Round 3: Troy Douglas vs. Cameron Cruise

[Chad]

Roleplay begins Thursday and ends next Thursday. 3 RP maximum.

You may submit a card segment for use on the card by private messaging it to the following usernames: Chad; Ford; User Poets Not all segments may be used (i.e. we might only include winners, just depends on the amount of craziness).

 

[CuseTroy]

"You know, something tells me we've been here before."

FADE IN...

The basement of Troy Douglas' Greensboro, NC home is a veritable shrine to professional wrestling. Memorabilia going back decades lines the walls and shelves, leading up to a tape library that's had rabid collectors salivating for years. Flat against the wall is a massive projection screen, currently frozen on the final moments of A1E Vengeance 2009 with Cameron Cruise being lifted on the shoulders of his cohorts from the Highland Park Social Club, newly won A1E World Heavyweight Championship belt held high overhead. In the background, Troy Douglas sits slumped against the turnbuckles, his head frozen mid-shake. Panning away from the screen, the camera catches the 2012 version of Troy Douglas -- sporting a pair of old basketball shorts and an old TEAM Invitational Tournament 2008 t-shirt -- reclines in a squashy swivel chair, bearing a placid expression.

DOUGLAS: This had to happen, didn't it, Cam?

When the ULTRATITLE was sorted out and the bracket was all drawn up, I think we both knew that there was a path linking you and I come Round Three, and come hell or high water, this was going to happen. This absolutely HAD to happen. My return to professional wrestling, my quest to define my career -- my LEGACY -- it just wouldn't have been complete without this one match.

You and me, in the ring, head-to-head ... ONE. MORE. TIME.

'Cause we've done this so many times, haven't we? In Empire Pro, in A1E, around and around this industry, you and I have always been linked. Wherever one of us goes, the other one always seems to follow ... and inevitably, it ends with you and me inside those ropes.

Which is why I'm sure you've been absolutely SALIVATING about the potential for this one, Cameron.

Troy glances at the freeze-frame on the television, shaking his head slightly.

DOUGLAS: I'm not going to dance around the issue, because I'm damn sure that you won't, Cam. My record against "The Crippler" ... well, it ain't the best.

Actually, it's a bit of an 0-fer.

You know the history, I know the history. When you and I have gotten in the ring and gone one-on-one, you've -- by hook or by crook -- always managed to get the edge. I might not always like the way you've done it, but when you look at the history books, that's the way it reads. And it's not just the little ones, either. It's the big ones ... the biggest ones in my career, as a matter of fact.

Back in '08 and '09, I was on the biggest roll of my life. Talk about a guy hitting on all cylinders, save for Mike Randalls nearly tearing my left knee out of its socket in the semifinals of the TEAM Invitational Tournament, I almost couldn't be beat. I finally broke through in EPW, won the Intercontinental Championship -- my first title in the company after being their since just about Day One four years earlier -- and a few months later I grabbed the brass ring that eluded me for nearly a decade when I captured my first real world title in A1E.

And who was it that took BOTH belts off me?

Why, that'd be you, Cruise. You came this close to breaking my neck when you took the EPW IC title, and then -- barely two months after I'd finally broken through -- you took the A1E World Title off my waist in my very first defense.

Trust me, Cam, even a few years later, that still eats away at me. It still burns inside me that you were there to derail me. And it's not because of nefarious cheating or refereeing mistakes or any of that bull**** ...

It's because you were the better wrestler. And as a guy who prides himself on being as good as anyone on the planet inside that squared circle on any given night, it absolutely tears me up inside that despite all I've done, despite everywhere I've been, you're the brick wall I always seem to keep running up against. You're my no-win situation, and even after I walked away from this sport with ALMOST no regrets, you were the thousand-pound gorilla I never shed off my back.

I guess fate isn't always such a cruel mistress, huh?

Troy stands up and walks to the TV screen to lean against it, so that the frozen image of Cruise celebrating with the A1E World Title is directly above his right shoulder.

DOUGLAS: But, like I said, I'm sure that the same reason I'm aching for this match is the same reason that you're at home, grinning like the ******* Cheshire Cat. We've both have this match circled -- well, if you didn't just cross my name off the list in the first round -- but it's for very different reasons.

For you, this is a free ticket to the Sweet Sixteen, as I'm sure you'll be more than happy to tell everyone about.

But for me? For me, Cameron, this is a one-way ticket to redemption. This is my chance to erase all those past failures, all those shortcomings, all those times that you've gotten the one-up on me in one fell swoop. Because in one night, I can accomplish two things.

