[Nick Jones]

 Click here to see the first part of this story, from the NeWA Lord of the Ring RP "A Case of Writer's Block?"

The scene opens up about 30 minutes after the conclusion of Nick Jones' interview at SCW Headquarters, showing the outside of an office building which may be familiar to some as the office for the publishers to Nick's upcoming book.  A few seconds later, a car can be seen flying into the parking lot and go screeching to a halt into one, or in reality multiple, of the empty parking spaces, in a not particularly straight or correct manner.  The door of the car flies open and Nick Jones immediately comes jumping out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him and sprinting for the front door of the office building.  Nick gets to the door and runs right inside, before him setting up a security desk when a set of electronic turnstiles setup next to it, blocking the path forward.  Seeing Nick running into the building and heading that way, the guard behind the desk is quick to call after Nick.

Security Guard:  Sir, if you don't have a security pass you need to check in here.

Nick:  Yeah, yeah.

Nick clearly has no interest in listening to the guards instruction, instead continues to sprint straight towards the gates and in one fluid motion, leaps right over one of the electronic turnstiles.  The security guard cannot believe what he just saw, and immediately screams after Nick as he sprints around the desk to go after him.

Security Guard:  Sir, get back here right now!!

Nick heads straight over to the set of elevators and hits the button, waiting for a moment for one to arrive.  However, before an elevator comes, Nick sees the security guard quickly closing in, and so Nick opts to no longer wait for the elevator, instead running straight to a nearby door to the staircase.  Nick quickly opens it up and goes sprinting up the steps, followed a few seconds behind by the security guard as both men disappear out of the camera's sight.

The scene cuts to a few floors up inside of the same office building, to a conference room surrounded on all sides by glass, allowing for a view of the surroundings on the entire floor.  Inside of the room is some familiar faces, most recognizable being Jimmy Mason, Nick's agent, who seems to have a very displeased expression on his face.  Along with him are a number of the publishing company's employees, including the familiar faces of top publishing executive Stephen Frisman, another executive only previously introduced as Bill and one of their top young employees in marketing, George, all of who were a part of previous meetings.  Along with them are a few other of their co-workers not previously seen before, both men and women.  The entire group sits around, quite clearly in a state of waiting.

Jimmy:  I really am sorry.  Nicky should be here any minute know, I promise you.

Bill:  Yeah, that's great.  Listen, I've got other real work to attend to, so I'm giving this kid another two minutes and I'm out of here.

Frisman:  Cut it out, Bill.  We all know you clearly don't like Nick, but get over it already.  This is important business, I think you can handle waiting a little bit longer to make sure this all gets taken properly care of.  Sorry if that it cuts into your time you wanted to spend posting on your favorite football message board, but I'm sure you'll live.

Bill scowls over at Stephen, but dares not to say a word, as it's been clearly established that Stephen is the higher level executive of the two.  After a few more seconds of silence, with much of the room diverting their attention to their cell phones, it can be seen in the background through the glass windows that further down the hall from the conference room, a door flies open to the stairwell and Nick Jones comes running out from it.  Nick immediately runs away from the door and makes a quick turn down a nearby hallway, stopping just around the corner and pushing himself back against the wall, just out of view.  A moment later, the security guard from earlier is seen running out from the same stairwell and just as comes out into the hallway, runs right up to the intersecting hallway where Nick is hiding, at which point Nick leaps out and levels the guy with a stiff clothesline.  Nick then grabs the up off the floor, pulls him back over to the stairs and heaves him down into the stairwell.  Nick then slams the door shut and turns back around, fixing his suit jacket and tie before heading right over to the conference room.  Nick then opens up the door and walks straight inside.

Nick:  Sorry I'm late everyone.

Jimmy is the first one to his feet, as he quickly hops up upon seeing his client.

Jimmy:  Nicky, baby, wher eyou been?

Nick:  I got caught in traffic... or something like that.  

Nick then turns his attention towards the conference table and first looks to the two men he recognizes from prior meetings.

