Post by Joe Everyman on Jul 19, 2013 20:33:11 GMT
Closing time
Open all the doors and let you out into the world
Closing time
Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl
Closing time
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer
Closing time
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here
Open all the doors and let you out into the world
Closing time
Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl
Closing time
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer
Closing time
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here
I have worked for seven years now, trying to get to where I am now. Seven long years. And throughout those seven years, I have had my fair share of big shots. I've competed for a World Championship three times in the past. And all three times, I failed to win. All three times, I failed to succeed. All three times... I failed to close.
That has always been my problem in this industry. I have failed to close, I have failed to seal the deal. I can start off strong, I can work strong, but in the end, I can never finish it out. I fear that this Sunday will continue to follow this pathway. I have no reason to believe the contrary. I have never been able to be the best. I've been second best countless times, but I have never been the absolute best. Despite everybody saying that I can do it. Despite everybody saying that I should be at the top. I just can never do it. Will this time be different? Maybe. I can't say no, and I can't say yes. Maybe is the best you can get for now. Because, for me now, it comes down to one simple truth. Either I win, validate my entire career and finally become the top guy in a company, and even perhaps the world... or I lose, fail again, and watch as my career spirals out of control again, and I become the laughing stock of this company too. There will be no middle ground. There will be no second chances. It is live or die time. And now... I need to either get busy living... or get busy dying.
The scene slowly opens up into the Joe Everyman household, inside of the kitchen. An empty bottle of Jack Daniels lay on it's side with the cap off. The camera slowly swings around to see a clock that reads one twenty eight in the morning. The camera continues to pan into the darkened living room where Joe is sitting on the couch, glass in his hand, remote in the other. On the television is a Lex Sense match from before IWF. On the coffee table in front of him sits three DVD boxes. They are labeled Cable, Lex and Laszlo. Joe seems very focused on the television, watching his possible opponent work. After a few moments, the lights turn on and Melanie walks down the stairs into the living room.
Melanie Brooks: Joe? Why are you still up?
Joe Everyman: I'm studying my opponents. Could you not sleep?
Melanie Brooks: Not really, no.
Melanie walks over to the couch at a slow pace. She sits down about a foot from Joe, to get him some space.
Joe Everyman: Why couldn't you sleep?
Melanie Brooks: Well... I've been worried about you. And the babies are suppose to be here, well... anytime, really.
Joe Everyman: They'll come when they come, you can't rush something like that.
Melanie continues to look at Joe, who has made no attempt to stop the match he is watching.
Melanie Brooks: Joe... do you think you could stop that so we can talk?
Joe Everyman: What do you want to talk about?
Melanie looks down at the remote and begins reaching for it. Before she can get to it, Joe moves it away from her and pauses the video himself. He then sets it down along with his drink.
Joe Everyman: What is it?
Melanie Brooks: It's, um... the babies are going to be here soon, and I don't think I'm going to be able to manage taking care of three kids. I've never done that before, and I'm going to need some help. Do you think you could take some tim-
Joe slowly turns his head towards Melanie, which causes her words to fade to silence.
Joe Everyman: You... want me to take time off?
Melanie Brooks: Well...
Joe Everyman: Do you have any idea what is happening this Sunday?
Melanie Brooks: I...
Joe Everyman: Well do you?!
Melanie just nods, looking down at the couch, away from Joe's eyes.
Joe Everyman: Do you have any idea how long I've been working for this? How hard I've been working for this?
Melanie manages to nod again.
Joe Everyman: Then you've got to realize how important this is to me. I have the chance of a life time right now. I managed to get into this opportunity, and if I fuck it up in ANY way, that's it for me! Do you not care?
Melanie Brooks: I-it's not that I don't care... it's just... there's more importa-
Joe Everyman: More important things?! This is my life, Melanie! This is what I've been fighting my ENTIRE LIFE for! This is easily the most important thing happening to me right now. I have to win that damn championship.
Melanie Brooks: ...why to you have to win it?
Joe tilts his head a little before focusing his eyes in on Melanie.