I can take one step closer to the ULTRATITLE, one step closer to coming back after more than a year away from the ring and stamping myself as the greatest professional wrestler alive today ... and I can make sure that you stay as far the hell away from that magnificent trophy as humanly possible. After you've taken so much from me, FINALLY I get the chance to take something away from you.

And I will, Cameron ... I will.

I've come up short against you too many times, Cameron. And while I'm sure that's reason for you to be confident, I'm hoping that it's reason enough for you to be overconfident. Because if you're resting on your laurels for one second, if you're sitting back and thinking that you'll -- pardon the wordplay -- cruise on to Round Four, then your winning streak against me is already wiped away.

You want a chance, even a CHANCE to endure the hell that I will bring your way in Round Three, then you better be sharper than you've ever been before. You better look at all those tapes of all those matches we've had and iron every single kink out of your game, 'cause if you don't ... if you breathe easy for one second, if you spend one millisecond thinking that you've got this in the bag -- well, I won't just beat you, Cameron.

I'll hurt you like you've never been hurt before, and for one of the very few times in my career, I think I might actually ENJOY it.

But, you know, maybe I can't do it. Maybe history's doomed to repeat itself one more time. Maybe you just are the better wrestler and the better man.

But maybe, Cam ... maybe this time is when the ol' script gets flipped. Maybe this time, your old game plan falls flat and all it takes is one lariat, one Scorpion Deathlock, one second-rope underhook piledriver ....

Maybe this time, I take you to the End of the Road.

...FADE OUT

 

[TSiegel]

Ya know...afew years ago, I'd have never imagined seeing the name "Troy Douglas", on the same marquee as the liked of "Sean Stevens", "Joey Melton", or even "The Sergeant". Hell...I'd even figured that Boogie Smallz had smoked himself STUPID."

(FADEIN, Cameron Cruise dressed in black slacks, a white-buttoned up shirt and a black suit-jacket on over it, complete with black Anarchy-style shades, his hair slicked back, sitting on the end of the bed of his hotel room. His bags sit packed in the corner of the room as he holds his check out stub in hand.)

CRUISE: But here we are.

No...this DID NOT have to happen, Troy, at least not for you, it didn't.

See, you believe in philosophies in what's "Meant to be" and any other possible religious cliche you could come up with that would send chills up peoples' spines; you not only WANT this to happen, you NEED THIS TO HAPPEN. Beating me and making it to the Sweet Sixteen makes up for the better part of a DECADE of my kicking your ass from pillar to post. Beating me makes up for what was almost GUARANTEED CLINICS that would have you on the short end of the stick.

And finally, beating me means that you no longer have to worry about staying up late at night the night before, biting your nails, and bringing home buckets of "Strawberry Chunky-Monkey" for you to have waiting for you while you cry your eyes out on the phone to your mother like Henry Winkler in heels from "Waterboy".

And EVERYBODY KNOWS...ain't no crying in WRESTLING, even if it comes via my nearly BREAKING YOUR NECK.

In the meantime, you could've stayed home after the time in the hospital, a token of what would happen in the future, from what happened in the past.

Defeated, on the first plane ride home.

Again and again and again.

Hell, you'd like to think that after I'd beaten you in A1E, that you'd take a hint.

Strike one was beating you, Marx, and what SHOULD'VE been Rocko Daymon for the VERY FIRST SHOT...at the Empire Pro Championship.

Strike two, was indeed was the Intercontinental Championship, hell, you weren't ready for that match and we both know it.

Strike three...the World Heavyweight Championship in A1E.

You're OUT, Troy; and I don't mean the overly-flamboyant, too-charismatic-for-his-own-good, swearing-by-The-Backstreet-Boys-because-you-think-backstreet-is-back...out.

You're DONE.

Normally, once you get embarrassed like you were, you either go into color-commentary or you go home and teach Elementary School Wrestling for kids. You've had your chances to get one over in regular competition or with a Championship title on the line...and you FAILED.

Entering a tournament because you see it as a chance to REDEEM yourself for those losses?? Talk about "Ad Hominem" like you wouldn't BELIEVE!! Sure, I'd probably feel the same way...two birds with one stone...that would seem CONCEIVABLE...but then I remember...

It's YOU.

You haven't held a regular booking schedule much like King Krusher, and despite winning Rounds One and Two...it's still a sizable disadvantage on your part. You don't think with your BRAIN, Troy, you think with your HEART, and in this business...you can't win with just one or the other.

