Post by Smith Jones on Mar 19, 2020 9:44:08 GMT -5
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~ ON CAMERA ~
“You people think this is so damned easy.”
Your screen remains dark as you hear the voice of the incredible Smith Jones.
“If it’s so easy, then WHY ARE YOU NOT ABLE TO DO IT!?!!?”
“That’s right. Lean into it, Smitty.”
Fade up on a shot of a two-foot tall silver statue of The Thinker on a pedestal in a dark room.
“I’m tired of being so understanding. I’m tired of watching you flail around and try to do something SO DAMNED SIMPLE. What the hell is wrong with you???!?”
The camera zooms out to reveal that Smith Jones is sitting on a tall stool, sitting in the same pose as the statue before him. He is dressed only in his white trunks, white kneepads, and white patent leather boots, accented at the wrists by white tape. Frozen in a Thinker pose, Smitty stares at the statue as the statue looks away. As the camera zooms out even further, we see that there are mirrors arranged in a dome around Smith and The Thinker. They are about two by three foot rectangles spaced out by about a foot and a half with a black background peeking in from behind them. It’s like he’s inside a giant mirrorball. Draped across Smith’s shoulders is the Alpha World Championship. The camera begins to move slowly around the scene. The voice of Smith’s reflection echoes loudly throughout the room every time he speaks; Smith himself speaks barely above a whisper with the occasional growl.
“You’re the champ. Don’t let them forget that.”
“I am your champion.”
“Nice.”
“That didn’t happen overnight. I didn’t just show up here a couple of months ago and spew a bunch of my thoughts and suddenly be handed the Alpha World Championship on a silver platter.”
“You stupid fucking people!!!”
“How many times have I begged you all to watch me? It is not because I need any of your approval. I already know HOW HOT I AM. I don’t need you to pump up my ego. I am begging you to watch me because YOU NEED ME! You need to see that what I am doing here is more than just the normal self-serving, self aggrandizing bullshit you’re used to seeing from people who only want to get to the top to SHOW OFF.
Get the point!”
“Fucking learn!!!”
“Learn from my shining, sparkling example!!
I do it every day. With the exception of my brief retirement and a couple of stumbles along the way, I’ve spent the majority of the past decade becoming one of the greatest commodities in all of professional wrestling and I am right here in Alpha Pro Wrestling because this is a place that since day one has been a place where pro wrestling lives. I’ve seen this game from every angle and I’ve tried, and sometimes failed, to get to the very top. This has not been an easy road for me.
I came from a broken home with a father who beat me regularly and a mother too timid and shy and scared to get the...”
“...get the FUCK UP...”
“...and do something about it until that day...”
“...my thirteenth birthday...”
“When she SNAPPED and stabbed him twenty-nine times right in front of me and they hauled her murdering ass off to jail. And I adapted to my new life. I did it in silence inside my head. After my whole world fell apart for the first time, I pursed my lips and I did what I had to do to survive life. And then I learned how to keep up. And then I learned how to THRIVE. That blood on my birthday cake has given me the strength to get as far away from that life as I possibly could! And now that I’ve finally arrived, you people have the unfettered audacity to call my integrity into question?!!??!”
Smith slaps both of his hands hard onto his face, leaving them there while he sobs for a microsecond. He then exhales a long, low growl.
“Odin Balfore. You need to win this Tag Tourney. Who would you be after all these years if you didn’t have it in you to win this thing, Ode? You once told me that if you wanted to take my World Title, it was... ‘only a matter of wanting’. Eh?”
He chuckles hard to himself and drops his hands from his face, revealing a huge grin. He then flips instantly to rageful.
“Maybe you believed those words when you originally spoke them. I’m sure you did. But, come now. You’ve poked your head into our locker room door long enough to know that you can’t take The World Title from me. You don’t have that in you anymore. That’s why a hard working professional like Damon Warrens is the Number One Contender. NOT you.
Don’t get me wrong, Odie. There was a time when I felt like I was beneath you. Like what I wanted and what I could become were two different things. I was jealous of how magnificent you were. I started to accept that I would never be as great as you. I would never be in a position to hoist this...”
He grabs one end of the belt and slides it off his back. Smith admires the details of the faceplate as he ponders past opponents for a moment. He then raises the title high above his head.
“Badass.”
“...to hoist this great, lofty championship high into the heavens above. I never dreamed that I would be the one to LORD this gorgeous gold belt over Lord Balfore. Yet, here… I… am.
