What's it worth
(Cueup: Loud arena noise and "My Way" by Butch Walker being blasted in the background)
(Fade in on the backstage area at Christmas Card. Black Rose stands before the camera with a microphone, and beside him is Copycat. Copycat has the WFW World Heavyweight Title slung over his shoulder and is holding a blood-soaked towel to his head)
Rose: Congratulations are in order, Copycat. After seeking the WFW World Heavyweight Title for over a year, you have finally captured it, and I'm wondering if we can get some of your thoughts.
Copycat: It may have taken me over a year to win this title, Rose, but that's just a small part of the picture. It has been EIGHT years since I've known what it's like to be the heavyweight champion of the world, and after all that time, I have FINALLY done it. I've been told my glory days are over, I've been told I'd never make it back to the top, I've been told I'd be a loser forever, and I've been called every name under the sun, but it doesn't make a lick of difference because of THIS, right here.
(Copycat indicates the belt on his shoulder)
Copycat: This championship belt proves everything I have said for the past year, that I AM the best this business has to offer. Now I can't tell you how long I'm going to have this belt, Rose. But the fact is, tonight, I am the world heavyweight champion for the first time in eight years. Tonight, I have shown that I am everything I say I am and more. Tonight, I have earned the respect of each and every person in that arena. And there's NO ONE that can take that away from me. Not Sean Edmunds, not El Arco Iris, not ANYBODY. Tonight was the greatest night of my life, Rose, and it's an experience that I will never, ever forget.
(Copycat winces and adjusts the towel clasped to his head)
Copycat: And now, I'm going to see if there's not something I can do about this whole "gushing blood from the forehead" thing.
(Fade out)
(Cueup: "Me Against the World" by Simple Plan)
(Fade in on Copycat sitting at a desk somewhere, presumably his house of exceeding enormity at its undisclosed location. He wears jeans, a black T-shirt, and his trademark beret. He has a huge bandage on his head and the WFW World Heavyweight Title belt sits before him on the desk)
Copycat: I just couldn't, in good conscience, not show that clip. I was on top of the proverbial world when I walked out of that arena the World Heavyweight champion. When I heard I was facing Steve "Shawn Hart" Savoy at the next card -- Steve will have to forgive me if I should happen to slip and call him Shawn, the old name had a much catchier ring to it -- I thought, great. Just because I'm the champion doesn't mean I can't continue to prove myself, and a match with Savoy will be a good way to do that. After all, the last time Steve nee Shawn and I met in the ring, he beat me. The next challenger is going to be either Sean Edmunds or Anarky, two men I've already beaten, so Savoy was going to be my opportunity to show I have staying power as the champion. And yet...
(Copycat adopts a look of slight disappointment)
Copycat: And yet, after watching Steve's promo, I am skeptical. When Savoy nee Hart beat me a few years back, he was considered the only guy in the league -- which shall remain nameless, for posterity's sake -- who could bring me down, because he was the only guy whose head I couldn't get into. We were both at the tops of our respective games, and he won in the end. Good for him. But this isn't the same.
(Copycat shakes his head sadly)
Copycat: Now, Steve is nothing but a collection of bad jokes. Rap albums. Cheesy, deliberate misspellings. Disgraced NBA stars. This isn't the Shawn Hart I faced years ago who took me to the limit. This is a man who no longer has any purpose. This is a man who no longer has the drive he had when he beat me, or even when he beat Doc Silver to capture the title belt you see before you now. This is a man who has no respect for himself. Lucky for him...
(Copycat raises an eyebrow)
Copycat: ...I happen to know a thing or two about respect. Funny thing about respect, though. For the last year, respect has been the driving force behind every triumph I've had. The world title? Yes, that was an important factor too. But respect always came first. I was laughed at by everyone when I started demanding respect from my opponents, but I didn't back down -- I kept at that goal, and for all the doubts I've had hurled at me ever since I vowed to get that respect, I am now the WFW World Heavyweight champion, and those who doubted me are not.
(Copycat eyes the belt on the desk)
Copycat: And with this title belt comes a certain degree of respect. Everyone in that locker room -- everyone I vowed to get my due respect from -- even if they don't want to respect me, they have to respect THIS. Because this is the ultimate goal of every wrestler on the WFW roster. This belt carries with it an OBLIGATION of respect. And as such, my demanding it from my opponents would be somewhat redundant. Guys like Doc Silver, Scotty Michaels, Michael Manson...no matter how hated they were, they were RESPECTED as champions. Even someone like Steve Savoy, who is probably too confused to even remember the definition of "respect," is obligated to respect me to some degree. Any other opponent, and he wouldn't be getting a shot at the WFW World Heavyweight Title.
(Copycat fixes his eyes back on the camera)
Copycat: So let me ask you something, Steve. How much do you want this title belt? How much do you want to beat me and join the exclusive club of two-time WFW World Heavyweight champions? What is it worth to you? Because I can tell you, right now, you do not by ANY means deserve the title of World's Finest Wrestler. When you beat me years ago, that had a purpose. It wasn't just that you needed that title win...I needed something, too. I needed that loss to bring me down to earth, to show me everything I was doing wrong with my career. It was a year and a half before I was defeated again, so I'd like to think that it worked. I won't claim, of course, that my loss was in any way DELIBERATE -- you beat me fair and square, or at least, as fairly and squarely as could have been expected of the two of us at that point in our careers. That had a purpose. Your title shot now? It doesn't.
(Copycat glances away, then looks back at the camera, a sarcastic look on his face)
Copycat: You can come to Merrython with your laughable rap album, your pointless "Tru Warier" program, your waste of life of a sidekick. And you know what it's going to get you? Another tick in that loss column. I am not about to give this title away, Steve. And while I will defend this belt to the best of my ability against anyone who is given a shot at it, there is something I will not do under ANY circumstances.
(Copycat glares into the camera)
Copycat: I will not -- WILL NOT -- lose this belt to an opponent I do not respect. And Savoy, at this moment, I have no respect for you. If you can prove yourself worthy of my respect, then we can make this match a fantastic one. But if you DON'T, I will see to it that there is absolutely NO way you will take my championship belt from me. This belt means far too much to be held by a joke like you, Savoy. Nothing short of proving yourself worthy of respect is going to give you a chance at winning this belt.
(Copycat pulls the belt to himself, still staring into the camera)
Copycat: Without my respect, you will never -- EVER -- take my title. And that, Steve Savoy, is just all there is to it.
(Fade out)