Post by The Bigger Blacker Jones on Aug 9, 2015 9:19:41 GMT -6
August 10th. 2015
How Did He Get Here? Was It All Dream?
Jones wasn't sure of what to make of any of it. It all happened so fast. It was all just a blur. A dream. He still couldn't believe that he had arrived at this moment in time and space. Him of all people. It just didn't make sense, he couldn't grasp the concept that Black Jones, the man nobody cared about two years ago was now about to walk out into an arena full of thousands who would be cheering his name, watching him compete in the Main Event for professional wrestling's biggest prize.
Was It Destiny?
He wondered if it was all preordained, and that everything he had ever been through was just apart of the process, that it was all just necessary for his progression, leading him upon this path. He questioned it all. His love for the business, his belief in people, in himself. All of that had been tested, had been scrutinized after what happened. The Masked Salaryman. His tag partner and friend unmasked as Ryuji Kamigawa, the Monster in White, and the man who helped put him in the hospital. The whole situation messed with his psyche, and forced him to leave the game to go get his head right. He had been searching for answers to questions he never thought of. He had lost himself in the shuffle, and needed to find his way back.
But Was His Mind Clear?
It was hard to have his head in the game. He was jittery. His nerves were crippling. The most confident man alive was nervous. How could he not be? This was the biggest, and most important moment of his life. Everything was riding on this performance. A chance at vindication. A chance to finally quiet the doubters. A chance to wholeheartedly prove the system wrong and cement his place as one of the kids who "got out" of the ghetto and made himself into something.
A chance to matter.
This Is What We've Been Working For!
He thought to himself. The blood, the sweat, the tears. All the wins and the losses. The triumphs and the heartbreaks. The injuries, the setbacks and the misfortune. All of it was coming full circle. All of it was being justified by this opportunity. He had arrived now. He had seen all of his hard work manifest into the chance of a lifetime - his chance to be more than what he was, to be more than just the another guy, a chance to be someone else.
To be the the guy.
I've Dreamed Of This!
He did. Used to imagine it as a child, imagine wrestling in front of a sold out crowd. He grew up watching Jon Collins, Jimmy Riley and men like Andreas Lasiewicz make their names. He grew up idolizing by Christian Kane. He cheered for Fiona Rourke from behind the guardrail. And now, now he was about to walk amongst them. Now he was about to do what they had done so many times before.
He was about to tear the house down.
He was about to earn his paycheck.
He was about to become a star.
"Good Luck... Break A Leg... Go Get Him Babe..."
He scrolled through his messages. Well wishes from his friends. People like Cary Caldwell who were dealing with personal problems and calamity yet still found space in his mind to have him in his thoughts. People like Tom Higashikata, who were still banged up, and still trying to piece themselves back together, but wanted to let him know that he was still by his side. From people like his girlfriend Wynter, who believed in him from day one, and supported his dream. She was the best thing that ever happened to him, but both got she was hoping to become the second best thing.
This Is For You...
He nodded and stood up from his lockeroom chair. Holding a picture of his deceased baby sister. Upon kidding the Polaroid he folds it up and places it in his locker.
He can hear them chanting his name now.
"BLACK JONES!
BLACK JONES!
BLACK JONES!
BLACK JONES!"
Balling his hands up into tight fists, the kid from West Philly slowly makes his way toward the ring, ready to tackle the biggest challenge of his life; ready to face his destiny.
The future was here.
"They say you should never meet your heroes..." the scene starts, focusing on nothing but the scenery of what appears to be some sort of metropolis - or more specifically the impoverished section. The camera passes over abandoned, and boarded up homes, pothole ridden streets, and ransacked motor vehicles. "Cause you end up finding out that these cats are not what they seem to be."
"Chris Strike, he ain't a real one. Never was. That shit cray when you think about it. I would've never imagined, never thought somebody like the War Machine was such a Harvey Two-Face but when people show you their true colors you gotta take it for what it is. Can't make excuses for em. You can't try to rationalize it. You gotta deal with the facts."
