The camera opens with the face of an SCW superstar long forgotten, the face of Tony Thorn. Indeed still an SCW superstar, he had not been seen on SCW Television for a while. Tony sits cross legged on a single armchair in his Lima, Ohio home, looking through black rimmed glasses at a thick book, his mind lost in whatever he happens to be reading.
Narrator: It has indeed been a long time since your eyes happened to see this young man, and a while since you've heard my voice, but I feel a little explanation is warranted for the slight disappearance of Mr Thorn. He had started his SCW career incredibly well, picking up victories over now SCW Roulette champion Ty West, cumulating in an odd friendship with one of Ty West's very own friends, Effie Bingham, and followed that up with an impressive victory over long term SCW Superstar Casey Williams. People saw Tony as a possible star of the future, spending two years honing his craft before even stepping through the ropes, so why would a man with great promise up and disappear from the cameras, spending more time back in Lima?
Tony flips the page on the book, his eyes concentrating on the words.
Narrator: Tony saw SCW as a way to spread his message of truth far and wide, yet had fallen slightly short of that goal. There was something different, something magical about the wrestling business, something he didn't expect, the countless little groups that formed as wrestlers waited to make their grand entrance. Tony was fully aware of the way humans interacted but this was different, this lead to him standing back and observing more than he anticipated. He found himself more caught up in these "packs" of people than wrestling.
Tony flips the page again, looking at more of the small printed words.
Narrator: A conclusion was made that some of these wrestlers really were the most vile human beings on the planet. An appointment was made to meet Mr. Ward and Mr. Underwood, and an agreement was made to allow him to step away, work further on his craft, to learn to be accepting of people who did not deserve his respect, in exchange for remaining part of the SCW roster, to be called upon any time in his remaining contract time. The call hasn't come for a while, yet he didn't complain, there was plenty of things he could learn, things to explore that he hadn't before... Well, until Sunday past.
Tony's eyes continue to scan the page, the outside world very much blocked from his thoughts, yet a call from the kitchen from his mother forces his eyes from the page.
Victoria: About fucking time!
Her loud and gruff voice causes Tony to divert his head in the direction of the sound. He lowers the book on to his lap and lowers his glasses.
Tony: Is everything ok mother?
His eyebrows lower as he waits for a response but his redheaded mother moves in to the room, a look of excitement on her face.
Victoria: I've just seen the latest SCW card and finally someone has come to their fucking senses in that office.
He takes off his glasses completely, looking towards his mother with a quizzical look.
Tony: Oh?
Victoria moves towards Tony, placing her hand on his shoulder and looking down at him.
Victoria: Finally, they're putting my baby boy back on television again, where he belongs, where he can make people listen to the truth about their shitty lives and learn.
Tony remains silent, not a word moving from his lips.
Narrator: This was a tough one for Tony to take as the memories of the backstage jungle ran through his mind. He has heard about the merger with Honor wrestling, he had kept up with Sin City Wrestling through his absence, he'd even heard of a more relaxed atmosphere backstage he'd also heard that the ratings are at a high, due to fans of both SCW and Honor keeping their eyes on their favourite superstars. The bigger audience meant more chance of fans listening to his words.
Victoria: What's wrong? Don't you want to go back cause I can call those bosses and tell them to shove their contract and that booking up their asses!
Again, Tony remains silent, just letting the thoughts drift though his mind.
Narrator: He wanted people to hear what he had to say, he wanted them to know their lives and all they believed in was a pack of lies.
Tony: When, where and against who mother?
His eyes meet hers, yet a coldness remained on his face, emotionless, stone like coldness.
Victoria: Next Sunday in Lake Tahoe, Nevada in some outdoor arena, against Joshua Acquin.
Narrator: Joshua Acquin was a name he was familiar with. On his arrival in SCW, Tony had studied each and every potential opponent, as well as every bombshell on the roster, every member of staff on air and off air. It was in his nature to learn all he could about everyone.
Tony: Joshua Acquin, Sin City's apparent nightmare.
Tony runs his hands through his long dark hair and closes his cold eyes, taking a deep breath to clear his mind of any other thought. He opens his eyes and looks towards his mother, awaiting his answer.
Tony: It seems we are heading to Lake Tahoe. Indeed an interesting place to hold a wrestling show in December, when the temperature is low with a much larger chance of rain, but I presume these people know what they're doing.
Tony rises to his feet, looking around the room.
Tony: I must prepare for this, although I do not view Mr. Acquin as much of a challenge, I must be mentally ready.
Tony moves past his mother reassuringly places a hand on his shoulder and moves down the hallway of the one levelled small house, moving towards the right and opens a door. He walks in and looks around his bedroom, the wall covered with charts with facts and theories plastered all over them. in the room at the end of the bed is a whiteboard, nothing written on it. Tony moves towards it and picks up a pen, writing the name "Joshua Acquin" on the top before writing "Age: 36, hometown: Las Vegas, Style: Technical, SCW Debut: 2013, Achievements: Two time tag team champion."
Narrator: This was not an uncommon thing. He had done the same thing to prepare for Ty West and Casey Williams, it was a way of refreshing the memory a little.
Tony turns, sitting on the bed and looking at the whiteboard, letting his eyes run over each and every word, letting it burn in to his mind. He closes his eyes slightly, narrowing them to look at the board, a well known technique to focus more closely.
Tony: Hmm. Five years in Sin City Wrestling, just two championships to his name and time not on his side. I understand he is SCW for life and very much gets involved in many things for the company he loves, but this is not exactly a success story.
The left side of Tony's lip curls upwards, his eyes still dead.