Yeah, I heard you got in the tournament, I even heard about how you advanced to where you are now. Impressive, no doubt...but it wasn't until yesterday that I'd found out about your last victory, that's about as much concern as I have for the future as I get.

See...in a tournament like this, a tournament of this magnitude that I've competed in before in New Frontier...it wasn't until the tournament was announced that I figured out how to prepare for it.

I know what you're thinking...abit of a bold proclamation, right??

Maybe, but normally my theories in preparation for an event such as this isn't too far from a successful plan in action, so as a veteran of this business in fifteen years, my accomplishments in mind, the places I've been, the things I've done...I think I'm allowed to go out on a limb once in awhile, don't you??

Before, when I'd vied for the title in New Frontier with such men as Kin Hiroshi, Marx, Steel Viper, Kazuo Shizaki, and others...I figured it was JUST the skill that would be enough to attain such a Championship.

But no Troy, it takes more...MUCH MORE.

At the very least of it being focus, and there's nothing more in preparation that can help you than being focused. It's helped me win in A1E, matches that included the likes of the infamous "Pier Six Brawl", a Steel Cage match against Xandor Cross, as well as a few others, the "Sparkler" of that run, was of course the World Heavyweight Championship match against you at Vengeance.

People say that over the course of your career, you start to lose track of how you win Championship titles, but you NEVER forget winning the FIRST ONE....and what a heck of a night it was.

Now...say what you will, you about the Highland Park Social Club, they did exactly what I wanted them to do, which was to watch my back and give me a fair chance at beating opponents one-on-one. I'm not going to try to go into it though, because you know exactly what I mean...after all, you TOO, joined the Club later on, but that's irrelevant to what happens now.

But now that you're back again, after you were embarrassed by me not once, but TWICE...with a prestigious title on the line, you're after the same title I want, the Ultratitle Championship.

The Ultratitle...a title more coveted at this moment than that of the Empire Pro Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship title, a feat on it's own that I hope to rectify as well at the upcoming "Black Dawn".

The same event mind you, I defeated you at for the FIRST shot at the EPW title ever given.

The same event, mind you, where I defeated Joey Melton at in a Cage, and the same event I hope to set a Wrestling RECORD...and clinch my spot in the EPW Hall of Fame, when I defeat The First.

But what it's in for me besides another quality victory over a man such as yourself??

After all...I've beaten you in just about every other match just shy of this magnitude, what's left after a tournament match for the Ultratitle Championship?? A match pitting two former opponents against each other for another chance at THE BIGGEST prize in this business, and believe me when I tell you, it's not just the betting man that believes me to be the favorite to accomplish this feat between us, and you know that.

And what then?? You're a free agent, and last I heard Troy, a win for you means another week off the couch.

As for me, worst-case scenario, beating you does nothing for my reputation but further prove my dominance over this end of the business and over YOU. The best case scenario...beating you does EXACTLY what it should do, and that's take me one step closer towards proving to everyone that I am the BEST at what I do.

I proved it in A1E, hell, I'm proving it as we SPEAK...in Empire Pro.

But to prove it against the likes of a hundred-and-twenty-seven other men, roughly fifty of those men I've either heard of and the things they've done, they've heard of me or the things I've done...accomplishing a feat like this??

That's called UNDISPUTED, a term that frankly Troy, you'll never come to terms with.

At least not while I'm around.

You're not employed by A1 Entertainment or Dan Ryan, so what happens after I beat you again??

That's the million dollar question I'd like to hear answered.

I beat your ass and sent you to the hospital in Empire Pro, so you ran away to A1E. Then I beat your ass in A1E, but at the moment they aren't even booking events, so that begs the question...

Where is Troy Douglas going to go when Cameron Cruise beats him again, or are you FINALLY going to quit while you're ahead, content with the fact that you can spend an hour a couple times a week telling stories to children about how you came THIS CLOSE to beating the best.

After all...by doing that, you're giving them hope of succeeding in a business where you've failed, and very much like in our childhoods...well, at least MY childhood, you hold true the promise...

(Cruise looks up and smiles, then back at the camera)

that children ARE the future, and by doing that while I continue onward in the tournament, we will HELP THEM AND LEAD THE WAY!!

(Cruise chuckles)

You'll have to forgive me on that last comment, I just couldn't pass it up.

You make note of Mike Randalls nearly tearing apart your knee...so what??