Nick:  Stevie, Willy... good to see you.

Bill:  It's Bill, actually.

Nick:  Yeah, but your reaction to me calling you Willy is far more amusing.

Nick has a big grin on his face, but gets only a scowl in response from Jimmy, who is clearly displeased by the lack of professionalism from his client.  Upon seeing it, Nick quickly wipes the smile away from his face and gets more serious as the group around the table all get up to shake hands with Nick.  Nick starts off with Steve and Bill before looking to the rest of the group.

Nick:  Nice to meet the rest of you.

George:  Actually, we have met before, at your last meeting, Mr. Jones.

Nick:  If you say so, kid.

Nick continues on to shake the hands of the rest of the unknown publishing employees before plopping down in one of the seats located at the head of the table; this one on the opposite head from where Steve Frisman is seated and moments earlier, was where Bill was sitting before he got up to shake Nick's hand.  Bill looks down at Nick rather angrily, but before he can say or do anything, Steve looks over at him with a quite serious glare at motions Bill over towards the empty seat near the middle of the table.  Billy begrudgingly obliges as he moves his way down the table and plops in that seat before crossing his arms across his chest.  He then looks over to Nick, who is wearing a huge grin across his face as he looks directly at Bill, making it very apparent that Nick knew exactly what it was he was doing.  That seems to make Bill only more annoyed, but before anything can come of it, Steve is quick to kick off the meeting.

Frisman:  Now I know this is a big meeting for us, but in order not to complicate things too much, I'll really do most of the talking.  The rest of this group is really here to make sure I don't get anything wrong about our overall evaluations and to kind of take notes on where we're going from here and how we'll impact them.  Now everyone in here has read through everything you've given us, and we actually all spent this morning before your arrival discussing our thoughts, so I should be able to give you a pretty solid and condensed idea of what we're all thinking.

Jimmy:  Sounds good.  Let's get this rolling, baby.

Bill:  Don't call him baby, pal.

Nick:  Then don't call him pal, Willy.

Nick and Bill are back to glaring at one another as Steve is quick to raise his voice to talk over the crowd and divert everyone's attention back to himself.

Frisman:  ANYWAY... before we get started with our thoughts, was there anything you wanted to say, Nick?

Nick:  Let me just say, I know there's still some work to be done.  I can admit that not all of it is exactly A-plus work, especially some of the later stuff.

Bill can be heard scoffing at Nick's last comment before mumbling under his breath.

Bill:  Yeah, no kidding.

Nick clearly hears the comment and quickly turns his attention towards Bill, quietly mumbling back to him.

Nick:  Well if anyone here would know anything about sucking, it's you Willy boy.

Nick then turns back towards Steve and continues on at a regular tone and volume.

Nick:  So there's still work to be done, but that's what drafts are for, right?

Frisman:  Absolutely and to be honest, I'm a little relieved to here you say that.  There's a lot of writers out there who get very upset at the concept of them needing to change or fix everything in their initial writing.  And I have to say, I was not looking forward to broaching this subject, but when we all speak, we did sort of agree with your assessment regarding the quality of the more recent work.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I think your initial stuff was great, that's why we signed you to this deal to begin with.  While not everything has been exactly on schedule, I can honestly say that all, or at least most...

Steve shoots a look of displeasure in the direction of Bill as he continues on.

Frisman:  ... of this team were thrilled with all of your past submissions.  I don't know, perhaps we just pushed things a little too far with making such a big jump between submissions from the last one to having a first completed draft ready for this week.  I'm not sure what it is; maybe you were distracted by other things you had going on or maybe you felt rushed, I really couldn't say.  To be honest, after a while it almost felt like we were reading some chapters that were written by completely different people.

Nick lets out a bit of a nervous laughter when he hears that comment from Steve.

Nick:  Oh really?  You don't say?  That sure is awfully strange.

