The Camera Pans To The Ramp!
After the furious ending of the ladder match, Empress and Ashley Moore arrive in the locker room. They drop on the benches exhausted and take a breath. Empress starts rubbing an ice-bag on the back of her neck.
Empress: Damn that little boy hits hard.
Empress glares over at Moore.
Empress: What is your deal Moore? We had him down. We should’ve ended him for good.
Ashley Moore: You mean her? Valkyrie is a girl.
Empress: What? Bobby Minio has more curves than him..her..whatever.
Ashley Moore: Anyway breaking her bones won’t help us. That little bullhead will just come back as she did before. We have to break her mentally. And for that matter, we did a great step in the right direction.
Empress: I don’t get you sometimes one minute you threaten to break her in half next you're giving her a free pass in a match you could have ripped her to pieces.
Empress: You keep talking about these plans and how you’re trying to mentally break her but, I’m starting to think she’s mentally breaking you.
Ashley Moore: She can never break me.
Empress: Really? Is that why you had us standing in a stupid parking garage talking behind walls. And meeting in that Outhouse with Blaine drinking toilet water.
Ashley Moore: The plan worked perfectly. We gave her hope to get me out of her life and also win a big match at a PPV, but she never had a chance to do so.
Ashley Moore: She thought she won, grabs the suitcase and everything is peace, joy, and pancakes, but for that case was taken care of.
Empress lays down on the bench with her icepack on her head.
Empress: Our plan worked perfect.
Ashley Moore: First, the contract: It didn’t say whoever wins keeps the apartment. It says whoever signs the contract first after the match gets it.
Ashley Moore: Second, you: Unlike Valkyrie, I can rely on my allies. We made it two versus one and she cannot fight us off forever.
Ashley Moore: And finally third, the briefcase: Our plan was genius. The light went off, you took the case from her and replaced it. Nobody even noticed! And who cares if she got the case first. I'm still the one who is holding it right now.
Ashley Moore: We could not have done this without the help of our good friend in the management Our Hero. Someone had to switch them off and it was even his idea to do so and switch out the suitcases.
Ashley hears the ice-bag fall on the floor and looks over to see Empress fast asleep on the bench.
Ashley Moore: WAKE THE HELL UP!
Empress' eyes pop open and she sits up from the bench letting out a heavy sigh.
Empress: You still talking?
Ashley Moore: Just listen we can’t stop after this night, we have to keep going to get OCW rid of her. This was just the first step.
Ashley Moore: Valkyrie will for sure play the victim card after this night, but we did what we had to do. After all it is her fault that it had to go so far.
Empress: Valkyrie is making this place a living hell for Our Hero. So, someone had to finish what Dragana was too busy playing hide the cucumber with Ace to do.
Ashley Moore: And not only Valkyrie is in our way to bring OCW the women’s division it deserves.
Empress: Now that Valkyrie is out of commission time to do the same to Belle and Flojo.
Ashley Moore: Speaking of your good friends Belle and Flojo. I don’t know who gave them contracts here, but they are just unacceptable as a part of the roster.
Empress: Valkyrie’s little glue sniffing friends won’t stand a chance against us. Especially with Blaine on our side. This will be like taking Can Beans from a baby.
Ashley Moore: It is Candies!
Empress: That’s what I said.
The scene fades to black.
The X-Tron Activates!
DOC GREEN vs PAUL PUGH
The city is quiet in this dark corner of Earth. A neon sign blinks in the distance. "The Roadhouse." The bar that started it all for the group known as Invictus. Not to the man standing adjacent to the camera, though. Not to Aries. For him, this bar will forever be a constant reminder of a comeback that never was, and a title reign that was all too short.
This bar will now always remind him of the man that defiled the artwork on his body. The cross that Aries holds dear, as the centerpiece of his "canvas."
Staring at the Invictus bar, Aries clutches the place where the cross once was and attempts to numb the pain of being forcibly tattooed with a familiar drink. The camera zooms in a bit on the label of the alcohol, and Aries intentions are suddenly made clear. It's a 750mL bottle of Bacardi 151.
The same bottle of booze that an OCW legend used to try and burn Revolution Inc. alive back at Road to Glory 2006. The camera zooms back out to show a distraught Aries. An unstable Aries. His eyes haven't averted their gaze since he arrived at the scene. It's as if he's frozen in time, attempting to soak in the moment. The moment that had been set in motion since he left that tattoo parlor.
Aries takes another swig of the Bacardi 151 and finally decides to speak.
Aries - It's been eleven years since I came to OCW, Austin.
He turns his head to face the camera.
Aries - Eleven years since I came to this sh** hole. Eleven years that I've had to endure the CEO with a God complex. Eleven years that I've had to prove myself time and time again, Austin. Transitional champion. Flake. Did you also know that I have a stupid face, Austin?
Aries - Eleven years. What you did tonight is worse than anything I've ever been through in my tenure, and let me tell you something, Austin. I've been through a lot. Do you know what it was like during that era of OCW where our benevolent leader left us? He LEFT us, Austin.
Aries - He left us so that people like Trevor McManus and Vincent Valmont were pushed to the type, and when he came back? He propelled my "dear friend" Chris Ryder straight to the top., overlooking me. A man that was gone for MONTHS overlooked ME!
Aries - ME!!
Aries pulls out a dirty cloth from his back pocket and begins to shove it into the bottle of Bacardi 151.
Aries - I've been through seven-foot monsters that could fly, and egomaniacs that destroyed a stable. The worst offender, Austin? Having the worst match of my career against Nate Ortiz. NATE ORTIZ, Austin, which brings me here.
Aries - I started my career in OCW worshipping the ground that man stood on, and now? He's the reason I'm going to burn a hole in your life, Austin. Our God, JCS, is the reason I'm going to take away EVERYTHING you hold dear, Austin!
Aries - What you did to me at that tattoo parlor...
Aries grinds his teeth, clutching his abdomen once more.
Aries - What you did was defile the only thing in life that I care about. That cross signifies something important, Austin. Now, I'm not religious. I don't even believe in a higher power, but who else? Who else is responsible for bringing me onto this Earth?
Aries - That cross thanks God. It thanks him for me. For creating such a polarizing figure. THANK GOD FOR ME, AUSTIN! Now it's just a hashtag. A F***ING HASHTAG! You took away one of the most important things in my life, and now I'm going to do the same to you.
He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a gold-plated lighter. A skull is etched onto the front.
Aries - Say goodbye, Austin. I'll be gentle.
Let it Burn The Camera Pans To The Ramp!