I faced Randalls years ago as the first challenger to the Unified Championship in CSWA, a title that Dan Ryan now holds...and while I was not victorious on a legitimate victory, I took him to a time-limit draw, a victory for myself of a technicality because of the legend he bore of driving a wooden stake through ANOTHER MAN'S KNEE.

So I say again...so what??

Pretty much anything you've accomplished in this business, while it might prove special to you...is nothing new to me, and why??

Because I've either accomplished the same goal you have or one BETTER.

All because I've been deemed BETTER than the other man, at the very least skill alone.

Not many men in this business can take pride in saying that, regardless of whether or not his name is "Troy Douglas", but I do it willingly because I know I'm capable of BEING that man.

In fifteen years, I've never walked away from my career, afraid to take a chance at overcoming impossible odds, not like you.

"Fate isn't always a cruel mistress", you say?

You tell me, Troy.

I've beaten you exactly when it's counted, and now here we are AGAIN, in an event in history close to repeating itself a THIRD TIME for a FOURTH VICTORY.

But with that said...I'm going to be very clear about something, Troy.

I'm not a "****ing Cheshire Cat".

You have this match circled because it MEANS something to you, something more than just an advancement in the tournament, and that's more likely a deeply-seeded issue for a therapist than that of entering a world tournament for an off-chance of looking at me from the other side of the ring again.

I'm what you call a REALIST, Troy. What that means is simple; let's say this situation had been different. Let's say that this tournament had drawn us up differently and that some how...you ACTUALLY WIN IT, but I'd come up short. Maybe I fail against Melton or Eli Flair, the end result is moot....but you still haven't beaten me.

I sleep WELL at night knowing this, unlike you, but I sleep well and not even in my own bed; such is the life of a journeyman in this business, and I enjoy every second of it.

But for me, this is nothing near as special, because other than advancing to the Sweet Sixteen...beating you again isn't anything new for me. I won't be telling everyone about my victory over you, I'm fairly certain I won't even bother telling Wells about it when i check in on things at the "Bar & Grill".

I won't yell it from the ROOF TOPS, and I won't even capitalize on it in GIFT SHOPS. Instead, I'm just going to go back to the hotel, hitch a ride on the next plane and go about my regular business....

(Cruise shrugs, smiling)

All the same.

(Cruise waves off the rhyme, continuing.)

But on the other end, you beat me...and sure, you gain alittle sense of "Redemption" as you call it.

You FINALLY get that Gorilla off your back, you beat me and you also move on in the tournament in my 'stead. But unlike you...I'm not going home to a couch, Troy.

Much like after advancing in the tournament, it's back to the Gym for me.

Back to training for another big match, the Empire World Championship.

But I'd rather go into it with momentum towards winning the Ultratitle, than falling back on the SINGULAR alternative. Besides, there's nothing that Dan Ryan would love more, than to have an ACTIVE member of his company competing with the title of "ULTRATITLE CHAMPION" on his resume, for a chance to become the new Empire Pro Champion.

But I'm not worried about that scenario yet, Douglas.

Just because my career doesn't mirror yours, doesn't mean that I don't give a damn about competing, Troy. I'm in this for the same reason that thirty other men are, and that's to prove that I'm better than they are.

And I already know I'm better than you, so that kinda eases the nerves a bit, this week.

This isn't my being overconfident either, Troy. I know you find it hard to believe based on our past history, but I take every match I compete in seriously. However, as I've stated before...beating you is nothing new to me, if fact, lately I've kinda thought of it as more of a CHORE, and much like the ones I take care of on the road, I take no pleasure in completing the task anymore, but especially in situations like this....no one else is going to do it for me. Much like the natural order of things in life...it's only going to get harder as I get older. Thankfully I'm still young enough, I won't have to worry about that for AT LEAST another five years.

In the meantime, I'm content with where I am.

I've beaten you in Empire Pro, A1 Entertainment and soon...the biggest tournament in the World.

It's not going to be the "End of the Road" for me...but it's going to be yet ANOTHER "Reality Check" for you, Troy, one that you ought to be used to getting by now.

However, it's one you're still going to get every time we step in the ring.

Again, and again, and again.

I'm not out to hurt you, Troy, just to beat you...after that, it's back to business as usual, nothing personal.

And as you can see....business is GOOD.

FADEOUT

 

[TSiegel]

"These last few days, in the preparations I've had for my next round match in the Ultratitle Tournament, it's almost like a sequence you see on television or in a movie you've seen too many times, and in that you don't even have to watch it anymore to know what happens."

