The Unworthy

[Nick Knight]

{Nick Knight is standing in front of a graffiti-covered section of concrete that was once a part of the Berlin Wall. He is slowly walking around the park that serves as a memorial to the once-divided city and enjoying the warm spring weather. Seeing a section of the wall that he finds interesting he looks over the artwork before turning towards the camera and speaking.}

Masao Akiyama, people are calling him the next big thing in professional wrestling and it’s easy to see a load of potential in the kid. He’s big, athletic, and wrestles that hard-hitting Puro style that most people just aren’t used to outside of Japan. That makes him a tough fucking draw to damn near anyone in IWF, but I’m not anyone.

I’ll admit that the kid has impressed me so far, but I’m not buying all of the hype. The podcasters and keyboard warriors all want to anoint him the champion of the known universe but they’ve all got their heads shoved up their asses because the kid has only won two matches. In my company that wouldn’t even be worthy of a title match, but not here under Roberto Verona’s big top.

I get that the kid is undefeated, but when you look closer at his wins he’s not exactly facing top-tier talent. I mean a glorified jobber known more for his facial hair than his ability inside of the ring, an indy darling known for doing a bunch of cool flippy shit but always crashing and burning when he gets to the show, and the biggest choke artist in all of IWF.

Just look at that and tell me what Masao has done to deserve a shot at my title, but at least he’s under an IWF contract. Unlike Gregor Winter’s cult member that they booked me against last show who I’m not sure she had ever had a single professional wrestling match in her entire life, but she was tough as fucking nails and my wives have been giving me shit about how hot she is for the past three weeks.

So the best that I can tell the new qualification of an Invictus Championship match is to be cannon fodder. The CEO just wants to throw as many of these people at me as possible hoping that one of them can trip me up. Bertie’s entire plan for knocking me off is week after week trotting out someone with a puncher’s chance of beating, which just proves he’s a fucking idiot because there are a handful of people in this company that have a shot of legitimately beating me.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t respect my opponent this week because I give him all the respect that he’s earned. He has my respect for even being a professional wrestler because training, especially in the Japanese dojos, is brutal. I just don’t buy into the bullshit of everyone in the back calling him a phenom, or saying that he’s had a meteoric rise to the top. No, he’s a young wrestler that has beat Adel Travent, TJ Alexander, and Nick Danger to earn a shot at getting his ass kicked by ‘The Hollywood Butcher.’

{Nick leans back against the wall and takes a sip from the water bottle he's carrying.}

Masao San, believe me I take every challenge to my championship serious which is the reason I found tape of as many of your matches as possible. I watched them all very closely and what I saw in a young grappler that one day very soon is going to be a champion. That day could be right around the corner when Madjinn becomes the Decimus Champion and that TV Championship is vacated, but I just don’t honestly see you having what it takes to beat me.

That’s not completely true because you have all of the tools that you need to win any match. Athletic you are a fucking freak because any man your size should not be able to run as fast or jump as high as you. It’s easy to see that you’re incredibly well trained and there are very few on the roster that could go hold for hold with you for more than a couple of minutes, but most importantly you have youth on your side.

It takes more than a chest full of tools to get the job done, Masao. You have to be an expert on exactly how to use every single one of them and after twenty-five years in the ring, I’m more than an expert, which is how I know how to neutralize all of the advantages you have over me. You’re more explosive so I have to stay in close and keep you from using that speed. You’re bigger than me, so I will keep you on the mat and slowly wear you out. Then I will get a little bit nasty and do things like scrape your face across the canvas and ropes, gouge your eyes, and maybe cauliflower an ear.

Masao you are going to experience a level of violence unlike any you've ever faced in a wrestling match. I will use all of ringside as my torture chamber and make you hurt worse than you ever have before or ever will again. I will use every dirty trick in the book and leave you bloody and unconscious in the middle of the ring. You are going to wake up with scars to remind you of the night you thought you were good enough to become Invictus Champion.

Masao I don’t you to feel ashamed of being just another footnote in the history of the man rewriting the book on what it means to be a champion in IWF. You are just going to be one in a long list of bodies that I’ve buried with my bare hands as I’ve built my empire of pain. An empire so great that it will one day topple IWF as we know it because it can’t go on with some narcissistic sociopath at the wheel.

{Knight begins to pace back and forth.}

What this business needs is someone that has a fucking clue how this business works. Not some vindictive son of a bitch that sends his little shock troops after anyone that has guts enough to speak the truth. This business needs a man that is willing to listen to everyone in the locker room instead of thinking that they’re the only person that’s had a good fucking idea in the last decade. This business needs a man who is a whole lot more like me and a whole lot less like Roberto Verona.

So Bertie when I get done kicking the shit out of young Masao Tuesday night I pray to the fucking gods that you have a worthy challenger for Night of the Immortals or there might be a new boss way sooner than anyone imagines. Oh, and don’t even try to hide behind your precious Legion because I will destroy every last one of them.

{The scene fades to black.}