Joe Everyman: I have to spell it out for you again?! I've been working at this a lot longer than anything else in my life. I've been working at it longer than Aurora has been born. I've been working at it longer than I've been with you. I've been working at it longer than my last marriage lasted. I HAVE to win this! Do you not see that?!
Melanie Brooks: Joe... please calm down. I know it's the alcohol talking, but it's-
Joe Everyman: Oh, so we're onto this again? Is that it? More about my drinking?
Melanie Brooks: I'm... sorry.
Joe Everyman: You should be! You don't realize how obsessive I am about this! I've been so damn close, so many damn times! I have to do it this time. If I don't, I won't get a second chance.
Melanie Brooks: That's... just silly. If you work hard enough, you can get a second chance.
Joe Everyman: Not this time. It's do or die for me, and I have to do it now. Don't you see that? If I don't win it... where could my career possibly go?
Melanie Brooks: Joe, you can rebound. That's what you're known for. It shows you have fortitude. And so what if you don't win? You can...
Melanie sees the look on Joe's face intensify as soon as she said it.
Joe Everyman: ...so what if I don't win? SO WHAT IF I DON'T WIN?!
Melanie Brooks: Joe, please keep it down...
Joe Everyman: You were the one that said you wanted me to win. You said that I HAD to win! You've been praying and wishing for me to win! You can clearly see how important this is to me, and yet, you're acting stupid every single time I bring it up!
Joe stops speaking, calming himself down for a moment. His breathing is heavy as Melanie looks scared. She inches herself back from the still steaming Joe as she holds her stomach.
Joe Everyman: You know what... I don't need this right now.
Joe stands up and grabs his car keys off of the coffee table and walks towards the door.
Melanie Brooks: J-Joe... where are you going? It's the middle of the night...
Joe Everyman: There has to be a bar open this late.
Melanie Brooks: Joe... please don't go.
Joe Everyman: I can't deal with this right now. I need to go clear my head.
Joe opens the door and stands there for a moment, looking out into the street.
Melanie Brooks: I love you, Joe. Please don't go.
Joe, without hesitation, closes the door behind him. Melanie looks on as her eyes start to fill with tears. She manages to stand up, where she quickly grabs her stomach in pain. She looks down with a panicked look on her face. The floor below her is suddenly wet. Her water had just broken.
Melanie Brooks: ...perfect.
Melanie frantically walks into the kitchen, panicked from everything going on. The scene then slowly fades to black.
I cannot possibly stress enough how important this match is to me. I know that everybody this week is going to say the same thing, but none of them compare to what I have been doing. Some of them were cast into the spotlight immediately. Some had to work their ass off since IWF's first show. And some have lost their minds working towards this. I somehow fit into all three of these categories. I was thrown into a championship chase immediately. I have had to work my ass off since I first stepped into IWF. And I've gone a little mental at times too. But, if you aren't willing to sacrifice everything you have for the championship, then you don't deserve to hold it. I've worked every single day, every single week, every single year, trying to complete my goal. And now... it's so close.
Winning the Imperial Championship validates my career. It quiets the critics for the rest of my career. And finally, I can put those dark times to rest. All of the times I failed. All of the times I tried, and lost. All of the times where I was second best. And finally... I can be happy again.
Last week, I finally won my first match in IWF, and while I was pleased with it, I could not be fully happy with it. I've done so many things in my career and in my life, and absolutely nothing can compare to holding a World Championship. A win against my biggest rival couldn't do it. Winning any other championship a thousand times wouldn't do it. Not even the birth of twin boys and marrying the love of my life can do it for me anymore. The Imperial Championship is all that matters to me right now.
Until I capture it, until I can finally call myself a World Champion... nothing else will matter. I have to win. For my career's sake, for my mind's sake, for my family's sake and for my own sake... I have to win. I know that I am still fighting for my family and their well being. I know that I am still fighting for all of my fans. And I know that I am still fighting to make sure that my fiance and my children have food on the table and a roof over their head... so they never have to be afraid, never have to be alone, never have to be worried what will happen the next day. But sometimes... I have to fight for myself. Sometimes, I have to fight for something that I believe in.
