time: mid evening, roughly nine o'clock.

day: tuesday, january sixteenth, 'seven.

place: holiday inn, baltimore.

(Roll the window down)

(This cool night air is curious)

(Let the whole world look in)

(Who cares who sees anything?)

(A cold, clear night takes the precedence in Baltimore as I lay on my hotel bed, the heat cranked up, and the television on low volume. I haven't spent a night alone in a hotel room for quite some time, but I can't blame her for not coming. The robbery experience shook her up pretty bad. Relaxing in a pair of jeans and a Packers hoodie, I start to switch between channels.)

(Nothing interesting on, as usual. I don't find the time for TV these days.)

(Or maybe it's just that I don't get television these days. I stick to a good movie, not retarded reality shows that you see all over the place. Kill me now.)

(I rest my eyes for a moment, thinking about the past. The things I've done, the things I've been through; is there more good than bad, or is it the other way around? It's hard to tell, and maybe that's a bad thing. The past is the past, I've been told, so I should let it be. Forget the past? How can I? I can't forget who I am, what I've done. No matter how far you run away from your sins, they will catch up.)

(I open my eyes and reach down on the side of the bed, grabbing a bad. I reach in and pull out my videocamera with a fresh tape inside. How can I get this on the air tonight...wait, nevermind. I forgot about a few guys I know who work in the promotion network. Surely they can get this out there tonight. So, I put the tape in and set the videocamera above the television. Muting the TV, I take a seat on my bed, my side to the camera and my front to the desk next to the bed. Grabbing the remote control I have for the videocamera, I hit record.)

(I take a sip of my glass of wine. Who says you need wine to celebrate...)

VIRUS: I just don't get it. Out of all of the cocky, arrogant wrestlers on the roster, I get the one that lacks a self-esteem. What can I say to a man who actually knows what's coming to him, unlike the others who just don't get it?

Clap.

(I clap my hands together a few times.)

VIRUS: Damien, if it's one thing I learned throughout my extensive and impressive career, you cannot anticipate defeat before a match. Just because my resume deservingly is more successful and longer than yours, doesn't necessarily mean I automatically win. It doesn't work that way. There's a reason why my resume is impressive and why I'm considered a pretty damn good wrestler. The reason is that when I step into the ring, I give it two hundred percent every time. I bring my 'a' game every single time. I am prepared, mentally and physically, to meet any challenge.

Now, am I always successful? No, no one is perfect.

But I do have a winning percentage and a couple of titles to make a pretty damn good case that I am, in fact, the real deal.

I can understand that you feel intimidated and what have you, going up against a veteran wrestler in just your second match in your entire career. But whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, and I guarantee you that whatever the result of this match, you will have learned a hell of a lot from me. Consider this one of the best learning experiences one, at the point of your career, can have.

Sure, that sounds cocky, but I know what I'm doing because I've done it for so long. You're right, my work history is pretty long. I've been with the best, I've beaten the best.

No, I haven't retired more men than social security; that's Apollo Creed.

In fact, I've done a lot in a short period of time that a lot of others can't claim. Take for example, Protean. You know, that whiny kid over in the LWF? I got him in an extreme match on the twenty sixth and I swear, the kid brown noses more than I've ever seen anyone ever do. He goes on and on about these AOWF legends and doesn't think I belong with them. I disagree.

I am a current double AOWF Champion, defending one of those titles on the twenty sixth.

I've overcome so many high-pressure matches that most wrestlers would crumble under. I was a walking definition of hardcore. I am a living legend.

And I'm back again to do what I do best.

(A crack of the knuckles causes me to pause for a moment. Where am I going with this...)

VIRUS: Come tomorrow, Damien, both of us are going to get our asses kicked. That's what a hardcore match is all about. I am positive that you will shatter a bone or two in me, break something, and make me bleed for a good half hour. That's what being hardcore is about. And I guarantee you I will do the same, if not more, to you. The only difference between the winner and the loser is not how hard they can hit, but how hard they can be hit and still keep going at it. It's all about willpower; the endurance to withstand the tenacious pain within a hardcore match.

I did that kind of thing for a living, back in the day. I have no idea about yourself because you're pretty new to the game. But if you can dig down deep inside yourself and get up again and again after you've been beaten down so many times, then more power to you. That's how you win a hardcore match.

Wrestling ability, weapons, big moves; they're nothing when it comes to will. When it comes to how much heart you have. When it comes to how much you can take.

Boost your pain tolerance, Damien, because that's the only way you're going to survive.

(A little cough. Still overcoming an illness that I got this past weekend. That's the least of my worries.)

VIRUS: I gotta say, Damien, you read my mind about the hotel thing. Why do you think I'm here? From what I've learned, it's best to hire a physician to come to you to a nearby hotel while you're recuperating with a few IVs stuck in you. It's good if you can afford it and find a damn good physician. I've used mine for the past three years, maybe I'll give you his number.

Because you're right; I don't know you, I have nothing against you. Why should I come out and be a complete asshole to you and tell you how bad you're going to get your ass kicked? One -- you seem to already know the latter, and two because I've got more class than a lot of other guys on the AOWF rosters.

A lot of them are filled with hate and bitterness, which is fine. It leads to fine entertainment on the airwaves. But I'm filled with determination. I let my actions do the talking.

(One more sip of the ol' wine...)

VIRUS: I don't know why you were picked for this match, Damien. I called up the man who convinced me to sign up for IWL and told him I wanted a warm-up for night of armageddon six. We shared some ideas and I had some pretty extreme matches, but he didn't want to get that hardcore. So be it, I said, and we agreed on the Hell in a Cell. It's popular, as you said, and it's not on the severe side of extreme. Little does he know that putting me in any kind of hardcore match automatically puts said match on the severe side of extreme, but I digress.

You were just a random pick, I assume, Damien. Maybe he was impressed with your debut match so much, he thought you could handle. Mentally, you don't seem fit for it. We'll find out, though, and we'll find out if you can dig deeg and go the distance with me.

Remember -- it's not about how hard you hit, but about how hard you can get hit and still keep going. I said it before, I'll say it a thousand more times if I have to.

Tomorrow, we'll paint the ring with our blood and sweat, and the winner will be the man who survived, not the one who appears "better" on paper.

I just happen to be a master of survival.

Giddy up.

(I grab the remote and hit the stop button. Getting up from my bed and taking out the tape, I grab my car keys and hotel key, leaving my hotel room immediately. I hope I can get this there in time.)

-fade-