Jimmy's eyes go wide as he turns and looks over at his client, seeming to have come to a realization of what exactly was going on regarding the scene at Nick's house just days earlier.  Nick looks over towards his agent and gives a bit of a sheepish grin before shrugging his shoulders.  Jimmy then turns his attention back over to the publishing executive, Steve Frisman.

Jimmy:  Stevie, baby, I'm not sure what you're talking about.  Nicky's just a busy man is all, you know how it is.  Some days he's out on the road writing, some days he's sitting in the quiet and comfort of his own home.  I'm sure it's just different circumstances and different stories, so it leads to a slightly different tone.

Frisman:  Listen Jimmy, we're not trying to offend you or your client here at all, but I think it's a little more than a slightly different tone.  Have you even read the complete draft that was submitted?

Jimmy:  Well... not exactly.

Frisman:  Alright, then maybe you need to do that to have a better idea of what we're talking about here.  The bottom line is, this book just needs a bit more work before it's ready to even go to our editor's, never mind any thoughts of publishing.

Jimmy:  Yeah, fine.  But why are you saying other people wrote this book for him?

Jimmy, clearly getting overly defensive given what he now knows that Nick had done, starts to catch quite the attitude.  Meanwhile, Nick's eyes start to go wide and he tries to wave Jimmy off, realizing that his agent is making things only worse.

Frisman:  Now hold on Jimmy, I think you're making a little much out of this.  I wasn't actually saying that really happened, but was just making a point out of how dramatically different some of the later parts of the book were than his early work.  Frankly, they weren't quite up to the standards that we've come to know Nick is capable of, that's all.

Steve then stops and seems to be thinking over that last exchange a bit, and gives Jimmy a rather suspicious look.

Frisman:  Wait a second, why are you so uptight about that one comment I made?  Is there something you need to tell us?

Jimmy gets even more nervous looking and starts to stammer a bit in his speech.

Jimmy:  W..wwhat?  No, no... I just, uh... just wasn't sure what you were trying to say.

Frisman:  How about I give you a few specific examples of exactly what I'm talking about, and then perhaps one of you two can shed a little light on the subject.

Nick looks over at Jimmy and gives him a furious glare, as Jimmy has clearly made a far bigger problem of this matter than it was going to previously be.  Meanwhile, Steve Frisman pulls out a copy Nick's first completed draft of the book and plops it down onto the conference table.  He starts to flip through the pages as he continues on.

Frisman:  Some of the chapters, for example, were written up in a completely different tone, almost like there was some sort of ridiculous northeastern type accent to them that you see in all those gangster movies.  I mean there were words that were written with letters missing from there, and tons of extra instances of the letter S unnecesarily thrown onto the ends of words.  Here, like this particular passage.

Frisman stops on one page and points to one paragraph on it as he starts to read along.

Frisman:  And I quote, "So den, I took dis friggin' mook, and I's mopped da friggin' floor wit' him.  You's wouldna believe wut a little pansy dis guy was, he's started cryin' like a lil' girl and everyt'in'."

As Steve continues on reading, Nick starts to slump down his chair slowly, going further and further down and nearly getting out of view as he continues on.

Frisman:  "So den I's tells him, if you ain't wanna have dis happen again, I ain't neva betta see you 'round here again, capiche?"

Steve finishes the passage he was reading and then looks up from the book, and looks first over to Jimmy, continuing on from their prior conversation.

Frisman:  So there you have it.  Do you see what I'm talking about now, Jimmy?

Jimmy:  Um... yeah, I guess so.  I suppose I can see a slight difference there from his past stuff.  So, um...

Jimmy looks qutie nervous and seeming to have no idea how to respond, quickly looks over to Nick.  Nick, upon realizing the attention is turn to him, pops straight up in his seat as Jimmy address him.

Jimmy:  ... what's with that, Nicky?

Steve turns his attention directly across the table at Nick, who sits there silently for a few moments before he starts to stutter a bit in his response.

Nick:  Well, I uh... you see, what I was trying to do was, uh... I was trying, um... what I wanted to do, was to try to put the readers into a character that would really, uh... really give them a different grasp on the story.