No matter the cost.
I'm going up against three of the best wrestlers I can think of. Three of the shining examples of what this company stands for. And before, before IWF, most people would have said I don't belong in a list of names like that. But now... things are different. Not only do I belong in that last of names... my list is at the top. You can dispute it all you want, but I will prove it time and time again this Sunday. It doesn't matter who I have to face in the finals. I am a man on fire, with all of the momentum in the world. And if ANY of you have followed my career for more than a second, you will have seen how deadly I am in these situations. I have toppled giants because they thought I was nothing more than an ant.
That's all they ever have seen me as. The smallest fish in the pond, just hiding, trying to not get eaten by the biggest and baddest. But now, the roles have been reversed. The truth is, I am at the top of my game, and NOTHING can stop me! Do you hear me? NOTHING CAN BEAT ME THIS TIME!
I have been working too fucking hard and too fucking long to be let down now! I have the skills, I have the determination, and I have something the three of you are lacking... a heart.
Cable, you have been where I am. You've lost yourself in the madness and done some horrible things in the past. And now, you're trying to make amends and become a good person again. Will it be enough, though? I know what it's like to lose one's mind and make a mistake more than the three of you combined. And Cable, you can talk your big game all you want, but in the end, you will be proven to be a liar. You lie about your ability to come back. You lie about your standing in this company. But... there is one thing you do not lie about.
You say you will show no mercy. Good. That's what I want from you. I don't want a half-assed Cable Arcane. I want the one who I thought could be a World Champion before. I want one that has the skills and tools to be great. I want all of these things, because I will show you that even at your absolute best... you are nothing compared to me. Even with that World Champion mentality... you will NOT be able to beat me!
Neither Lex or Mike will be able to beat me either. I know that I will have to beat either one of them, and I'm not afraid of either one. I know how badly they want to be the first Imperial Champion too, but they lack conviction. They lack it where it matters the most. Neither one of them have the heart that I do. And Laszlo, no offense to you, but I hope Lex kicks your ass. I hope he drops you like a bad habit... because I need to beat Lex in the finals. I have to face him and finally put him to rest. Lex... I will end your reign of terror, once and for all. I don't doubt that for a second.
I need this championship more than anything in the world. And Cable, there is nothing I doubt in this world. I do not doubt the love I have for my children and for my fiance. I do not doubt my career. I do not doubt my life. And I do not doubt for a second that I can win the Imperial Championship. Do you, Cable? Do you doubt yourself, even for a moment? Because the small little crack of doubt will ruin you. One opening is all I need. One opening is all I ever needed. In the end, when that bell has rung, you will be doubting if you can ever be this good again, as you watch the referee raise my hand high into the sky.
You may respect me, Cable. And you may even believe in me. But, this is a battle to the end, and their are no friends here. There are no allies. There is only me, and that is all. I do not care about respect this week. And I do not care if you, Lex or Mike believe in me. Because I believe in me. I've always believed in me, and that's all I'll ever need.
I've fought along side friends and foe alike, and the both of them always have one thing in common. They will bury you to get even an inch ahead of you. That is a truth for all of us, including myself. I don't care if you respect me, or if you believe in me. Because after our match, and after I win the Imperial Championship, EVERYBODY will respect me, and EVERYBODY will believe in me. Laszlo, Sense and you included, Cable, will all finally have to respect my career. I will stand tall, finally holding the World Championship that has eluded me for so long. I need it... because without it, I am nothing.
I will finally win that title. I will finally be able to validate myself. And finally... after seven long years... I will have proven to myself that I can close. You three may be some of the best, but I will always be better than you. If you doubt me, even for a second, you will fail. This Sunday, my lineage will begin. The Joe Everyman era will begin, and I will be cast into immortality. This Sunday... I become the Imperial Champion. And I will finally be... home.
Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
Closing time
This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
Closing time
This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end