IIW Arena, Manchester. Inside the ring that makes it's permanent home set up where the shows that have made this arena iconic take place. On the top turnbuckle in one corner sits Jake E Dangerously.
“I would have hoped, Curtis, that you could do a little better than going back and taking my old promos and spit them back at me like I wouldn't notice. They do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery though. Next time I suggest you try just a bit harder.”
He hops down off the turnbuckle.
“It's not that I don't appreciate the loving attention you give to following my career. You're a devoted fan and I appreciate that, but you're not going to beat me at my own game. You spent years sitting ringside in comped tickets watching your dads go back and forth all the while recognizing that when it comes to ability in this ring they both stand well below me.”
“So you sat there and you watched and you listened and you soaked up as much as you could like a little wrestling sponge and finally you have your big break. You can take your shot and follow in daddy's footsteps in this ring and in order to do you you're really going to question
MY heart? Boy you don't just have a baby face, you've got baby food for brains too.”
He walks closer to the camera and leans cross armed on the top rope.
“You question my heart after the promo I cut that lit the fire to reignite IIW a couple weeks ago? You're either dumber than you look or your outright lying about being such a student of the game, and given all the other lies you spout through your promo, I'm willing to bet it's the latter.”
“Let's start with all this having to prove something. You're right you have a
LOT to prove here. This isn't just some rinky dink back water indy where you can get in the ring and cut your teeth and learn the craft in front of two dozen people. This isn't even some other supposed big time promotion where they claim to be the top but are full of people just wrapped up in their own melodrama, but I can see how you would make that mistake based on all your family drama, you would be wrong though. This is IIW, this is
THE premier place for the sport of professional wrestling! You don't just walk in here and do whatever you like. I know you think that's how it works because your dad, the one that raised you runs the place and he lets you, but that's not how it works, not while I'm here.”
“You talk about proving you belong, about proving you put in the work, but I put in the work just to get here. You glossed over that long list of titles I've held because it's one you could never match and it's quite frankly embarrassing because it points out the utter lack of accomplishment you've had in this business that the rest of us, even your dad Jonny, had to put in just to get our foot in the door. You talk about proving you belong like it's a simple matter of want. You want to act like you just find yourself in this spot when you know the only reason you were signed to a contract is because you grew up in Osh's house.”
He straightens up, he hands gripping the top rope.
“You act like you were protected, like you were shielded from this business but it's so deeply in your blood that it couldn't be denied and you made it anyway, but you're just too dense to know what was really going on. You weren't being kept away from this business, you were being groomed to take it over. Osh had some misguided dream that you and your brother Jay would take over this company some day and carry on his legacy.”
“You want to act like you're undeniable, but you've never done anything to earn your place. You talk about your passion and your heart and your soul because you don't have anything else to go on. You act like the past doesn't matter so you can be comfortable knowing you have no past to speak of. Every other guy in this tournament earned their place through what they did in the past. What we did in other promotions earned our spot in this company, and what we've done in this company earned our shots at the World Title. The only accomplishment you've managed so far is coming out of a woman with
REALLY poor taste in men.”
“I get that you grew up thinking Osh was your dad and then one night you found out that he's not. I get that fucked you up. I couldn't possibly ever understand how much. I grew up outside of wrestling, I didn't have this circus as a childhood, I just watched it on television and I'm all the more normal for that. But man to man, seriously think about where your heart lies. You say it's in this ring, but as a person look at what these two men have done for you. Osh raised you, he changed your diapers, he made sure you wanted for nothing and got you a world class education. Jonny said not a word to you and just dropped the fact that he's your biological father on live TV to further his own feud with Osh. Jonny doesn't give a shit about you, Jonny's only ever given a shit about what he looks like on TV. Even after you were outed as Jonny's kid Osh could have kicked you to the curb and treated you like you were garbage, but the fact is you're here now. He gave you this job when you haven't earned it. He gave you a spot in the World Title tournament when you've never proved a thing. He'll never admit it, but he still loves you.”
He smirks.
“He signed you and gave you exactly what you wanted, a match against me. He loves you but it's tough love. He gave you your dream match in your IIW debut, he put you against me. He knows full well you're not going to beat me. He knows full well you don't belong in my ring, and he wants to teach you that lesson. He wants to throw you in with me so you can get a good indication of just what life in an IIW ring is like. He wants you to understand just how far from the top you really are, and most of all, he wants you in there with me just to show you what it really takes to be the heart and soul of IIW.”
“That's the real bar Curtis. You talk about heart like you even understand what that is. You want to be part of this legacy, but what you don't understand is that this is
MY legacy. Your dad Osh owns this company, your dad Jonny has a lifetime contract, but make no doubt about it, this is
MY legacy. The moments people remember most in this ring involve me. This greatness people associate with IIW is the greatness I have brought it to. Every man in this company has gotten better with me around, this company has gotten better with me in it. You talk about having heart Curtis, but I
AM heart. I am
THE heart of IIW. That's what sets me apart. Many men have held that IIW World Championship, but none of them are remembered as readily as I am. None brought it to the heights I have.”