"And the fact is, Chris Strike ain't never care about nobody other than himself." The camera passes a train station now, and a busy one as pedestrians and policemen are strewn about, walking and interacting with one another as they go about their business.
"That's why I live by the rule: no new friends. Cause the people you meet nowadays ain't really down with you, they just looking for that come up. They're only rockin' with you to see what they can get from you. And that's why he was down with the Sekigun. That's why he pretended like he wanted to protect EXODUS from the G&M scumbags, and the Chuck Matthews' up the free world. He saw an opportunity, and he took it."
The camera now focuses on a playground. The swings are missing, the benches are old, and the wood is either chipped or did colored, the only thing remaining intact being the jungle gym. "Can't even be mad at him for real, that's the sad thing about it. You grabbed onto the monkey bars and you climbed to the front of the line, hopping over everybody else to get to the World Title. That's all he wanted. He saw a chance at fame. He saw his chance to be the man which he wasn't ever going to get on his own. He knew if he helped the Sekigun get Furor, and Iwakuma and Matthews out the picture that he'd be the one standing with the gold when it was all said and done."
The camera exhibits a basketball court now with a line net less rim situated on a graffitied backboard. "Cats like him are as calculated as can be. They be thinking about everything. You can tell he planned this. Probably back to when he was under the WEAPON mask. Yeah, he was playing us all for fools and when he got what he wanted he switched up fast as hell. That's why you can't trust nobody, not even heroes. Momma told me never to worship no man, and my momma ain't never told me nothin' that wasn't beneficial."
"That's why I don't respect you, dog." We see Black Jones walk into the shot now. "I don't respect where you been, where you come from, or how you got here. Everything about you is counterfeit. Your smile. How you talk. How you carry yourself. Ain't nothin' about you genuine homie. You was never down with the cookout you was just here for the food. But that's our fault. We let you stroll up on our block and grab a plate when we should've been asking who the fuck you are." The Fresh Prince is backdropped by the impoverished playground as he paces back and forth in front of the camera. "And I should've known. There was always something about you that ain't sit well with me, but it's hard to see the writing on the wall when you too caught up in the O.K. Corral. Those were desperate times, and back then the Sekigun was willing to take anybody in to reach the end goal. But sometimes the end don't justify the means. Sometimes it all don't end up being worth it when you look back."
"All we did was trade in one jackass with a messiah complex for the knock off version. We stopped paying for General Mills cereal and started buying the department store brand. And take it from a dude who grew up on 'Cinnamon Wheat Squares' before he could afford 'Cinnamon Toast Crunch', you can taste the difference. Furor wanted to destroy EXODUS, but Chris just wants us to kiss his feet and feed him fruits like he's royalty and shit."
"You a king alright. King Crab. A crab is a dude who be lying through they teeth. A crab is a bull who say he gone do one thing but do the opposite. A crab is a dude who will break into your house at night and steal your stuff, then come over to your house in the morning and act shocked that somebody robbed you. And you the biggest one in the game."
"And I'm tired of people like you." Jones says, looking right into the camera. "I've had it with cats like you faking it til they make it, and lying through the teeth til' they can get their foot in the door. Cause it ain't right. It ain't right that a man like you who never cared about EXODUS, who ain't never cared about the people should be able to walk around holding the World Championship, acting like you built this place and like can't nobody touch you cause you ain't untouchable. I've seen you catch L's like a Rasta. You ain't as bad as you think you are. You think you're hard bodied, but you ain't gotta hard bone in your body."
You ain't live this life you been talking, Quentin Miller writing your lines, and you been Aubrey Grahamin' the shit out of us. But I ain't like Meek. I ain't gone diss you and not be prepared for a response. I know you fake, but I know you can handle yourself. I know you got some fire for a young OG. I saw what you did to my boy Christian Kane. After you survived by the skin of your teeth the first time around you gave him that rematch and you beat him fair and square. He was trying to end his career with that Aretha Franklin, but you ain't let him have that high note. You gave him that Barry White. He left Vegas empty handed while you remained at the top of the ladder."