The entire room falls silent as they all, including Jimmy, stare at Nick completely blankly, until Steve finally speaks back up.

Frisman:  That's, well... interesting.  But Nick... it's an autobiography.

Nick:  Oh yeah, right... that.

Nick stops to think things over, before looking out at the group and shrugging while giving another response.

Nick:  You know, I think I may have gotten a concussion in the match I had on the night that I wrote all of that.

The expressions around the room quickly change, all seeming much more satisified with that response, as there is a lot of head-nodding that goes along with it.

Frisman:  Aahhh, I see.  Well I'm sorry to hear that.  That can't be a fun thing to go through.

Jimmy:  Yeah, but he's all better, so no worries no baby.  I'll take care of making sure we get all of that re-written.  So that's it, right, baby?  We're all good now?

Frisman:  Well, not exactly.  Sure, there was all of that wannabe mobster stuff, but there were some other parts that were much, much more disturbing.  Frankly, none of us really even knew what to make of it.

An even more nervous look comes across the faces of both Jimmy and Nick, as they quickly look to one another, both knowing where this is likely going.  They both turn their attention to Steve, waiting to hear what it is he has to say.

Jimmy:  Oh?  Really?

Frisman:  Yeah, there were multiple of those other type of chapters, but then this other set was just really, really odd.

Jimmy:  What exactly are you talking about?

Frisman:  To put it bluntly, it comes across as if some of these chapters were written as if they were done by someone at like, I don't know, a first-grade reading level or something like that.

Jimmy whips his head around as he glares over at Nick, who puts his face down into his hands.  Jimmy responds to Steve while still glaring at Nick, a sound of disdain quite clearly present in his face.

Jimmy:  Oh, is that so?

Frisman:  It's not just that though.  At certain points in those same chapter, Nick's writing seems to go on to refer to himself in the third person, as "cuz".

Jimmy looks back at Steve and lets out a sigh, clearly not quite sure how to respond as Nick simply shakes his head as it still rests in his hands.

Jimmy:  Was there, uh... anything else going on in those chapters?

Frisman:  Actually, I didn't even want to discuss this, but since you ask, there was the creepiest part of all.  There were a whole bunch of stories in those chapters that seemed to revolve around a teddy bear.  As if that wasn't enough, at was written as if the teddy bear was a real, living creature.

The entire room turns and looks over at Nick, waiting to see how he responds to this one, as Jimmy's nervousness has now turned to complete annoyance.  Jimmy immediately addresses Nick on this matter, seeming to no longer wanting to be the one having to defend against all of these questions.

Jimmy:  So Nicky, care to tell us what that was all about?

Nick takes a deep breath and then lifts his head up out of his hands, looking out to the entire room.  Nick sits there silently for a few seconds before responding in a very quiet and meek manner.

Nick:  Um, yeah... about that.  It was um... multiple concussions.

The group doesn't seem to react nearly as positively to this answer as they did the first time around, so Nick continues on.

Nick:  You know, really significant, major concussions.

Nobody in the room still seems to react much, so Nick goes on further.

Nick:  Doctors think there was some brain damage too.

That last comment clearly grabs the rooms attention, as some of them seem to be a bit stunned by this apparent news.  Nick shrugs at them, and then pauses a moment before following up with another meek comment.

Nick:  I got better.

A bit more silence follows until the group seems to nod along, indicating that they're somehow buying what it is that Nick is selling, at least to an extent.

Frisman:  We're, uh... all glad to hear that... I guess.

Jimmy:  Ok, great.  I think we got a plan, baby.  So he re-writes the ridiculous gangster stuff and the creepy teddy-bear first-grader nonsense and we've got ourselves a book, am I right?

Frisman:  As strange as that sounds, yes, I think that about says it all.  Hell, I'm going just to say it, if you can go back and get those chapters to be anything like the way you wrote up the rest of that book, we'll be in business.

Nick:  Don't you worry, you'll never read anything word anything like that again.

