act five: prepare to be educated
This Sunday marks the next great showdown between two of wrestlings greatest icons, but it also marks the very first time in Christopher Champion's career where he'll enter the ring against an opponent that has simply outgrown him farther than he could ever comprehend.
There was a time, just a few years ago, where Champion could have easily bested me at many of the things we do in this sport. Yet in the span of those many years, apparently, Champion underwent some... changes, and that's cool, you know? I once underwent some changes of my own, and Champion's changes certainly remind me of them.
I regret those changes, though... because they made me a worse person than I ever wanted to be. Champion's changes? Champion's... well, they aren't making him a worse person, at least, but to be honest?
They aren't making him much of anything else, either.
I hate to say it, Chris, but this little quest of yours to self-enlightment? If this was the result, it was a damn waste and a shame that you had to put yourself through so much to get gipped the way you did. I'd be bitching out my spirit guide if I were you right now, probably ask for my money back and punch a few people on my way out.
Long and short of it is that you're still the same Chris Champion that you were when you left the ring just a few years ago and, while being such a person certainly entitles enormous skill, it... it just doesn't stand up to the Dominic Pericolo of a few years later, you know?
See, Chris, you and I... we've both changed, haven't we? Or, at least, I have... I made changes in my life to ensure my family's future and, because I wasn't satisfied with a retirement that wasn't ensuring a greater future for them down the line, I returned to make a little extra money.
What's that? It wasn't... it wasn't to try and step out of your shadow, you ask? Why no, Chris, what ever made you think you were weighing that heavily on my mind?
We all know why you returned, Champion... you love the glory, the respect, the admiration... you love handing people's asses to them and getting paid to do it, no less. You love the rush the crowd gives you, the adrenaline surging through your veins in every match. You came back for entirely selfish reasons, but you hid them under the guise of saving the NLCW.
You, saving the NLCW... you can't even save yourself, Chris, what makes you think you could save the rest of us?
I have made a career of bouncing back after losses, Chris, what makes you think that losing to you will do anything but make me more determined to stop you in the long run? This isn't the culmination of everything between you and I, this is just the culmination of your stubborness finally exploding in new and creative ways all over the rest of us left here fighting for this company.
You want to keep the NLCW alive because you feel like you couldn't keep your own career alive, like you can't even keep yourself alive, and that? That's not healthy, Chris... not healthy at all.
You need your rest, you need your healing, you need to go home and get rid of whatever the hell it is that's flowing for your veins, because if you really wanted to save the NLCW, you'd be doing something to make sure you could see this fucking thing through 'til the end. But instead, you're content being the ticking timebomb, the guy who will do nothing but tear the NLCW with him because he was too blind to see what his death would do to the company letting him continue in this blind fight of his for glory.
I never thought I'd say these words, but... you're washed up, Chris, and you don't even have a fucking prayer against me.
Then again, Chris Champion was never one about praying either, was he? No... you made yourself your own damn god in your life, and you made certain that those who didn't worship you would be treated to your ego at every step of your new journey here in the company. And when it's all said and done, when the dust settles and the poison finally works its way through your veins, you'll have died a pointless death in the hopes that it would do something to save the NLCW.
At least, you would... if only you could win this Sunday.
See though, that's the point. See the point? It's clear as day, Chris, but in case you missed it, I'll spell it out for you: you're going to lose.
You're going to go the way of the roaring lion. The same way that every opponent I've faced in the NLCW up to this point since my return has gone... and the funniest thing about it is you only see it as a possibility, the possibility that maybe, if the stars align juuuuust right and if Dominic Pericolo prays a little harder this time, he might get the victory.
But it's not the same as it always has been, Chris... only you've had the luxury of never changing over the years. No, see... now, things are very different, and you?
You're just a step behind.
It's understandable-- no, really! You've been gone a few years, haven't had your head in the game for awhile... it makes sense that you'd lose sight of how things work around here, but that's why you have me, your old friend! I'm here to help you, Chris...
I'm here to help you right into the hospital bed you belong in.
So no, Chris, really... I want you to bring all you have this Sunday. Doing anything less will make this thing look too easy to the rest of the world, and the last thing I want to do is kill your legacy in the process of you trying to kill yourself.
I'm doing this to help you, Champion, whether you want me to or not... and there's nothing you can do to hold me back from that.
See you Sunday, kid.