"But I'm coming to snatch your chain." He says, shaking a fist demonstratively. "Cause I ain't never had nothin'. I grew up right here in Philly. West Side where I reside. Used to run ball in The Pit out here at night with the criminals and the pushers. Momma told me don't be out here, but I used to come out anyway cause I was tryna get that mugga so I could help pay the bills cause I ain't want her to keep struggling trying to raise four boys. I know hardship man. I know what it's like to really come from the bottom, from the gutter, constantly being counted out and overlooked and told you won't ever amount to anything."
"I've had people tell me I don't belong here, you ain't the first, Strike. I've had people tell me that I'm not gone make it in this business. Hell, I've been told that I wouldn't see 25, and that the only 25 in my future is the minimum years in a life sentence. I've got three more years to prove those cars wrong, but all I need is one night to prove YOU wrong. All I need is one chance. And this is it, and Chris, believe me when I tell you that you ain't met nobody like me."
"I ain't as experienced, as strong, or as decorated as some of the guys you've faced in your career, but I'll tell you one thing, none of those people could ever say they possess what I have; heart. They ain't got my heart man. They didn't come from the hood where most dudes die before their 18th birthday. They didn't go to a high school where the teachers was selling drugs to the students. They didn't drop outta college cause' they couldn't afford it. If anybody would've lived through those circumstances they would've crumbled due to the pressure but I didn't. I hardened like a diamond, and now I'm the diamond in the rough."
"I ain't never been anything other than what I am and I'm a guy who's bled for EXODUS on more than one occasion. I'm a guy who started in the crowd, dreaming of what it would be like to step through the curtains, and now I'm going toe to toe with the best of them. I came from Section B, to a Main Event World Championship Match against a living legend. That's how I know i belong here. I know I'm real because I've seen my hard work pay off. I've seen those classes with Papa Arino, I've seen all the hours of training with Jimmy Riley, I've seen the year or two I spent in (R)evolution all pay off. Now I'm here. I'm here to look you right in the eye and tell you that Black Jones ain't nothin' to fuck with."
"I'm here to tell you that you've got your work cut out for you, Chris. I ain't got nothin' to lose, playa. I've been playing with house money my entire life. I'm just a little black boy from West Philly. I was never supposed to be here at 22, wrestling for the best company in the world for the World Title. I was supposed to be in a box or a jail cell. That's why I don't take this for granted. That's why I gotta say something when cats like you come in here and talk heavy, and act like they're better than everyone else. I can't sit on my hands when I see something that ain't right. I can't close my mouth when I see somebody saying some fuck shit. I gotta call you on it."
"So I've called you out, and I've called my shot. And Monday, I'm be pulling out all the stops. I'll show you that I've got as much bite as I've got bark. I'll show you that I was born ready for this. I'm the homegrown EXODUS product. The greatest graduate of the (R)evolution Dojo. The man who's Half Man-Half Amazing. The guy who's about to become the youngest Triple Crown Winner ever!"
"I've been doing right, and now I'm being rewarded for all my good karma, by rewarding you with the biggest fade of all time. It was here where I learned how to be a man," he says, looking around at his surroundings, "and it's here I'll be coming back to as THE man, as the EXODUS World Champion." Fade to black.
How Did He Get Here? Was It All Dream?
Jones wasn't sure of what to make of any of it. It all happened so fast. It was all just a blur. A dream. He still couldn't believe that he had arrived at this moment in time and space. Him of all people. It just didn't make sense, he couldn't grasp the concept that Black Jones, the man nobody cared about two years ago was now about to walk out into an arena full of thousands who would be cheering his name, watching him compete in the Main Event for professional wrestling's biggest prize.
Was It Destiny?
He wondered if it was all preordained, and that everything he had ever been through was just apart of the process, that it was all just necessary for his progression, leading him upon this path. He questioned it all. His love for the business, his belief in people, in himself. All of that had been tested, had been scrutinized after what happened. The Masked Salaryman. His tag partner and friend unmasked as Ryuji Kamigawa, the Monster in White, and the man who helped put him in the hospital. The whole situation messed with his psyche, and forced him to leave the game to go get his head right. He had been searching for answers to questions he never thought of. He had lost himself in the shuffle, and needed to find his way back.