Jimmy:  Yeah, I'll make sure there's no more concussion or brain-damage writing for him, baby!

Nick looks over at Jimmy and simply raises an eyebrow at him, not quite believing what he's hearing out of his agents mouth.

Nick:  Yeah, thanks for that.  Great plan Jimmy.

Nick rolls his eyes at Jimmy and then turns his attention back to the publishing team.  With the meeting now all wrapped up, everyone starts to get up from their seats and shake hands.

Frisman:  Sounds like we've got ourselves a plan.  Soon enough, I have a feeling we'll all be sitting here talking about a book that will be just about ready to go.

Nick:  I couldn't agree more, Steve.  Thanks for your time and understanding those, um... issues.

Frisman:  Not a problem.  Believe it or not, I've read worse crap than that before.

Steve than stops and seems to think over what he just said for a moment before speaking again.

Frisman:  Ok, maybe not worse than the teddy-bear stuff, but definitely worse than the rest of it.

Nick gives a nervous laugh in return and the two shakes hands again.  Nick then turns his attention in the direction of Bill and gives him a quick wave.

Nick:  Good seeing you, Willy.

Bill just scowls at Nick as he and Jimmy then head over towards the door of the conference room.  The two are just about to step out as Nick turns back to the room, speaking to the group one last time.

Nick:  By the way, to make up for this little mess of ours, I've got a promise for all of you.  I assure you, that things are only going to get better from here, as the worldwide fame and glory of Nick Jones is only going to grow from here.  Because next time you see me, I will be reigning as the NeWA World Heavyweight Champion!

Bill:  The what-now champion?  What the hell is that?

Nick:  Oh Willy, jealousy is such a stink cologne.

Frisman:  I have to be honest Nick, I'm not sure I know what that is either.  Can't really say I'm much of a wrestling fan.

Nick:  Ah, screw you guys.

With that, Nick turns and walks out of the conference room along with Jimmy, closing the door behind them.  The two walk over to the elevator area and as they wait, suddenly the security guard from earlier emerges from the stairway once again, looking a bit worse for wear.  Seeing Nick, he immediately starts to run straight at him, but Nick notices him incoming and immediately sprints away, with the two running off at top speed until the eventually disappear out of the shot, with Jimmy and everyone in the conference room watching on in shock, as the scene fades.

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The scene opens back up inside of the Los Angeles home of Nick, where he is seen sitting on the couch in the living room, his feet up on the coffee table and watching television.  A moment later, Diana comes storming in the room and stops right next to the couch where Nick is seated.  Nick quickly glances out of the corner of his eye to see who it is and then, while still keeping his focus on the TV, speaks to Diana.

Nick:  Hey honey.  How's it going?

With Diana not moving at all, nor responding, Nick eventually looks away from the TV and up towards Diana, to see her standing there with a scowl on her face and her arms crossed across her chest.  Nick immediately mutes the TV and sits up, taking his feet from off of the coffee table before addressing Diana.

Nick:  Uh oh, what did I do now?

Diana:  Jimmy told me everything.

Nick puts this innocent look on his face as he gives Diana a sheepish grin.

Nick:  Um... everything about what?

Diana:  Don't try to pull that crap with me.  I know all about the book.

Nick:  Oh... ok.

Nick sits there silently as Diana continues to stare at him.  After a few moments of awkwardness, Nick eventually speaks again.

Nick:  I'm not really sure what you want me to say here.

Diana's tone gets even more annoyed as she snaps back at Nick.

Diana:  Oh, I don't know, how about tell me why you went to those two giant dipshits to help you write your damn book?!?

Nick:  Listen, honey, I'm sorry, but I really had no other choice.  If I didn't get those guy's help there's no way this thing gets done.  I mean, I would have loved nothing more than to do this all by myself, but at least for this draft, there was no way I could pull that off.

Diana:  Wait, you think I actually give a crap that you didn't write this all up yourself?

Nick looks at Diana with a bit of confusion.

Nick:  If that's not your problem, then what the hell are you bitching about?

