I stand up looking in my mirror getting ready to go out. I button up my shirt and I smell really nice. It’s our anniversary tonight and, well, it’s time to busy with the good stuff. I guess I do have to go out there and make it up with her. I mean, she really is still pissed off at me for what I did. Hopefully the flowers at work and at home were enough to win her back. I chuckle looking in the mirror while shaking my head.
Hey Zack Ryder! Let’s go already!
You do look good, I must say.
You are such a tool. I mean, look at you. You’re getting all dressed up…all dolled up…all gelled up, for what? So your wife can take you back? You know how shitty that sounds? She’s got you whipped, boy. Rizz, take charge.
What the hell do you want, now? I thought I got rid of you.
Heh, Zach…are you really that stupid? I mean, I’m you…where the hell am I going to go? Cleveland? I’m with you one hundred and ten percent no matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, no matter how high you go. Rizz…I’m “Big Tyme” too…and you God damn know that to be true.
I place my hands on the table and hang my head down. What the hell is going on here?!
Awe Zach, what’s wrong? You really thought you got rid of me? You really thought once you won that title you were going to finally stop hearing these voices and seeing these pictures inside your head? Rizz, I’m not going anywhere for a long, long time…if not forever. I will be RIGHT HERE, NIGHT IN AND NIGHT OUT, DUSK TILL DAWN! The list keeps going…but, Zach, you can never get me out of your head…you can never leave home without me, Rizz. I am your conscious.
My conscious? So I’m thinking of everything that you are saying right now?
So to speak. You know what you want to ask…you know how you feel, Zach…however, you’re thinking about what to say and, well, I pop out and say it. You control me, but I also…control…you.
What the hell does that mean? I control you and you control me? But what if I control you not to control me but then you have to control me to tell yourself never to control me again…right?
No idea what the hell you just said and, since you control me, I don’t think you have any idea what you said either. You just need to be a man, Rizz…if you didn’t get through Mia…you wouldn’t get that title and you would be lost, depressed, pissed, and ready to jump off a fucking giant building. But, Zach…listen to me…I am only trying to help you out here…and I got some words of advice for you. That is.
Zach! Zach? Are you coming or do I have to eat at this fancy restaurant alone and pick up the check?
I whip my head around and look at Mia in a shocked look. I look back at the mirror and see the same look on my face.
Who were you talking to, babe?
Just talking to myself. You know…this is a big night for me. I mean, this is our anniversary and I want to make a good “first impression”, if you get my drift.
Trust me, Zach, I am pretty sure you will do fine. Especially tonight.
This week…is like…a history lesson for me.
Look at the people that are in this ring with me. Look at the talent that I have in that ring during the triple threat match. I mean, it’s almost like looking in a time machine at my career. I know I say that a lot when talking about me, but…come on and take a look at the people that are going to be in that ring. Take a look at the guy that stands before you in that ring. I mean, I can’t think of anyone who looks like that…without calling himself “Big Tyme” Zach Rizza.
Justin Zane? That’s all I kept hearing night in and night out. “Oh my God! Look at the talent! Look at the young Zach Rizza! Look at Justin Zane, he’s fucking awesome!”You know how bad that sounds, Justin? You know how shitty I feel? Knowing that a guy like YOU is getting praises of being a young ME? Do you know what that does to me? It brings me down, it makes me angry, it pisses…me…off. Knowing that some punk kid is getting called the future me.
The weird thing is…why? Why are you being called the “new me”? I mean, you’re no champion. You’re not a legend in the making. You’re a nobody. You’re not a worry to me. Justin Zane…you are nothing more than a wannabe. I mean, who doesn’t want to be me? Look at me. I’m World champion. Who wouldn’t want to be World champ?
But, Zaney, I’m looking at you for the past few weeks and…I have seen your type before. Oh but I have. And, you know something? I heard very familiar things about these same people time and time again. And, you know something, Zane? Every time they came face to face with me, in any match…in any form…you know what happens? Do you want to know how people, like you, go out there and pretend like they are hot shit against me do? Against me?! One by one by one by one, each person LIKE you fell flat on their faces and, to be honest, after my beat down…after the “biggest shock of their life”…you know what happens? They fall off the face of the fucking earth. The people who were supposed to be the bees knees, the cats pajamas, and the whole fucking shebang…wind up packing groceries in Hoboken, New Jersey somewhere down the line.
I look at you, Justin, and I see one of those people. I don’t see you coming anywhere near this title that I have. I don’t see you getting anywhere near any title, to be exact. Justin, this match…is going to the biggest night of your life. It’s your magic moment, sir, and…you know something? I’m not in a “magical” mood these days and, right now, I will turn that magic into something that you never want, sir, and make you wish that you weren’t in this match with me.
However, I heard what you said Justin. And yes, after some thought…I was pleased in how I got this title. I was pleased that this title is draped around MY shoulder. You want to know why, Justin? When you get in my shoes…when you step foot in that ring night in and night out every God damned night…you have to take chances in life. You have to be cut throat, you have to be a dick sometimes.
Did I want to beat Mia Sanchez for it? No.
Did I have to beat Mia Sanchez for it? Yes.
Do I have regrets about doing what I did? You want to know something? NO! I don’t. Why? Because, damn it, if I didn’t beat her…she was going to beat ME and retain that title. And I would not let that happen.
Not one bit.
However, I have to thank someone, now. So…Zane…you can shut up now, big men are going to be talking. I would like to thank Nick Ryan. If it wasn’t for Nick Ryan…I wouldn’t be standing here holding the World heavyweight championship of the X-Treme Wrestling Federation. If it wasn’t for Nick Ryan, my name wouldn’t be in the history books as one of the very few who has held every single title in the X-Treme Wrestling fucking Federation. If it wasn’t for Nick Ryan, I would still be in the rancid, no good, shitty stable of his called Zero Conformity.
Heh, Zero Conformity. A stable with no leader, no direction, and the two people that wanted to be the leader without saying it. In fact, I believe it was me who took the Zero Conformity stable and made it slightly interesting. Hell, if it wasn’t for me…Trent Gein wouldn’t have came back.
However, even AFTER I was in Zero Conformity it felt like you, Nick Ryan, didn’t want me to conform to the concept of winning. It seemed like you wanted me to fail and go back to the hole in the ground and never pop my head up again.
Nick, after I left your shitty stable…things looked up for me. Hell, things are still looking up for me. And, you know something? Glad I did…because, well, I’m the world champion right now and…Nick…you haven’t changed and you won’t change. Hell, I can go out there…talk to Justin Zane and turn this match into a 2-on-1 handicap match and beat the ever loving crap out of you….and then next week you are going to come out here and do the same thing again…and again…and again.
However, I leave you with this…in this match…you get the past, the present, and the future of the X-Treme Wrestling Federation. The man past his prime, in Nick Ryan…the future me…that will, most likely,never ever happen….and the PRESENT…as in…the PRESENT DAY LEGEND THAT IS “BIG TYME” ZACH RIZZA!