1-UP

[brusch]

“Broken nose. Concussion. Neck contusion. Shoulder separation. A couple more slams like that and we’d be looking at broken ribs, internal injuries…maybe worse.”

[FADE TO: the offices of Dr. Benjamin Young, seated behind a mahogany desk in a white lab coat, diplomas on the wall in full view. He looks down at a chart in his hand, flipping through the pages, as a tape of the RANDOM RUMBLE plays over his shoulder.]

YOUNG:
“Normally, this is the kind of thing that would put a man down for a minimum of 8-10 weeks. But, Ocho’s a fighter. He’s been aggressive with his treatments. It’s difficult to predict whether he’ll be ready for Memphis – if it’s my family, I’d ask him to slow down and wait. He tells me he can’t. We will see.”

[FADE OUT. In white NES 8-bit text, the words BROKEN NOSE flash on-screen.]

LDO:
“I’m not dead. Not yet.”

[“Spontaneous Devotion”, Ocho’s theme music, begins to trickle in the background. CONCUSSION flashes on-screen, followed by a black-and-white dated viewing of previous hospital footage, a masked Leyenda de Ocho in a hospital bed, struggling to adjust to get comfortable. Ocho’s voiceover continues.]

LDO:
“That’s been the question though, hasn’t it. Is Ocho dead? Where has he been? Why the radio silence?

A blunt instrument like Teddy Alexander will never understand, and that’s fine. We are beyond the point of making that man understand.”

[NECK CONTUSION flashes on-screen. Additional black-and-white dated footage of Ocho, standing, shoulder wrapped heavily with ice. Even through the grainy video, you can see the blackened right eye beneath his Sonic the Hedgehog mask. He walks down a hospital hallway, doing his best to work on range of motion.]

LDO:
“The Random Rumble was the hardest truth I’ve faced so far in my career. Harder than hunting down the five-year reigning defending Triple Crown Champion Rook Black for month after month. Harder than scratching and clawing my way through any regional promotion that would give me work, only for cheats and bitter veterans to hold me down from the top. Harder than taking a crazy leap of faith and DEBUTING in the grandest Ultratitle of all time in 2012.

The hardest truth is that there are people who will stop at NOTHING until I’m gone from this business for good.”

[SHOULDER SEPARATION – CAREER – END flash in rapid succession. CUT TO a color screen. Ocho wears his favorite mask – the Flying Man mask from Earthbound. Bruised? Sure. Broken?

No.]

LDO:
“Where have I been all this time? It’s simple. I knew I needed to go back to what got me here. Courage. With a capital C. I’ll be your Courage, and I’ll remain unless you lose your Courage, he says. Call me Flying Man 2, he says.

I went too deep into the labyrinth that is my mind and tried to analyze Teddy Alexander in three dimensions, find the motivation behind the most ferocious of human beings in the New Frontier, when it was all so simple. He is no man. He is but beast. And I have taken his worst shot…and I’m. Still. STANDING.”

[Ocho gingerly reaches off camera and picks up a black t-shirt, emblazoned with green mushrooms, Phoenix Downs, heart containers. HIS shirt, emblazoned with his life’s decree – CAN’T KEEP ME DOWN – and he pulls it over his head and shoulders.]

LDO:
“If Teddy comes out as #1 Contender after Memphis? Good. Because I’ve seen him do his worst, and what he doesn’t appreciate is that NO ONE IN THE WORLD is better than me at my best. If it’s Kuroyama? Langston? Windham?...so be it. I’m back, NFW. Better than ever.

And I welcome any man who wants to try to take away my Triple Crown Championship.”

[FADE TO BLACK]

 

[fugginVOSS]

(FADE IN: on GREG HERPIN standing against a Revolution Star background. He's wearing pressed white chinos, a button up shirt with a TEDDY ALEXANDER "KAIJU" t-shirt, where a cartoon Teddy stomps through Japan breathing fire on buildings and smashing them with his fist. HERPIN smiles condescendingly at the camera.)

GREG HERPIN:
"Hi, Leyenda. You know, I've seen you first hand in action inside of a Frontier wrestling ring and you're a talented superstar. I can see why Eddie Mayfield is so delighted by the opportunities you present his business. I get it. The video game thing? That's right in the pocket of THE niche market of professional wrestling's 30-something males who are trying to hang onto their teen years.

"It makes perfect sense to me. Backing that up with your ability. Your speed. Agility. Your high flying moves that get those guys all out of their seat! And then there are the costumes! Wow. You're a marketing manager's wet dream, Leyenda.

"It is easy to see how you got into a position where you wrestled the future Hall of Famer Rook Black. You're the total package for the Frontier, Leyenda. You're a superstar.

"Perhaps you're a future Hall of Famer yourself? I don't know, time will tell."

(HERPIN shrugs and claps his hands together.)

GREG HERPIN:
(squints) "But I couldn't help but notice the promotional video you put out and I do have some rebuttals. I just wanted to take a moment to clarify some of the facts which you've misrepresented. If I may?"

(Holding a finger up, HERPIN begins with his first point.)

GREG HERPIN:
"Leyenda, the first thing I'd like to clarify for you is you've suggested that Teddy gave you his, and I quote worst shot and that you are still standing. Here's the correction. You, unfortunately, were unable to receive Teddy's worst, as you call it, due to the fact the previously mentioned President of the New Frontier intervened.

"I will give you an opportunity to redeem yourself. I understand how this scenario could have came about, with the head injuries you probably received, but I would have expected more of you.

