<i>(We fade in on the main room of the gym that is no doubt becoming familiar to the viewers of Aaron Jones’ promos. The sounds of other patrons working out and training in the ring can be heard in the background, but the camera is aimed at a wall, on which is mounted a sizable whiteboard covered with brackets that are, from this distance, largely illegible. Aaron Jones stands in front of the whiteboard)</i>
<b>Aaron Jones:</b> It seems my days of introducing myself to everyone in EPW are far from over.
For the last few months, I’ve tried to familiarize myself with the other members of the roster, and I’ve tried to help them familiarize themselves with me. I was no stranger to the locker room, of course, but because of how I acted and who I associated myself with, I didn’t really get to know the other wrestlers, and they didn’t really get to know me.
I hope I did an OK job. I had a few matches, got eliminated first in a seven-man free-for-all at Russian Roulette, learned as much as I could.
But now I’m part of the King of the Cage tournament, and I suddenly find myself in the company of people who’ve never set foot in an EPW ring.
Now I’ve got to do a whole new round of introductions – to Mojo Massey, to Akita and to my own tag team partner, Malcolm Joseph-Jones.
And if I’m to have any hope of making some headway into this tournament, I’ve got to familiarize myself with a lot of new people, and fast.
That’s why the guys at the gym drew up this whiteboard for me. They figured it would help me keep track, and it’s been useful so far.
One night, after everybody had gone home, a guy filled in all the brackets taking my team all the way to the finals. A couple of the other guys thought that was pretty funny.
My favorite part is the constantly changing team names that they have for me – it pretty much gets erased and rewritten every time somebody comes up with a new one.
If you ask me, the best so far has been “No Relation.”
But I’ve come to understand that it might be stupid to assign a name to my team. After all, my partner doesn’t exactly have a reputation as a team player.
From what I hear, he’s pretty much the polar opposite.
He’s definitely got size and athletic ability going for him, both of which are big pluses – especially the former, where I’m not much help.
Word has it, though, that he’s not a guy you want for your tag team partner. And my own problems with sustaining offense aren’t likely to endear me to him.
Still, I know more about Malcolm Joseph-Jones than I do about either of our opponents.
Last I heard, Mojo Massey was a backstage reporter for EPW without much ring experience to speak of. But people change their career paths – I would know – so there could very well be more to him than I realize.
Akita might be Akita Hoshi. Or he might not be. I certainly know who Akita Hoshi is, but I haven’t been able to get a straight answer as to whether he is the Akita we’ll be facing.
It will be hard to address my opponents before I know anything about them.
But I know about Malcolm Joseph-Jones. I know about his ability, and I know about his attitude.
Malcolm, I realize I’m probably not the partner you were hoping for. I don’t have an impressive win-loss record. I’m still learning a lot of the things I need to know to be a success in this business.
I can see how that might not appeal to you. If you choose not to support me, I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll understand.
But you have an opportunity here.
The odds are against my advancing far in this tournament. Right now, our match is one of the least anticipated of the entire line-up.
All eyes are on Animezing Dragons, Rezin, Anarky, the First, Sean Stevens, Impulse, Cameron Cruise. If they advance through the tournament, no one will be surprised.
If we advance?
People will notice.
From what I hear, you like to have the world’s eyes on you, Malcolm. And the further you can take an undersized, relatively inexperienced tag team partner through those ranks, the more eyes will be on you.
There’s a lot of room between here…
<i>(He points to the left side of the bracket)</i>
<b>Jones:</b> … And here.
<i>(He points to the right side)</i>
<b>Jones:</b> It’s up to you how you use that space.
Think about it.
<i>(Jones walks toward the camera and, finally, past it. As he goes around the other side, it zooms in on the brackets, it focuses on the bracket opposite Mojo Massey & Akita, which right now reads “JONESTOWN.” A second later, the camera switches off, cutting to black)</i>