prick who only cares about yourself. Do you honestly expect me to sit here and tremble at the thought of you, Cross, Laszlo, and Rob coming after me? Puh-lease. You’ll be spending so much time worrying about the other stabbing you in the back that you won’t even realise that this freight train is coming to mow you down. You side with a man you hate, a man who took everything you worked so hard for, and one of the most obnoxious under-achievers this world has ever seen. Who’s next to join your ranks? 

Joe Everyman!? 

You are not a threat Alex. You never were. I’ve put you down so many times that I’d expect you to learn that by now…..every single time I have a championship - you want it. You come and try and steal it, because you know once it’s been held by me, it means something. You want to leech, to feed, and rise to the ascension you so desperately crave for. However, this isn’t going to happen. This Imperial Championship? It’s the most important belt in this business, and nothing any one of you can do will help pry it from my grasp. I worked harder than all of you combined to get this, I poured my heart out, I pushed myself harder than you all, and one thing you all seem to forget? 

I fucking earned it. 

So meet up with your fish wives group, plan on how you can stop the big nasty man who is at the top of the mountain only because he does it all better than you, and you could never reach the heights that I have, you could never manipulate people like I have….and you could never command such fierce loyalty as I do. You may once have been a Black Dragon, Alex….hell you were even the Pheonix for a while…..but I’m the King of IWF, and just like in nCw I will make you… 

HAIL TO THE KING!