(Fadein, the Media Room in the back of "The Dangle Brother's Bar & Grill", in Baltimore Maryland. The Restaurant stands closed save for a few late bar patrons catching the last round. Two Waitresses on the far end of a hallway take turns coming and going through double doors to the kitchen, take glasses with them, eventually moving onto wiping down tables. Cruise sits, dressed in black slacks, a white dress shirt and loosened tie, his legs propped up on the desk, the Television playing a series of clips, all from the past matches that Cruise took place in, but more remotely against Troy Douglas; the Four Way match they participated in against "Clapper" and Jonathan Marx for the first Championship title match against Empire Pro's First Champion, Christian Sands. Later, the Intercontinental title match at Aggression where Cruise nearly paralyzed Douglas on the way toward victory. The World Heavyweight Championship in A1E where Cruise finally won the World Championship for the first time. He pauses the DVD player, tossing it on the desk next to him.)

CRUISE: I've watched these clips Troy, and it's to the point where I've almost got everything you've got in your offensive repertoire down, every angle, every twitch. That's what I've been talking about these last few weeks Troy, when I'm talking about "Focus".

(Cruise picks up another DVD off the desk next to him, holding it up for a second and then tossing it back on the desk next to the remote.)

This is our first and second round matches in the Ultratitle tournament...I'm planning on watching those tomorrow. See, that's what us ACTIVE people in this business call...a STUDY GUIDE.

Now...I know it just runs you right up the wall about how much you don't have going for you.

But is it who's fault is it that you're stuck in this perpetual state of Deja Vu?

Okay...mine, but who was it that kept telling you EXACTLY how things were gonna go and then it actually HAPPENED??

(Cruise shrugs)

Alright that was me again, but is it really my fault that you've been silent for almost a week??

Well...I suppose the jury is out on that one, but you see...even then, that still proves my point; while I might not be perfect on most things, in the overall "Big Picture"...I'm STILL, a better man than you are.

This isn't about hurting you, Troy, I've already done that and it's nothing you REALLY should be proud of telling men that are seven inches taller and eighty pounds heavier than you.

But as I said before, that part really doesn't matter at this point, now that you've advanced in the tournament, and for that I'm guessing you're looking for a cookie of some sort, right?? Call up Shawn Hart's sister, Felicia. I heard she fed Rocko some FANTASTIC batch up in Seattle a few months back, and nobody has heard from him since.

Must be good stuff...right??

Anyway, the fact is that I don't really much give a damn what your goals are, Troy, because the fact is they don't matter.

You don't care about this business outside of the past accomplishments you have, and that's fairly clear. You were all hyped up about getting on the radar in Empire Pro...took you what must have felt like FOREVER to win that Intercontinental Championship...and then I showed up and didn't just win it from you...I TOOK IT.

And much like a little kid that runs home to Mama, I put you in the Hospital and you haven't even showed up at Empire Pro Wrestling Head Quarters to say hello.

In fact, as far as I'm concerned, you not showing up after that....that's about as close as you get as walking off the job, Troy.

And as we all know, in basic terms...that makes you a QUITTER.

(Cruise stands up, pacing a bit)

But like the interdependence this business holds, you managed to find employment in A1 Entertainment, you had similar success in winning the A1E Cyber Championship before winning the World Championship, and you were on the First Class Clouds rigged with Silver linings again.

That is...until I showed up, won the same titles, as well as the Pier Six Brawl, and then just like you said yourself...I beat you AGAIN, and you disappeared.

AGAIN.

Now look at you.

Back on that cloud again, after beating some freak Umpire from Dodger Stadium and some seven foot Elimination Squad Leader-Wanna-be and you're ready to alleviate every other curse over your head in the past decade.

Except...the problem with that is that I'm here too.

Ready to send you right back home to Mama, unemployed and ashamed while I advance another round to the Sweet Sixteen, and another round to the Ultratitle.

Which will be yet one more thing I've taken from you in exchange for a REALITY CHECK, one that you just...won't like.

(Cruise grabs the remote and punches the 'Play' button, sitting back down at the desk, as the DVD plays on.

FADEOUT

 

[TSiegel]

Fadein, the arena that holds the squared circle that will put forth in a matter of a few hours, the battles and competitions of the oncoming Third Round of the Ultratitle tournament. From the angle of the ring apron facing the entrance, we see one of the competitors of one of the few matches people have made a note to see in Cameron Cruise, dressed in black slacks, a black sports coat with a white dress shirt on underneath, slowly pacing down towards the ring.)