I’m right here doing what I never dreamed I could actually do. And I didn’t get here by whining and complaining that someone above me with TRUE SKILL was walking around calling himself ‘champ’. I didn’t cry and bitch and moan about my champion being entitled by merit of some imaginary fellowship or backroom agreement.”
Smith rests the title belt over his knee.
“Such bullshit. They should be watching.”
“Odin has been watching. He knows how scary the prospect of standing across the ring from the incredible Smith Jones really is. Eh? So, now you are facing the man you said you could beat whenever you want to. That brings a sinister smile to my lips, Odie, cause this is the part right here where I get to take what’s left of you and flush you out of APW for good. This loss is going to kill what’s left of your ability to even show your face in a wrestling based environment ever again.
I am going to crush you.
I am sick and tired of hearing the whispers all over the locker room about the inauthenticity of The Architects. Like we were crafted in some boardroom somewhere and pushed to the top of the card. Let me tell you something. All of you! The Architects have put in every ounce of the work required to get us to where we are. I reached out to Damon and I reached out to Lex and I asked them to come here to Alpha Pro Wrestling because APW not only has amazing talent already, but has the potential to grow to be far and away the BEST place in the entire world to do what we do best. And Lex signed his contract. And Damon signed his contract. And they began to do here in APW what they’ve been doing for years all over the world. They worked harder than everyone else around them and they started to stack the required wins to put The Architects into a position to stand tall and proud and be known as the men to beat in this company!!!”
The camera moves in very close to Jones as he stares at his reflection on the lens.
“If you don’t like it...”
“...motherfuckers...”
“...beat us. Beat us, Enforcers. Beat us, Richards. You think alcoholism is hard? You wanna do something truly legendary? Knock off The Architects; knock off The New Era. Prove that The Enforcers are wrestling. Let’s end the mass confusion right here, right now. Let’s make it clear to everyone that is really watching which team is better suited to move on to the final and eventually go on to become the next APW World Tag Team Champions.
I’m in a mood these days, Richards. A mood that makes me want to go above and beyond towards destroying you and Balfore. Or should I say beneath and below. I wanna crawl into the gutter and get dark. I want to stop stifling my inner demons and dig deep into your flesh to rip out every sinewy strand of your soul and sell it on VarageSale. I want your blood on my hands and I am willing to go out of my way to spill it. You are the example for those stupid enough to have been missing it all this time. The Architects are the future of this business. And when Warrens and I win The World Tag Team Titles and I continue to carry the Alpha World Championship, I will be able to prove myself worthy of gold against an even wider array of challengers on an even more regular basis. I can crush dreams at a faster rate. I can put an end to even more bullshit by merit of my undeniable skill. I am what happens when you take all of the available anger and frustration and funnel it creatively! This World Title is what happens when you dig down deep for something real, you put it out there, and you push it all the way to the Point of Controversy.
When Warrens and I show up to that ring this Monday Night Metal inside the Giant Center in Hershey, PA, we are going to do what we always do. We are going to win. Richards is going to find himself in over his head as he watches Balfore get thrown into a bottomless pit of obscurity following his string of losses to Walter and Venable and The Architects of a New Era.
On the very same night, Lex Collins is going to incinerate Aaron Blaze and IF YOU WATCH, you just might learn a thing or two about how to bring true authenticity to your empty claims of grandeur.”
Smith gets up from the stool and walks right up to the camera. He glares at you with that signature stone scowl for a second before he picks up the silver statue and hurls it through one of the mirrors. The frame takes damage as a few more of the mirrors come crashing down around Smitty. We weather the storm and survives long enough to say just a few more words.
“Let’s make it a thing from now on that if you have a problem with Lex Collins or Damon Warrens or Smith Jones, don’t skulk off and write dirty limericks about us on the bathroom walls. Get the match booked by any means necessary and take... us... down. Because, I promise you there is no other way to make me give a flying fuck what you think of me.
Hate me?
Love me?”
Fade to black.
“I’m STILL right here.”
After a slight pause.
“I love you, Smith.”
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~ OFF CAMERA ~
Smith’s fiancée Siobhan McLeod walks into frame and gives him a long, passionate kiss. Her long fiery red hair falls in perfect ringlets. Her short and sexy simple white dress accents her frame nicely.
“I love you too, sweetheart. We’ve got a wedding to plan.”
“April 4th.”
“That’s our day.”
They walk into the darkness together.
