The scene is an older Ford truck, a camera mounted on the dashboard. Driving said truck is The Amazing Logan, eyes on the road.
TAL: A very long night of training last night. We're finally on the road to Aggression, here on I-75 south. Michael's in the back seat sleeping. I had to push him very hard, because this could very well be the turning point in the history of The Empire. He sent four men to the hospital last night. Four men, just in training. Granted, they were "local talents", but still, it just goes to show how Michael really has one gear, and when he's getting in the destructive spirit, to get in his way, unless you're me, of course, would be a fool's errand. I think he's finally ready to collect the next prize in his path to becoming the man who changes everything.
But again, in his way is you, Anarky. Yes, I saw your latest promotional video, and I have to say, I'm disappointed. The same, tired career achievement dick-measuring spiel, dropping names like they were eggs in an epileptic at a discotheque carrying an Easter basket. I thought after the first promo that you might have been different, that you might have been worthy of a spot in Michael Bastard's post-apocalyptic vision of professional wrestling, the New Empire. I was wrong, as you were too busy trying to impress me by reciting time spent in the Devastator, like it matters in 2011 the same it mattered in 2001. Times have changed.
It's not like I mean disrespect to Randalls at all. No, not in the least. He is one of the major influences on Michael's in-ring style. A master of devastation, a progenitor of the apocalypse if you will. However, there's a difference between learning from his example and clinging to it like it's a security blanket in the arms of a pathetic character from a comic of days long passed. The fact that you so readily bring up the attrition you suffered at the hands of people five and ten years ago as a reason why you're so easily the favorite against Michael proves to me that you are not ready to handle Michael. You see, Ares dropping you through a table may have been impressive in the past, surviving it may be a test of your mettle, but how will that prepare you for getting dropped through a table after taking a Bastard Driver to the concrete, having your ribs dropped across the guardrail and your body violently whipped into the steel ring steps, all within quick succession of each other? The answer is, it won't.
You see, you deny everything set in front of you because, "that's the way it is", right? You deny that Michael could change the business because you yourself, a man of ultraviolence and hardcore intensity, couldn't change it. Hell, you didn't even want to change it, and that's fine with you. Well, that's the same sort of thinking that got the Tsars blasted into extinction and the Spanish rousted out of South America. Of course you don't see it, because you're just like everyone else. Content to play the same dick measuring games, gang warfare for the sake of gang warfare and politicking in place of wrestling. The same lying facade that allowed you to sit here and tell me to my face that your words belied your intentions, that you really aren't bothered by the fact that you waited longer for your first shot than Michael waited for his.
Then again, I'm a hardened veteran. I've seen it all, and really, it doesn't bother me as much. Your lies don't concern me. The fact that you were not strong enough to change the business, nor were you ambitious enough to want to change it. All that I'm worried about is that Michael is both of those things. That's why he'll succeed. That's why he'll add another trophy to his collection. He doesn't stop where other men would in the name of decency. He goes until the job is finished, and in his mind, the job isn't finished until the man he's done feasting upon is motionless in the middle of the ring.
With you, yes, it will be a tall order. I know when to give my propers, Anarky, and you do deserve them for being the class of the brutal sect in an older, anachronistic time. Despite your obvious character flaws and sheep nature, there's a reason you've gotten to where you've gotten. However, what you lack is a foresight to accept the coming change and truly embrace the animalistic nature of your soul. You're limited in ways Michael isn't. Well, that and you definitely let loose some strategic points of attack that I might have forgotten to highlight for Michael in preparation. I must say, old Devastator war wounds never heal correctly. It all comes back to Randalls. Maybe you have a point.
Regardless, Anarky, your bravado and reliance on past successes to somehow will you through a war with Michael will be your downfall. The future has arrived far more quickly than I ever could have anticipated. As Michael rests with his arms clutching his current prize, he dreams of an even grander one to pair with that Intercontinental Championship. Nothing will stop him from his stated goal, nothing short of death.
That begs the question, will the ghost of Maelstrom and your undying devotion to this conservative view of how the wrestling world should be be enough to put Michael down? The truth is very cloudy, but I tend to think your claim that you'll still be here when the smoke clears is one that will be put in serious jeopardy.
Logan takes one hand off the steering wheel and taps a button, sending the screen to black.