Post by The Ace on Jul 26, 2014 18:58:00 GMT
In a match like this you have some choices to make Kyle and whichever choices you ultimately make are one which I will respect you for even if I personally don't agree with them. I will respect you because I will know that whatever you choose to do this Sunday at Lineage will not have been dictated to you by another man. I will know that whatever conclusions you reach will be dictated only by your strengths as a man and not by the selfish whims of some self-proclaimed God.
You will have decide for yourself whether I am more valuable to your cause as a friend or whether I'm just another obstacle you need to run through in order to solve your problems with the Brothers Black. Whether you choose to admit it or not Mason, Frank is your cause and your problem much more than he is mine. I really don't have a problem with him or his brother, they have a problem - well actually it's more of an obsession - with me.
Now you might be asking yourself why? Why would they be so obsessed with a man like me? What makes me so God damn special? And I'll admit Kyle, that had me perplexed for a little while too until I figured that that was just it. I am a man being damned by another who calls himself God.
He damns me for making precisely the choices he didn't, but could have. He had the same chances with Shelly that I had with Kathy, only I realised my mistakes before it was too late. He sees that I am much happier as a man than he ever could be as a "God", and I use that term in the loosest possible sense and that infuriates him.
So what does he do? The only thing he can. Find a couple of floundering yahoos within the bowels of this company with a nine month old petty grudge against me and send them after me in some last ditch Hail Mary effort to finish me off all because he's ticked off that he has to command love, devotion, loyalty and affection whilst I get them as a matter of course.
I suppose I really should thank him because I haven't received this much attention from the masses in at least five years. Just when I think my career is winding down, just when I'm almost out the door, people start talking about me again, and more than that, they actually start believing that not only can I still challenge Angel but that I can take the Imperial Championship from him.
Some still believe it in fact, and it is the strength of that belief in me that continues to bother Angel. The whispers started at High Stakes, in that Roulette Match four months ago, and instead of fading away, they have only grown, they have only permeated and they have only found stronger roots.
It is a huge blow to his ego, so much so that he'll never admit it, at least not in public, but the truth is that so many more people have already made their minds up about who they want to believe in and who they want to follow in this company - and it isn't Angel Blake.
He commands the respect of a few and I am shown respect by thousands. He struggles to balance the world on his shoulders through fear and intimidation whilst I coast on the crests of the waves of the love and admiration of an entire universe behind me.
It enrages him that I have done with ease and on a grander scale, the very thing he has been struggling with since this whole Age of X nonsense started. Inspiring somebody's absolute belief and faith in you is never easy, but speaking for myself, I find that you have a much easier time with it all if you just drop all the bullshit and give the people something to relate to, something they can identify with.
Nobody can relate to a God whose biggest concern is himself, but everybody can relate to a simple man with a family, and that is why in the battle for the loyalty of the people, I will always trump the Kings, Gods and Immortals of this company.
The point of all this Kyle is simply this, Angel is a victim of his own bad choices, and I really don't want somebody of your remarkable potential to be the same. Choose wisely sunshine, because your next decision could very well make or break your career.
Just because the Blacks aren't really my fight in spite of how much they want to be, it doesn't mean that I'm not prepared to march into this battle alongside you my friend and help you take care of baby brother Frank. All you have to do is ask. It is your choice, both have consequences son, so my advice would be to choose your next move and the next few words out of your mouth carefully.
I don't have a problem with you and I don't particularly expect to have one, but if we must for the sake of healthy competition, then I suggest that we at least eliminate the thorn in both our sides first, and then we can make this a true contest of the rising star versus the veteran, the indy darling versus the consummate professional.
If however, your sense of pride is as big as Black's ego and demands that you simply cannot work in tandem with me towards a mutually beneficial result and that you'd much rather put me down with a Quickening, then fair enough.
If you must absolutely insist on making a statement on your own, then I will be forced into making one of my own by Ace-planting yet another stubborn young face into the middle of MY canvas.
I am not some jaded veteran looking to take anything away from the future of this company, quite the opposite in fact. After eleven years in this business I want to give something back, I want to invest something in the future of IWF, whether that investment comes in the form of something as simple as pointing out the hypocrisy of The Brothers Black when they criticise me for always fighting other people's battles whilst themselves tripping over their own testicles to fight Angel's, or something a bit more ornate like my boot up a couple of piddly asses, that choice is yours, Kyle.
Yours and Frank's.
Before you make any of the choices I have laid out, consider this. If I am indeed nothing more than a worthless failure, then why am I still such a concern to the Age of X? I shouldn't even be on their radar, but as it turns out, not only am I worthy of their attention, but I am the centre of it.
Funny that, isn't it?
In one breath I am a failure and in the next I am a target. If Angel himself couldn't solve a problem like Jake Conway, what makes you so sure you can, Frankie? If God himself could not take me out, his little jumped up stooge stands even less of a chance...that's not bravado, just logic.
Something I know you clearly lack given some of the choices you've made lately.