"At the very least, I would have thought you'd have reviewed the DVD of the Random Rumble and understood you're undoing. You see, Leyenda, you were pulled apart physically by a man far superior to you in strength AND ability.

"You see, Leyenda, the ONLY reason..." (sweeps his arms across his body) "...ONLY reason you are able to compete again in this business is because Eddie Mayfield had him tazed and saved your life. He had him incapacitated with electricity. Yet the difference between Teddy and YOU is he was able to overcome adversity. He still got up and he still competed and he still damn near won the whole thing barring the Army of Darkness.

"hat's the difference here. He has heart and you do not. You will swiftly claim to the title of being an underdog, Leyenda, but the fact of the matters remains by definition if you WERE the underdog..." (squints) "...you actually have to stand a chance."

(HERPIN shrugs at the camera.)

GREG HERPIN:
"You see, Leyenda, it might appear as though you're making yourself out to be the fighting champion, Leyenda, by welcoming each and every challenger but it proves a point, doesn't it? It proves a point that Eddie Mayfield profits off you so he is doing everything he possibly can to put back that day that Teddy takes belt off you. He continues to put obstacles in front of him. Hurdles. This, that and the other to keep you out of Teddy's reach. Keep you at bay.

"Keep that belt around your waist.

"The sales for that little contraption you've made and stuck on the belt must be through the roof! I bet it even had a little Leyenda de Ocho video game on it. Like Frogger or something. We're instead of dodging cars you dodge challengers to your title.

"It makes sense to keep that belt around your waist as long as possible, Leyenda. It makes ALL the sense in the world from a marketing standpoint but how does that make you feel? How does that make you feel as a man?

"It must do something to you as a man knowing that they keep you out of a contest with Teddy, for the NFW Triple Crown Championship, because they don't think you'll be able to defend it against him. That they don't think you can defeat him. That they don't think that you will SURVIVE against him."

(HERPIN shakes his head, holding his hands up palms out.)

GREG HERPIN:
"Leyenda, you don't need to concern yourself with Kerry Kuroyama or Xavier Langston. You especially don't need to concern yourself about Peter Windham. You don't need to wonder if Teddy will walk out of the Main Event at Reloaded because that will happen. And he will RETAIN his Number 1 Contender position. And he will come after you.

"Those are all facts.

"But if someway or somehow someone is able to overcome Teddy, I hope you understand this. I hope it's very, very clear to you, Leyenda. I want you to sit down and pay attention to what I'm about to tell you...

"If Teddy does not walk out of Memphis as the Number 1 Contender to the New Frontier Wrestling Triple Crown Championship, I have it on his personal advice, that you will never, EVER be able to step foot inside a ring to defend it.

"He's going to see to that. And you know full well what that man is capable of doing, even if you were only provided with a simple TASTE of that at the Rumble. You're yet to experience the full flavour.

"And I can assure you, Leyenda... you wouldn't savour it."

(HERPIN smiles at the camera.)

GREG HERPIN:
"So, Leyenda, I bid you enjoy your final few moments as the NFW Triple Crown Champion because rest assured, your time is coming to an end. And that is also a fact.

"Tic toc.

"Tic toc.

(HERPIN holds his watch up to the camera.)

​GREG HERPIN:
"Tic... Toc!"

(FADE to BLACK!)

 

[brusch]

"...K."

[CUT TO: Leyenda de Ocho, standing before THE very pixelated NFW backdrop, though it's largely blocked off; a sea of merch surrounds him - multicolored "CAN'T KEEP ME DOWN" tees; at least a dozen Ocho masks with different licensed themes from the Nintendo library; a case of Tallgrass Brewery's 8-Bit Pale Ale; an action figure.]

LDO:
"I piss you off. All this-"

[Ocho waves his arm at the pseudo-Convention Booth behind him.]

"-this is why I'm here, right? The money-making machine. NFW's one true, established White Hat because 90% of this company wears black. That's the ONLY reason, right?

It couldn't be that I scratched and clawed from day one of this industry, it couldn't stem from the fact that on a national stage, I legitimately outdueled the longest-reigning champion in the New Frontier. No...I'm just soft, right?

If there's one thing I've learned about what it is to be a wrestler, Greg, it's this - when you're forced to hype up what a badass you are, even though the reason you got the upper hand was a chaotic Random Rumble scenario? When you have to have a paid lap dog sing your praises and massage your ego? It's insecurity. An ego that NEEDS the massaging, that NEEDS to be told how fantastic they are before they keep going forward. And Teddy? I never thought you'd be that sort of guy.

Threats from a talking head are worthless."

[NFW backstage crew appear and start carting off the merch around him, piece by piece.]

LDO:
"Teddy, you're a monster...but something is missing. Something is holding you back, and I don't know if it's Greg, I don't know if it's something inside of you, or something else entirely...but I am completely aware of the threat you CAN be. It's just a matter of whether you will actually BE that threat, should we face off. Because the bottom line is this...getting the jump on me in a match with dozens of opponents is one thing. Man-to-man, when there are real, genuine stakes? The only man in this company who can honestly say they've gotten the better of me is the former World Champion...Castor Strife."

[All props are now removed, and it's simply Ocho before the pixelated backdrop.]

LDO:
"I AM back, Teddy. I AM the warrior who sees the hard truths for what they are. And it's going to take more than empty threats to take away the Triple Crown Championship."

[FTB]