GreggG
Moderator
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2000
- Messages
- 810
- Points
- 18
(CUE UP: "Blackbird" by The Beatles. CUT TO: A grainy, old-style shot (think The Wonder Years' opening credits) of a playground. The swings are rusty, the field is brown, the sun is hot. A teen boy-- obviously bigger than his two siblings-- is pushing a young boy and a young girl on a swingset. The girl leaps off and falls, cutting her knee, crying. Both boys run to her side, trying to help her. The oldest is first, acting more responsible, looking at her knee. The younger one keeps on trying to get in the way to help-- only to be pushed away by the older boy. The older boy carries the little girl in his arms and begins to walk away. The younger boy looks on and starts to play on the swings, by himself.)
(CUT TO: An older Troy Windham. He's wearing shades, a MICKEY BENEDICT T-Shirt and jeans. He's sitting on the same swingset.)
TROY: It wasn't that long ago when me, Mark and Catherine were out here. Three kids in Sweetwater with a whole lot of talent and a messed up family. All of us, trying to sort out the demons in our heads, trying to figure it all out. Mark moves away and becomes a big wrestling star. I watch and hate him and his fame because all my life, all I'd be is Mark's little cousin or brother. I stay at home, get kicked out of U Texas and join him because I have nowhere else to go. And what do I do? I become a star, but not like him. I do it my way.
What does Catherine do? Catherine-- haven't you seen what this sport has done to us? To Mark? To myself? To the Windhams? Mark's lost his mind. Mark has been hurt physically and emotionally. A Lost Soul. A man who is so obsessed with his past he foresake his future. Me? In and out of rehab. On the front page of all the tabloids. A busted neck. 4 screws in my wrist. We didn't have anywhere to go, Catherine. I stay here, despite my wealth, my jet, my condo, because it's the only thing I know. Ashton Kuchar and me might call each other on our cell-pieces... and while I know what it's like to guest star on The 70's Show... he'll never know what it's like to wake up in a hospital bed with an IV in your arm for your job.
Catherine-- you could've stayed out of this. You could've had a normal life. Anything you wanted. Instead, what you wanted was an easy way because that's what you thought I had. You think it's easy waking up with a plate in your spine? All the zeroes in my bank account, all the teenaged girls, all the slots on Celebrity Blind Date don't make up for the fact that I'm in physical pain 24 horus a day, 7 days a week. And that doesn't even compare to what Mark goes through, every day, chasing demons that aren't even there, just to try and prove to himself that Mommy and Daddy didn't leave because of him.
(Blackbird still plays. CUT TO: A camcorder shot of Bandit-- in biker gear-- and Troy, doing shots at a bar, laughing it up. CUT TO: Troy, at the empty bar, sitting down at a stool.)
TROY: Bandit. Before Eddy Love. Before Mr. CSWA. Before all of that, you were my ace. You were my friend. I needed someone to watch my back at all times. I took you out of the trailer and paid you a lot of money to do that. We rode up and down the road together. Good times. Good times.
But one thing has always mattered most to you. That's money. Growing up, you never had any. I gave you your house, Bandit. I gave you your Harley, Bandit. I'm sorry you couldn't hack it anymore-- that watching my back was too much work. I'm sorry I wanted to come out and do it on my own, Bandit. But I guess I'm even sorrier that I thought we had more than just the bodyguard/patron relationship, that we had a friendship. When nobody was there for me, half the people in this sport trying to crush me, when the other half were trying to attach themselves to me, you were the only one who I could always count on, Bandit. Enjoy the paycheck Mayfield is giving you. Enjoy getting smokes for Craig Miles. It's not going to last. What they want is what I have, Bandit. What I have, I earned, Bandit. Anyone tries to take that away from me... they end up with nothing.
(Blackbird still plays. CUT TO: Eli Flair tossing Troy around at their famed I Quit Cage Match. CUT TO: Troy on a stretcher. CUT TO: Troy in a hospital bed. CUT TO: Troy back at the hospital bed, sitting on it.)
TROY: Eli Flair, in a few short weeks, you have what is rightfully mine. A shot, once and for all, to prove that I am better than my brother. A shot, once and for all, to prove that I am the greatest wrestler of my era.
Now, instead, I have to watch you have that spot. The same man who put me in a hospital bed for four months. The same man I warred with for five years of my life. Eli Flair, you never made me say I Quit. Not once in your life. You never, not once, beat Troy Windham. I may have almost died at your hands... but I never lost to you. And now... now you have my shot. The CSWA World Title means more to me than anything else I've accomplished. It means that you're the best. It means that you're an immortal. To me, it means that for all I've been through, I've done it and succeeded. That title is worth living for. That title is worth dying for. That title is worth a war.
Eli, I thought our battles were over, old friend. I thought our war was over, old friend. Maybe just the first one is.
(Blackbird still plays. CUT TO: The picture from before. The young Mark, Troy and Catherine are all playing on the playground again. They look happy-- when they were kids, before they were adults, when they still had a chance.)