Diana:  What am I bitching about?!?  Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you went to those two walking, talking piles of dumbass to help you out, but you didn't ask your own girlfriend.

Nick:  Oh, is THAT what this is about?

Diana:  Of course!  I mean it would have been one thing if you went to Jimmy or Max instead, at least the two of them are capable of being together a coherent sentence.  But B and Tony?  I'm not sure if I should be more upset that you'd prefer to go to them, or disgusted that you're stupid enough to do so.

Nick:  You think I wanted to go for those two for help?  Listen, babe, you've got it all wrong.  As stupid as it may seem, and I'm not arguing it wasn't, it was a matter of circumstances.  For starters, I had to simply admit it was impossible for me to get this done by myself in time for the deadline, so I had to look at my options.  You mention Max and Jimmy, but really think about those two.  Max would panic just at the thought of needing to meet some sort of the hospital, and we'd probably waste more time bringing him to the hospital for an anxiety attack than we'd actually get any benefit out of him.

Diana:  I suppose that's a fair point.  He's a bit anxious, huh?

Nick:  Yeah, just a bit.  Then there's Jimmy, who's been up my ass about this damn book for God knows how long now.  If I told him about this situation, he would have spent the entire time flipping a shit at me, and he certainly never would have agreed to help out.  The only reason I was able to pull this off is because he didn't know it was too late.  He is the LAST guy I could have told.

Diana:  So?  That still doesn't answer why you didn't come to me.

Nick:  That's simple, even with your help, the two of us had no chance of getting this done on our own.  So I was basically screwed no matter what, knowing I was going to have to go to at least one of B or Tony.  So my choices were, torture you with this mess, keep you up all night and make you miserable; liking completely pissing you off that I put you in that situation in the process, while still knowing whatever chunk of the book that was worked on by those two was going to be crap, OR I could just concede to the fact that I was already screwed no matter what and so just leave you alone and rely on those two, knowing they'd both do whatever the hell I told them to, and at the very least make the process as painless as possible.  Well you know, outside of the horrible finished product.

Diana gives Nick a bit of a scowl, seeming to be not quite sure how she feels about all of this.

Diana:  Well... I suppose I can see where you're coming from there.

Diana stops and thinks for a moment before following up with another comment.

Diana:  But you're still an idiot.

Diana turns and walks off and Nick simply shrugs before turning his attention back to the TV as he unmutes it and the scene fades.

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The scene opens up in the backstage area of the War Memorial Gymnasium in San Francisco, California, just before this week's edition of Climax Control is set to kick off.  Walking into the backstage area through the parking area is Nick Jones, with his bag hanging over his shoulder as he makes his way through the hallways.  As Nick heads back to the locker room area, he is suddenly cut off, as SCW Head Reporter Pussy Willow goes running right in front of him, with a microphone in hand.

PW:  Nick, Nick!  I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on tonight's match that was clearly designed as an attempt to sabotage Team SCW!

Nick suddenly comes to a stop and looks over at Pussy like she is insane.

Nick:  What the hell are you talking about?

PW:  You do know about your match tonight, don't you?  You're set to face Aleksei Koji.

Nick:  Yeah, of course I know about that.  What's your point?

PW:  Well the common belief is that Erik Staggs is using his new found power to try to thwart his enemies, and that starts with pitting two members of Team SCW up against each other.

Nick:  Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Let me stop your right there sweetheart.  Who the hell ever said I was part of Team SCW?

PW:  I thought that...

Nick:  There's your problem right there.  Don't think.  It just doesn't work for you.

PW:  But last week, your involvement with Erik Staggs as well as coming out to save Hot Stuff.