CRUISE: Ya know...with the time to talk nearing it's end this week, I'm not sure whether to be irritated, shocked or overall unimpressed.

For the past few weeks, You've been mouthing off about the notice you took of my being in this tournament.

You made a point to tell some Gothic Umpire about me, and then you professed how good I was to some overgrown linebacker and that you managed to survive a match that nearly ruined you for the rest of your natural life...a point that at this time, most people already know about, but was blissfully reminded of by yourself and yours truly.

You waxed about how you NEEDED to face me, how you HAD to face me, to undo the failures that occurred in the better part of the last decade and avenge the many faults you had obtained when we faced off in the past.

And outside of your statements last week about what you thought about me and what you need to do...you've kept your mouth shut just like you have in the past.

But you see Troy, that's just it.

Never mind the victories in the first and second rounds, those don't matter anymore at this point the fact is that the only person at this moment that matters to you is looking right at you, and likewise to me, in you.

You're making known that you're scared that you'll always be the guy that 'always be the guy that came up short in the clutch', and you're afraid of being a failure. However, at the end of the day, that's just what I've been trying to hammer into your head, along with my hands, feet, and body when we meet in the ring; you ARE that guy. Sure, you've managed to attain a Championship title here and there, but when it comes to getting one over on ME...you ALWAYS come up short.

And in that respect...with our given past, and how you seem to prepare for yet ANOTHER beating, it makes you precisely what you fear your impending newborn child will see you as...A FAILURE.

There's never been any "Panache" in our matches, with the "End of the Road".

No one's really seen any "flair" behind a lariat, and people have CERTAINLY never seen you hook my legs into that Scorpion Deathlock.

And I know what you're thinking too..."There's a first time for everything, Cameron."

Really, Troy??

Just how many times have you thought of that very notion when we sign the contracts to face each other in the squared circle, Troy??

Four...five times now??

How about you try this one on for size: no one gives a damn about you anymore, Troy.

Sympathy was felt, that I'm sure, when they put you on that gurney and shipped you out to the hospital after losing the Intercontinental Championship. People might even gained a measure of respect when you defeated Marcus Westcott for the World Heavyweight Championship in A1E, but if they did it was quickly washed away when I defeated you shortly thereafter.

Especially when you know...you dropped off the wrestling circuit altogether, again...walking away a QUITTER.

Quite frankly it's hard pressed for ANYONE to believe in you after that, Troy.

But then who am I to say to you anything about ANYTHING that you don't already know about, right??

I'm only the one man that's made your life miserable whenever you see a glimpse of success, but what of it??

I've only done the things that you've either failed at doing or did better at, but that happens ALL THE TIME, right??

Also, you told that first loser you slipped past that you've had the motivation but he rattled your cage at his own RISK??

That's not exactly intimidating, Troy, especially not to a guy like me, who's virtually DESTROYED your cage..."at my own risk".

I don't need weapons, Troy, and I don't need help from anyone to beat you, you know this. The fact is, I'm telling you now that as much as it's going to eat you up that I've done it before, I'm going to do it AGAIN, when we face off here in a short time from now.

I've been better than you in the past by just pure skill alone, Troy.

I'm better than you NOW, by pure skill alone, and to be honest, I'm nothing short of focused on doing it AGAIN...with yet another prize on the line, moving on to the next round of the Ultratitle Championship Tournament.

But don't worry, Troy.

You can go back to what you were doing when you quit, because it's seemingly the thing you do BEST.

Wrestling?? Proving myself day in and day out inside these ropes??

I do that for a LIVING, and I'm DAMN GOOD AT IT.

But as for you??

Well...it's kinda like Tyler Durden said: Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day in Troy Douglas' life, and his breakfast will taste better than anything anyone's ever tasted.

You don't have to say "Thank you" Troy, you don't have to say ANYTHING.

But what you do have to do...is stay HOME.

Because after I beat you AGAIN, it won't be until then that you realize that what I did for you wasn't just a REALITY CHECK that you're not going to like, but a favor I'm doing for the sake of this business. After I beat you and advance to the Sweet Sixteen tournament, it'll be a third time I make you disappear, Douglas.

I'm going to put YOU at the "End of the Road", Troy, and the entire World and thirty other men know it, thirty other men but you.

Trust me though, Troy...I'll explain it to you AGAIN, if you need to.

It'll just take three seconds.

FADEOUT