But Was His Mind Clear?
It was hard to have his head in the game. He was jittery. His nerves were crippling. The most confident man alive was nervous. How could he not be? This was the biggest, and most important moment of his life. Everything was riding on this performance. A chance at vindication. A chance to finally quiet the doubters. A chance to wholeheartedly prove the system wrong and cement his place as one of the kids who "got out" of the ghetto and made himself into something.
A chance to matter.
This Is What We've Been Working For!
He thought to himself. The blood, the sweat, the tears. All the wins and the losses. The triumphs and the heartbreaks. The injuries, the setbacks and the misfortune. All of it was coming full circle. All of it was being justified by this opportunity. He had arrived now. He had seen all of his hard work manifest into the chance of a lifetime - his chance to be more than what he was, to be more than just the another guy, a chance to be someone else.
To be the the guy.
I've Dreamed Of This!
He did. Used to imagine it as a child, imagine wrestling in front of a sold out crowd. He grew up watching Jon Collins, Jimmy Riley and men like Andreas Lasiewicz make their names. He grew up idolizing by Christian Kane. He cheered for Fiona Rourke from behind the guardrail. And now, now he was about to walk amongst them. Now he was about to do what they had done so many times before.
He was about to tear the house down.
He was about to earn his paycheck.
He was about to become a star.
"Good Luck... Break A Leg... Go Get Him Babe..."
He scrolled through his messages. Well wishes from his friends. People like Cary Caldwell who were dealing with personal problems and calamity yet still found space in his mind to have him in his thoughts. People like Tom Higashikata, who were still banged up, and still trying to piece themselves back together, but wanted to let him know that he was still by his side. From people like his girlfriend Wynter, who believed in him from day one, and supported his dream. She was the best thing that ever happened to him, but both got she was hoping to become the second best thing.
This Is For You...
He nodded and stood up from his lockeroom chair. Holding a picture of his deceased baby sister. Upon kidding the Polaroid he folds it up and places it in his locker.
He can hear them chanting his name now.
"BLACK JONES!
BLACK JONES!
BLACK JONES!
BLACK JONES!"
Balling his hands up into tight fists, the kid from West Philly slowly makes his way toward the ring, ready to tackle the biggest challenge of his life; ready to face his destiny.
The future was here.
**********
"They say you should never meet your heroes..." the scene starts, focusing on nothing but the scenery of what appears to be some sort of metropolis - or more specifically the impoverished section. The camera passes over abandoned, and boarded up homes, pothole ridden streets, and ransacked motor vehicles. "Cause you end up finding out that these cats are not what they seem to be."
"Chris Strike, he ain't a real one. Never was. That shit cray when you think about it. I would've never imagined, never thought somebody like the War Machine was such a Harvey Two-Face but when people show you their true colors you gotta take it for what it is. Can't make excuses for em. You can't try to rationalize it. You gotta deal with the facts."
"And the fact is, Chris Strike ain't never care about nobody other than himself." The camera passes a train station now, and a busy one as pedestrians and policemen are strewn about, walking and interacting with one another as they go about their business.
"That's why I live by the rule: no new friends. Cause the people you meet nowadays ain't really down with you, they just looking for that come up. They're only rockin' with you to see what they can get from you. And that's why he was down with the Sekigun. That's why he pretended like he wanted to protect EXODUS from the G&M scumbags, and the Chuck Matthews' up the free world. He saw an opportunity, and he took it."
The camera now focuses on a playground. The swings are missing, the benches are old, and the wood is either chipped or did colored, the only thing remaining intact being the jungle gym. "Can't even be mad at him for real, that's the sad thing about it. You grabbed onto the monkey bars and you climbed to the front of the line, hopping over everybody else to get to the World Title. That's all he wanted. He saw a chance at fame. He saw his chance to be the man which he wasn't ever going to get on his own. He knew if he helped the Sekigun get Furor, and Iwakuma and Matthews out the picture that he'd be the one standing with the gold when it was all said and done."
