(Fade in backstage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the camera in close pursuit of New ERA of Wrestling reporter SAM BAXTER. The reporter enters through a door marked "Infirmary", finding "THE UNDYING" ROCKO DAYMON sitting on the end of a cot while the resident physician and a couple of Empire Pro officials hover over him, looking grim. The doctor seems to be giving a look to the right shoulder of Daymon.)
Doctor
Well... nobody can be certain without proper testing at the hospital.
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
You know I don't have time for a hospital, Doc. Will it get me through the night?
(The doctor lets out a grievous sigh.)
Doctor
...maybe.
It could just be a sprain... but if you're still going out there tonight, you might make it worse. And that's provided you haven't torn the ligament again.
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
Fuckin' peachy...
(Daymon catches sight of Baxter, and gives his command to the officials.)
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
Guys... Doc... give me a few minutes here to take care of this.
Doctor
Right...
(The doctor collects his things and leaves with the officials. Baxter takes a step forward as Daymon rises to his feet, giving his shoulder a few rotations to loosen it up, and approaches the reporter to begin the interview.)
Sam Baxter
Hey there, Rocko. I'm sorry to say we haven't seen very much of you lately in New ERA of Wrestling.
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
Yeah, I know... that's what having a bitch of an ex-wife in the front office will do to you. But thankfully, she split with the offices of World's Finest Wrestling... and now, the people of New ERA have been calling, looking for the return of their former World Champion.
Sam Baxter
How did the match at Aggression 50 go?
(Daymon grimaces as he rotates the shoulder again. There's apparently still some pain in there.)
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
...you're looking at it, Sam. I really hoped I could go out there and give High Flayer the proper introduction to Empire Pro... but, I guess the past has a way of coming back to haunt you.
Sam Baxter
Is that the same shoulder you injured two years ago?
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
Unfortunately, it is, Sam. Ironic, how this should come up... now that I finally have the chance to destroy the man that first injured this shoulder to begin with.
Sam Baxter
That man, of course, is Empire Pro extreme wrestling star, Jason Reeves... better known as STALKER. He's spoken many times during the week, and according to him, he did more that night two years ago than injure that very shoulder. By the way he talks, he destroyed everything your life represents... and given where you are now compared to where we've seen you before, Rocko, I'm sorry to say that it's hard to disagree with that.
I mean... while you were on the path of recovery, tension mounted within your family, culminating to the point where you have divorced yourself from your longtime wife and loyal manager, Caitlyn. Rumor has it, you've willingly signed away all of your assets, and you've gone from living in luxury as a world-renown wrestling superstar to barely making ends meet in a low-rent apartment in downtown Seattle. When you came back from that injury, you were never the same wrestler you were in New ERA of Wrestling... losing the NEW World Heavyweight Title in your first match back to Shawn Hart, and losing every subsequent match since! On top of that, you compare yourself now to a picture of how you looked early on in 2009, and you'd be hard pressed to recognize them as the same man!
(Daymon's brow furrows slightly as Sam Baxter gets away with himself listing off all the bad things that have happened to him recently.)
Sam Baxter
Here you are now in a Last Man Standing match against your nemesis, Stalker, who has made your life a living hell for this past year... and you're walking in not knowing if your arm will get you to end! You've reached the crossroads in your professional wrestling career spanning over a decade. If you succeed tonight, you will have rid your life of a cancer that has done nothing but kill you slowly since he reentered your life... but should you fail, your career in New ERA of Wrestling will be FINISHED!
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
Well hey, Sam, thanks for reminding us all about the Rocko Daymon Sob Story of 2009...
Sam Baxter
Sorry... it's just --
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
No, Sam... you don't need to apologize, because honestly, I don't care.
Sam Baxter
...you don't care? How can you say something like that in the wake of everything you've lost in the past year alone?
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
Nothing was "lost", Sam... only sacrificed. I gave away everything I had... just to prove that even with nothing, I could take it back.
I called it quits with Caitlyn because I realized what a goddamn lying, manipulative, and sadistic CUNT she is! When she wasn't giving me orders, she was only holding me back... and now that I've let her go, she's still trying to drag me down. The divorce was letting go of excess baggage. Same goes with the money. I gave it all to her to keep her off my back. I don't need money to get what I want out of this sport. All I need is the undying conviction that pushes me to outlast the other man in the ring.
But before I can rebuild my path back to the top... I have to pop this zit on my ass called Stalker.
The injury didn't destroy my life, Sam. It just turned me into a new kind of monster. I don't have a family to think about anymore. I don't have a life to go back to if I fail. I fight until I can find the man that can kill me for once and for all... and despite what he thinks, Reeves isn't that man. Reeves is just another garbage wrestling jack-off who is convinced he has a score to settle.
The man broke my arm, my ribs, dislocated my shoulder, and had me ripped to shreds in razor wire in one desperate attempt after another to shatter my will... and has failed every single time, because he cannot kill what doesn't die! Now he thinks he can overcome me in a Last Man Standing match... the same match I kicked his ass in ten years ago. I haven't lost a Last Man Standing match since then. For everything he has tried in the past year, I am still standing... and I will always stand until he can finally step up and beat me in a match!
Sam Baxter
But even if you DO come out the victor in this match... will you have a career to follow it? Who's to say you don't just bang up that shoulder to the point where you can't even use that arm anymore?
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
...like the doctor told me, Sam. Nobody can be certain. I don't have a career if I walk away, and I probably won't have a career if I go through with it. The last time I was given the choice of fighting with a busted shoulder or waiting for my time to strike back, I had to give up the EPW World Heavyweight Title. I'm not giving up so easily this time around.
I'm well aware this could be more than just my last match in New ERA of Wrestling, win or lose. New ERA of Wrestling will move on without me.
Stalker dragged me three stories into the top of a Volvo two years ago, and put me away for nine months. But if I'm going to go away forever here tonight, then this time... Stalker is the one getting dragged down the rest of the way. If my arm is fucked up beyond all repair, then hell or high water, two careers will end tonight.
(Rocko turns his arm over again. The pain isn't getting any better.)
"The Undying" Rocko Daymon
Excuse me, Sam... I need to put some ice on this.
Sam Baxter
Of course, Rocko... every minute counts from here until the match later tonight. Take care, please...
(Daymon walks by the reporter and makes his exit as the the camera fades to black.)