Jake Conway and IWF's COO, Roberto Verona were having a casual meeting. Outside, under the heat of the Italian sun, both men are dressed smart, but not formal. The atmosphere between them is less one of employee and boss and more one of two friends who had known each other a long time.
Roberto: Refill?
Jake: Please.
Roberto reaches across the table between them and grabs the half bottle of Brunello between them and refills Jake's glass for him before leaning back and pouring himself another as well.
Jake: So, tell me again, why are you putting me in the middle of all this?
Roberto: Because you owe me.
Jake sighs.
Jake: I knew having Kathy out there with me last month would cost me.
Roberto: From what Hannah tells me, it wasn't entirely your decision for her to be out there in your big Imperial Championship match...
Jake takes a mouthful of the finest Italian red wine, savouring its rich body on his tongue a moment before swallowing and addressing Roberto.
Jake: Yes, well...Kat can be quite stubborn at times...
Roberto: And quite persuasive too, I've noticed.
Roberto takes a moment to enjoy his wine as both men silently acknowledged that Kathy was as much a reason for his taking up arms against the Age Of X as Roberto was. She pushed him to go on when he could not or did not want to, just as he had not wanted to come out here today to meet with Verona.
As Jake leaned back and took another mouthful of wine, he decided that it had been worth it to hear Roberto out for the quality of the grape he was tasting alone.
Kathy appears with Hannah and the ladies are saddled with shopping bags, Kathy approaches her husband and he cranes his neck as he leans down and the two share a quick kiss.
Kathy: How are you boys doing out here? Still a blossoming bromance between you?
Kathy smiles.
Jake: Sempre e per sempre...
Roberto looks surprised, Hannah laughs and Kathy looks confused. She turns to Hannah.
Kathy: What did he say?
Hannah: Always and forever...
Kathy raises an eyebrow, then smiles. It was their motto.
Kathy: I see. A few glasses of wine is all it takes then, huh?
Jake: Honey, this isn't just wine, this is the most exquisite wine in Tuscany.
Kathy: Alright then, a few glasses of fancy wine...
Roberto: At least the man has good taste.
All laugh at this, and Kathy having had her curiosity peaked over just how fine a wine it was, takes a sip from her husband's wine glass, before handing it back to him. She savours it a moment.
Kathy: Okay, I forgive you. I really mustn't drink any more. You know what red wine does to me.
Jake grins.
Jake: Yes, I do.
Hannah's curiousity is raised, Roberto tries to interject but it is too late.
Hannah: What happens?
Jake: Usually it involves her favourite pair of handcuffs and some whipped cream.
Hannah: I'm sorry I asked...
More laughter bellows around the table.
You will have decide for yourself whether I am more valuable to your cause as a friend or whether I'm just another obstacle you need to run through in order to solve your problems with the Brothers Black. Whether you choose to admit it or not Mason, Frank is your cause and your problem much more than he is mine. I really don't have a problem with him or his brother, they have a problem - well actually it's more of an obsession - with me.
Now you might be asking yourself why? Why would they be so obsessed with a man like me? What makes me so God damn special? And I'll admit Kyle, that had me perplexed for a little while too until I figured that that was just it. I am a man being damned by another who calls himself God.
He damns me for making precisely the choices he didn't, but could have. He had the same chances with Shelly that I had with Kathy, only I realised my mistakes before it was too late. He sees that I am much happier as a man than he ever could be as a "God", and I use that term in the loosest possible sense and that infuriates him.
So what does he do? The only thing he can. Find a couple of floundering yahoos within the bowels of this company with a nine month old petty grudge against me and send them after me in some last ditch Hail Mary effort to finish me off all because he's ticked off that he has to command love, devotion, loyalty and affection whilst I get them as a matter of course.
I suppose I really should thank him because I haven't received this much attention from the masses in at least five years. Just when I think my career is winding down, just when I'm almost out the door, people start talking about me again, and more than that, they actually start believing that not only can I still challenge Angel but that I can take the Imperial Championship from him.
Some still believe it in fact, and it is the strength of that belief in me that continues to bother Angel. The whispers started at High Stakes, in that Roulette Match four months ago, and instead of fading away, they have only grown, they have only permeated and they have only found stronger roots.
It is a huge blow to his ego, so much so that he'll never admit it, at least not in public, but the truth is that so many more people have already made their minds up about who they want to believe in and who they want to follow in this company - and it isn't Angel Blake.
He commands the respect of a few and I am shown respect by thousands. He struggles to balance the world on his shoulders through fear and intimidation whilst I coast on the crests of the waves of the love and admiration of an entire universe behind me.
It enrages him that I have done with ease and on a grander scale, the very thing he has been struggling with since this whole Age of X nonsense started. Inspiring somebody's absolute belief and faith in you is never easy, but speaking for myself, I find that you have a much easier time with it all if you just drop all the bullshit and give the people something to relate to, something they can identify with.