“You see there's two kinds of champions in this business, Curtis. There's the ones that the belt elevates and there's the ones that elevate the belt. Your dad Jonny got elevated by the belt, it made his career, it's the highest he's ever climbed in his career. Now you might tell yourself that's the highest anyone can climb, and that's true, but the difference is that when I was IIW World Champion, that was the highest the title has ever gotten. I elevated that title higher than it had ever been and cemented it as
THE World Championship in all of professional wrestling.”
“And since then I've been forced to sit back and watch it's sad decline. Jonny was elevated by that belt but the company suffered with him as champion. When it came back in 2012 I was kept away from it because I already had another title and other people 'needed a chance', and the company suffered for it. In 2017 I didn't even bother because I had other things going on in life, and quite frankly what do I have to prove? And look how the company suffered. Some flavor of the week closed this place down with his forgettable title run.”
“So what's different this time? I
HAD to come back to prove that my reputation, my legacy are untarnished. I
HAD to come back to prove IIW is untarnished. For well over a decade I've been away from the IIW World title and that belt has suffered for it, this company has suffered for it. While people like you come here Curtis to make your name, a name you share with a few people here, you do so on the reputation that IIW has built in no small part thanks to me. You come here because that designation IIW World Champion looks great on your resume and promoters the world over remember what that meant. Being IIW World Champion doesn't just mean you can get booked anywhere, it means you can main event anywhere, but none of that means anything without me.”
“With people like you carrying the torch Curtis, IIW looses something. You say you have heart, but with you at the top IIW proves it's heartless. The once great and mighty IIW is nothing more than a hollow vanity project from a couple guys past their prime to promote their son. In your heart you know it's true. You want to think you have fire, but you come here to hide in a promotion you haven't earned your way into. In a tournament you don't belong in shielded by your two dads. You'll
NEVER step out of their shadows here and you know that. You're not going to step out of the family drama that swallowed your childhood and messed you up like you say it did, you're letting it engulf you entirely, you're embracing it fully. With one dad owning the company and the other working for it for life you will
NEVER be free of that drama, you will never fully prove yourself to
ANYONE and you're smart enough to know it.”
He leans in close to the camera.
“That's why you
NEED to face me Curtis. That's why you need to beat me in this ring. That's why Osh let you face me. That's why Osh
NEEDS you to face me. Legitimacy. It's a black shroud that is going to follow you your whole life. The night Jonny C revealed that he is your father on live TV he stole your legitimacy as Osh's son. Osh named you as Anthony Phoenix's replacement in the title tournament and stole your legitimacy in the Lockdown Knockout World Title Tournament, and by hiding here between your two dad's you've cast aspersions on your own legitimacy in this business, but if somehow you can knock me off then all of that goes away. If somehow you can overcome the greatest champion IIW has ever had in the middle of the ring then everything goes away.”
“If somehow you Curtis can beat me, then no one will ever care about your dads or who the real one is again. If you can somehow knock me off then no one will question if you belong in IIW. If you can defeat me then no one questions your place in the tournament. But everyone will question the legacy of IIW. Seeing that the World Title picture in IIW has devolved into some family drama where one dad promotes a match between the son he raised and that son's biological father shows that IIW is no longer the mecca of professional wrestling it once was. People will see the nepotism in promoting family drama for a TV payoff. Some sad cash grab in a long line of Osh Vaughn cash grabs that has devalued the legacy of IIW to the point that the title that once was the pinnacle of the professional wrestling world.”
“But all of that overlooks one absolute. I'm
BACK. I'm not some push over has been from the past that was a great name in the history of IIW. I'm not some great from the past, I'm
THE great. I'm the best ever inside
THIS ring. You claim to be the future Curtis, but here in IIW you have no future. With you inside this ring IIW has
NO FUTURE. It will die a slow withered death, remembered by some as the greatest promotion it used to be, but that memory will fade and get replaced by the sad joke people like you would turn IIW into.”
“But this heart still beats. This is IIW, I am the heart of IIW and as long as I still stand here that heart will keep beating, the life will flow through this building again and IIW will prove it is still
THE greatest of all time. That's not something Osh can prove, it's not something Jonny can prove, and it's sure not something you can prove. When we step into that ring Curtis it wont be about what you can prove. You'll get a nice little lesson in the difference between sitting ringside and stepping into an IIW ring. When we meet in a few short days right here in this ring it's all about me proving that IIW is
STILL the greatest wrestling promotion on the face of the earth and I am
STILL it's heart and soul.
Fade.