Narrator: Tony knew he had a way in, a way to make people listen and connecting everything to Joshua Acquin. He had found a weakness he could expose, he knew what he could tell the world, he knew just what to preach. He knew exactly how to use him as an example and a lesson to all about one thing.... Failure.
Tony closes his eyes and the camera offers the effect that eyes were being closed, quickly followed by the effect of eyes reopening, but the scene has completely changed. Just a blinking monitor, an old school monitor that you would find backstage at wrestling shows in the early 2000s, before big screen televisions became the in thing backstage at shows. The monitor just shows a picture of Joshua Acquin sitting on the canvas of a wrestling ring, his body covered in sweat after another battle. Across the table sits Tony Thorn, his left hand on the table and his small switch blade in his right hand, bouncing the point of the blade downwards and bouncing it on the table between his thumb and fingers, moving it at a slow, purposeful rhythm.
Tony: One miscalculation, one thing slight askew, one thing just wrong and your game of five finger fillet becomes a disaster, a failure. You must have made many miscalculations in your career Joshua because that is the word people associate with you, that is the word that springs to the mind of the many when you happen to pass their minds. You are just one in a long line of failures in sport Joshua.
Tony tilts his head, still looking at his hand, lifting the blade up and slamming it down again between a different finger.
Tony: You're up there with some greats Joshua, you're there with golfer Greg Norman. In 1996, he was six strokes ahead of his opponent, halfway through and yet, he somehow managed to lose by five strokes. He choked Joshua.
Tony lifts the blade again and slams it between a different finger with a thump.
Tony: He wasn't the only golfer to make mistakes. Jean Van de Velde was set to pull off one of the biggest upsets in history in 1999, he was going in to the last hole with a three shot lead, but he made some very poor choices and he too threw away certain victory. He choked Joshua.
Tony pulls the knife out of the table and looks at the blade, holding it sideways to see the entire thing.
Tony: How about the 1986 Boston Red Sox? Leading five three in the tenth inning, allowing their fans to dream of a world series, only to fail to bring it home. They choked Joshua, they all choked.
He pulls the knife over his hand, just letting it hover above his pale flesh.
Tony: Let's skip to boxing Joshua, let me take you back to 1980, a fight that became a classic, a fight that had people salivating at the mere thought that it could happen, that got the heart racing, the rematch of Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard. These two men were warriors, they were everything a fighter would look up to, until round eight when an uppercut of incredible proportions connected with the jaw of Duran, leaving him hurt. He never fell, he turned around and walked to his corner, he didn't want to fight anymore, his heart had gone, his mettle had gone, he had failed, his heart choked for him Joshua.
Tony slams the knife down between his fingers again, not even looking at his hand.
Tony: How's your tennis knowledge Joshua?
Tony looks down at the knife sticking out of the table.
Tony: 1993, Wimbledon, Jana Navotna was five points, five lousy stinking points away from, four one up in the last set, forty thirty up. Just those five points from winning the biggest tennis tournament in the world, yet ten minutes later, she had thrown it away like yesterday's newspaper. She was not a champion Joshua, she had embarrassed herself, she failed miserable, she had choked.
Tony tilts his head towards the monitor for the first time, looking at it sideways on.
Tony: Do you see where I'm going with this?
He quickly reaches out for the monitor, aggressively pulling it towards him, his voice getting angrier.
Tony: DO YOU SEE IT JOSHUA? AN IDIOT CAN SEE IT!
Tony puts the monitor gently back on the table, the anger rushing away from his body as he starts to stroke the top of the monitor with his free hand, his voice growing softer.
Tony: I see it, the world sees it, but I will explain to you. These sporting failures are you Joshua, but the very important difference is you never learn from those mistakes you make, you repeat them over and over again. You think something is gonna change in your head, you think that you can do what you always do and somehow, everything changes. That is a mistake, that is where you are going wrong Joshua. If you don't evolve, you will get left behind, you will continue to fail repeatedly. If you don't change, you will forever lose match after match after match and you'd have no one left to blame but yourself. You are your biggest mistake, you are your biggest reasons for failure.
Tony taps the monitor, taping the still image of Joshua on the head.
Tony: You.
He stops tapping his finger and holds it there on the screen.
Tony: I can change that Acquin, I will change that by beating some common sense in to you, I will do that by physically implanting my message in to your head. You can be saved, you can be redeemed, you can be helped. This beating will show you that you can change, that you can be the man that you always thought you could be.
He moves his hand away from the screen but moves his face closer, a slight smile crossing his face yet his eyes remain cold.
Tony: No one has to stay a failure forever, they just need to open their eyes and see the world for what it is, they need to listen to the advice of their betters and I am your better in every single way you could imagine. No matter what, I am your better and on Sunday, you will see that, you will feel that every time my fist makes contact with your body, you will feel it with every boot that makes contact with your flesh. I will make you see that failure can be stopped and you will feel it within every fibre of your body, you will know that there is no other choice but to change your ways before you become known as the man who just couldn't become somebody. You are no one and you've been here for years and yet two championship belts to your name in all that time.
He waves his finger in the space between his face and the screen.
Tony: It is the definition of failure, of a wasted career that you have brought on yourself. It will not change on Sunday because once more, you will fail, but you will leave this match a thousand times more educated than you are now, a thousand times wiser than you thought you could ever turn out to be. Even in defeat, you will be given a very valuable lesson and you will be able to stop the rot.
Tony places his hands either side of the monitor, looking at it with no emotion.
Tony: Heed this warning Joshua, listen to it over and over again until it's all you can think about because it is the best warning you will ever get. Change or forever be a mouth breathing loser with no hope of any kind of success in the future. Until Sunday Joshua, Until Sunday.
Tony lifts the monitor and throws it across the room, causing the room to go completely black before the camera fades out.