Nobody can relate to a God whose biggest concern is himself, but everybody can relate to a simple man with a family, and that is why in the battle for the loyalty of the people, I will always trump the Kings, Gods and Immortals of this company.
The point of all this Kyle is simply this, Angel is a victim of his own bad choices, and I really don't want somebody of your remarkable potential to be the same. Choose wisely sunshine, because your next decision could very well make or break your career.
Just because the Blacks aren't really my fight in spite of how much they want to be, it doesn't mean that I'm not prepared to march into this battle alongside you my friend and help you take care of baby brother Frank. All you have to do is ask. It is your choice, both have consequences son, so my advice would be to choose your next move and the next few words out of your mouth carefully.
I don't have a problem with you and I don't particularly expect to have one, but if we must for the sake of healthy competition, then I suggest that we at least eliminate the thorn in both our sides first, and then we can make this a true contest of the rising star versus the veteran, the indy darling versus the consummate professional.
If however, your sense of pride is as big as Black's ego and demands that you simply cannot work in tandem with me towards a mutually beneficial result and that you'd much rather put me down with a Quickening, then fair enough.
If you must absolutely insist on making a statement on your own, then I will be forced into making one of my own by Ace-planting yet another stubborn young face into the middle of MY canvas.
I am not some jaded veteran looking to take anything away from the future of this company, quite the opposite in fact. After eleven years in this business I want to give something back, I want to invest something in the future of IWF, whether that investment comes in the form of something as simple as pointing out the hypocrisy of The Brothers Black when they criticise me for always fighting other people's battles whilst themselves tripping over their own testicles to fight Angel's, or something a bit more ornate like my boot up a couple of piddly asses, that choice is yours, Kyle.
Yours and Frank's.
Before you make any of the choices I have laid out, consider this. If I am indeed nothing more than a worthless failure, then why am I still such a concern to the Age of X? I shouldn't even be on their radar, but as it turns out, not only am I worthy of their attention, but I am the centre of it.
Funny that, isn't it?
In one breath I am a failure and in the next I am a target. If Angel himself couldn't solve a problem like Jake Conway, what makes you so sure you can, Frankie? If God himself could not take me out, his little jumped up stooge stands even less of a chance...that's not bravado, just logic.
Something I know you clearly lack given some of the choices you've made lately.
Jake Conway and IWF's COO, Roberto Verona were having a casual meeting. Outside, under the heat of the Italian sun, both men are dressed smart, but not formal. The atmosphere between them is less one of employee and boss and more one of two friends who had known each other a long time.
Roberto: Refill?
Jake: Please.
Roberto reaches across the table between them and grabs the half bottle of Brunello between them and refills Jake's glass for him before leaning back and pouring himself another as well.
Jake: So, tell me again, why are you putting me in the middle of all this?
Roberto: Because you owe me.
Jake sighs.
Jake: I knew having Kathy out there with me last month would cost me.
Roberto: From what Hannah tells me, it wasn't entirely your decision for her to be out there in your big Imperial Championship match...
Jake takes a mouthful of the finest Italian red wine, savouring its rich body on his tongue a moment before swallowing and addressing Roberto.
Jake: Yes, well...Kat can be quite stubborn at times...
Roberto: And quite persuasive too, I've noticed.
Roberto takes a moment to enjoy his wine as both men silently acknowledged that Kathy was as much a reason for his taking up arms against the Age Of X as Roberto was. She pushed him to go on when he could not or did not want to, just as he had not wanted to come out here today to meet with Verona.
As Jake leaned back and took another mouthful of wine, he decided that it had been worth it to hear Roberto out for the quality of the grape he was tasting alone.
Kathy appears with Hannah and the ladies are saddled with shopping bags, Kathy approaches her husband and he cranes his neck as he leans down and the two share a quick kiss.
Kathy: How are you boys doing out here? Still a blossoming bromance between you?
Kathy smiles.
Jake: Sempre e per sempre...
Roberto looks surprised, Hannah laughs and Kathy looks confused. She turns to Hannah.
Kathy: What did he say?
Hannah: Always and forever...
Kathy raises an eyebrow, then smiles. It was their motto.
Kathy: I see. A few glasses of wine is all it takes then, huh?
Jake: Honey, this isn't just wine, this is the most exquisite wine in Tuscany.
Kathy: Alright then, a few glasses of fancy wine...
Roberto: At least the man has good taste.
All laugh at this, and Kathy having had her curiosity peaked over just how fine a wine it was, takes a sip from her husband's wine glass, before handing it back to him. She savours it a moment.
Kathy: Okay, I forgive you. I really mustn't drink any more. You know what red wine does to me.
Jake grins.
Jake: Yes, I do.
Hannah's curiousity is raised, Roberto tries to interject but it is too late.
Hannah: What happens?
Jake: Usually it involves her favourite pair of handcuffs and some whipped cream.
Hannah: I'm sorry I asked...
More laughter bellows around the table.
Well howdy there pardner.