Nick:  Yeah, that all happened, but so what?  I've got a personal beef with Staggs, because he was too damn stupid to know better than to leave me out of this.  The bottom line is that I still couldn't give less of a crap about this political garbage going on around here, and all that happened was that Erik was stupid enough to make himself the worst possibly enemy, nothing more than that.  As far as I'm concerned, his damn flunkies mean nothing to me as long as they stay out of his way, but I'm done dealing with any of his crap.  As far as ole Hot Stuff, well Mark and I have been on the same side for as long as I have been in this business and that hasn't changed.  Just because the rest of this company full of morons wants to draw a line in the sand doesn't mean I give a crap who's on what side.  If you mess with me, or you mess with my buddies, I'll be more than happy to kick your ass.  It's really that simple.

PW:  Well then, I suppose that's a fair enough position to take.  So then how do you feel about this match?

Nick:  I feel the same way about it that I do every other match I have.  I'm sure you're right, and that Erik thinks this is some sort of ingenious plan to turn his enemies against each other, but the truth is Aleksei is nothing more than another opponent to me; no more, no less.  I've had no particular reasons to go after the guy in the past, but I'm not going to pretend like we're on the same side either.  As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to go out there and kick his ass, just like I have every other opponent I've ever faced in SCW.

PW:  But will it influence your approach or line of thinking, knowing that Erik is likely planning for this to be more than some regular match?

Nick:  I could care less what that idiot wants.  As long as it's just me and Aleksei in that ring, all it's going to be is another instance of beating another one of these clowns asses.  If Erik is stupid enough to try to shove his nose into our business, that's when we're going to have a problem.  But hopefully, after last week, Erik has pulled his head out of his ass and now knows better.  Because the truth is, I've got much more important matters to worry about than any of this nonsense, and frankly it's just a waste of my time.

PW:  Do you know more important than the match or what's currently going on with Team SCW and Team Erik?

Nick:  All of it!  I've made my feelings on this little slap-fest wrestler clear.  And as far this match is concerned, it's nothing more than a little warm-up for me.  This is going to just get me back in action from my little injury, before I go and have the match of mine that will actually matter.  You know, the one for what will soon by my NeWA World Heavyweight Championship.  That stupid drunken Romanian what's-his-name means absolutely nothing to mean.  I mean, hell, good for him that he's smart enough to at least know my boy Mark is a better bet to back than that useless dirtbag Erik.  Unfortunately, that's not really going to matter because I'm going have to break the bad news to old Marky-boy, his newest toy is about to get broken.

Nick shoves the microphone away from his face and continues on down the hallway, leaving to go on towards the locker room.  However, he doesn't make it much further before he is cut off by his friend and stablemate, Hot Stuff Mark Ward.  Nick comes to a quick stop upon seeing Mark, as Mark gives him a bit of a glare.

HS:  You know, I heard what you said over there, yank.

Nick:  Yeah, what about it limey?

HS:  You're going to break my newest toy?

Nick gets a bit of a devious smirk on his face as Hot Stuff simply shakes his head at him.

Nick:  What?  You know how this all goes.  We've got a match and I'm going to do what I have to do, and that's beat Koji's ass.

HS:  Yeah, I get that.  And you do whatever you need to do in the ring, but just leave it at that, alright?  There's no need to let Erik get a win out of this one by turning this match into something more than it needs to be.

Nick:  What the hell are you talking about?

HS:  Come on yank, you know what I'm saying.  You guys don't need to hurt each other or anything like that.  You go out there, you win the match, and that's all you need to do.  Anything behind that is playing right into that smug bastard's hand.

Nick:  Listen, I'm not going to be making you any promises here, limey.  The bottom line is that I'm going to approach this match the way I have every single other match in my career.  That means, I will do anything and EVERYTHING that I need to in order to win this match.  If it turns out that doesn't take too much, then I guess you're in luck, but if that drunken Romanian pushes me too far, he's only going to have himself to blame for what ends up happening to him.  

HS:  Yeah, well of the two of you, he's not exactly the one I'm worried about causing the problems out there.

Nick:  What, you're worried about little old men?

Nick gives an innocent smile towards Mark as he chuckles a bit.

Nick:  Don't sweat it limey, I'll put his ass down for the count as quickly as possible.

Nick then pats Mark on the back and walks off, with Mark watching him a bit nervously as the scene fades to black.