TROY: Mark, one day, one day we're going to meet. One day, we're finally going to see who is the better man. Is it Mark, who did everything he could to be a hero to everybody only to wind up with nothing inside but emptiness? Is it Troy, who did everything he could to be a hero to nobody, only to end up sacrificing his body to fight for a league he tried to use his whole career?
For all our broken wings, Mark... we're going to learn to fly. We're going to take these wings and learn to fly.
(FTB)
(CUT TO: An older Troy Windham. He's wearing shades, a MICKEY BENEDICT T-Shirt and jeans. He's sitting on the same swingset.)
TROY: It wasn't that long ago when me, Mark and Catherine were out here. Three kids in Sweetwater with a whole lot of talent and a messed up family. All of us, trying to sort out the demons in our heads, trying to figure it all out. Mark moves away and becomes a big wrestling star. I watch and hate him and his fame because all my life, all I'd be is Mark's little cousin or brother. I stay at home, get kicked out of U Texas and join him because I have nowhere else to go. And what do I do? I become a star, but not like him. I do it my way.
What does Catherine do? Catherine-- haven't you seen what this sport has done to us? To Mark? To myself? To the Windhams? Mark's lost his mind. Mark has been hurt physically and emotionally. A Lost Soul. A man who is so obsessed with his past he foresake his future. Me? In and out of rehab. On the front page of all the tabloids. A busted neck. 4 screws in my wrist. We didn't have anywhere to go, Catherine. I stay here, despite my wealth, my jet, my condo, because it's the only thing I know. Ashton Kuchar and me might call each other on our cell-pieces... and while I know what it's like to guest star on The 70's Show... he'll never know what it's like to wake up in a hospital bed with an IV in your arm for your job.
Catherine-- you could've stayed out of this. You could've had a normal life. Anything you wanted. Instead, what you wanted was an easy way because that's what you thought I had. You think it's easy waking up with a plate in your spine? All the zeroes in my bank account, all the teenaged girls, all the slots on Celebrity Blind Date don't make up for the fact that I'm in physical pain 24 horus a day, 7 days a week. And that doesn't even compare to what Mark goes through, every day, chasing demons that aren't even there, just to try and prove to himself that Mommy and Daddy didn't leave because of him.
(Blackbird still plays. CUT TO: A camcorder shot of Bandit-- in biker gear-- and Troy, doing shots at a bar, laughing it up. CUT TO: Troy, at the empty bar, sitting down at a stool.)
TROY: Bandit. Before Eddy Love. Before Mr. CSWA. Before all of that, you were my ace. You were my friend. I needed someone to watch my back at all times. I took you out of the trailer and paid you a lot of money to do that. We rode up and down the road together. Good times. Good times.
But one thing has always mattered most to you. That's money. Growing up, you never had any. I gave you your house, Bandit. I gave you your Harley, Bandit. I'm sorry you couldn't hack it anymore-- that watching my back was too much work. I'm sorry I wanted to come out and do it on my own, Bandit. But I guess I'm even sorrier that I thought we had more than just the bodyguard/patron relationship, that we had a friendship. When nobody was there for me, half the people in this sport trying to crush me, when the other half were trying to attach themselves to me, you were the only one who I could always count on, Bandit. Enjoy the paycheck Mayfield is giving you. Enjoy getting smokes for Craig Miles. It's not going to last. What they want is what I have, Bandit. What I have, I earned, Bandit. Anyone tries to take that away from me... they end up with nothing.
(Blackbird still plays. CUT TO: Eli Flair tossing Troy around at their famed I Quit Cage Match. CUT TO: Troy on a stretcher. CUT TO: Troy in a hospital bed. CUT TO: Troy back at the hospital bed, sitting on it.)
TROY: Eli Flair, in a few short weeks, you have what is rightfully mine. A shot, once and for all, to prove that I am better than my brother. A shot, once and for all, to prove that I am the greatest wrestler of my era.
Now, instead, I have to watch you have that spot. The same man who put me in a hospital bed for four months. The same man I warred with for five years of my life. Eli Flair, you never made me say I Quit. Not once in your life. You never, not once, beat Troy Windham. I may have almost died at your hands... but I never lost to you. And now... now you have my shot. The CSWA World Title means more to me than anything else I've accomplished. It means that you're the best. It means that you're an immortal. To me, it means that for all I've been through, I've done it and succeeded. That title is worth living for. That title is worth dying for. That title is worth a war.
Eli, I thought our battles were over, old friend. I thought our war was over, old friend. Maybe just the first one is.
(Blackbird still plays. CUT TO: The picture from before. The young Mark, Troy and Catherine are all playing on the playground again. They look happy-- when they were kids, before they were adults, when they still had a chance.)
TROY: Mark, one day, one day we're going to meet. One day, we're finally going to see who is the better man. Is it Mark, who did everything he could to be a hero to everybody only to wind up with nothing inside but emptiness? Is it Troy, who did everything he could to be a hero to nobody, only to end up sacrificing his body to fight for a league he tried to use his whole career?
For all our broken wings, Mark... we're going to learn to fly. We're going to take these wings and learn to fly.
(FTB)