The camera exhibits a basketball court now with a line net less rim situated on a graffitied backboard. "Cats like him are as calculated as can be. They be thinking about everything. You can tell he planned this. Probably back to when he was under the WEAPON mask. Yeah, he was playing us all for fools and when he got what he wanted he switched up fast as hell. That's why you can't trust nobody, not even heroes. Momma told me never to worship no man, and my momma ain't never told me nothin' that wasn't beneficial."
"That's why I don't respect you, dog." We see Black Jones walk into the shot now. "I don't respect where you been, where you come from, or how you got here. Everything about you is counterfeit. Your smile. How you talk. How you carry yourself. Ain't nothin' about you genuine homie. You was never down with the cookout you was just here for the food. But that's our fault. We let you stroll up on our block and grab a plate when we should've been asking who the fuck you are." The Fresh Prince is backdropped by the impoverished playground as he paces back and forth in front of the camera. "And I should've known. There was always something about you that ain't sit well with me, but it's hard to see the writing on the wall when you too caught up in the O.K. Corral. Those were desperate times, and back then the Sekigun was willing to take anybody in to reach the end goal. But sometimes the end don't justify the means. Sometimes it all don't end up being worth it when you look back."
"All we did was trade in one jackass with a messiah complex for the knock off version. We stopped paying for General Mills cereal and started buying the department store brand. And take it from a dude who grew up on 'Cinnamon Wheat Squares' before he could afford 'Cinnamon Toast Crunch', you can taste the difference. Furor wanted to destroy EXODUS, but Chris just wants us to kiss his feet and feed him fruits like he's royalty and shit."
"You a king alright. King Crab. A crab is a dude who be lying through they teeth. A crab is a bull who say he gone do one thing but do the opposite. A crab is a dude who will break into your house at night and steal your stuff, then come over to your house in the morning and act shocked that somebody robbed you. And you the biggest one in the game."
"And I'm tired of people like you." Jones says, looking right into the camera. "I've had it with cats like you faking it til they make it, and lying through the teeth til' they can get their foot in the door. Cause it ain't right. It ain't right that a man like you who never cared about EXODUS, who ain't never cared about the people should be able to walk around holding the World Championship, acting like you built this place and like can't nobody touch you cause you ain't untouchable. I've seen you catch L's like a Rasta. You ain't as bad as you think you are. You think you're hard bodied, but you ain't gotta hard bone in your body."
You ain't live this life you been talking, Quentin Miller writing your lines, and you been Aubrey Grahamin' the shit out of us. But I ain't like Meek. I ain't gone diss you and not be prepared for a response. I know you fake, but I know you can handle yourself. I know you got some fire for a young OG. I saw what you did to my boy Christian Kane. After you survived by the skin of your teeth the first time around you gave him that rematch and you beat him fair and square. He was trying to end his career with that Aretha Franklin, but you ain't let him have that high note. You gave him that Barry White. He left Vegas empty handed while you remained at the top of the ladder."
"But I'm coming to snatch your chain." He says, shaking a fist demonstratively. "Cause I ain't never had nothin'. I grew up right here in Philly. West Side where I reside. Used to run ball in The Pit out here at night with the criminals and the pushers. Momma told me don't be out here, but I used to come out anyway cause I was tryna get that mugga so I could help pay the bills cause I ain't want her to keep struggling trying to raise four boys. I know hardship man. I know what it's like to really come from the bottom, from the gutter, constantly being counted out and overlooked and told you won't ever amount to anything."
"I've had people tell me I don't belong here, you ain't the first, Strike. I've had people tell me that I'm not gone make it in this business. Hell, I've been told that I wouldn't see 25, and that the only 25 in my future is the minimum years in a life sentence. I've got three more years to prove those cars wrong, but all I need is one night to prove YOU wrong. All I need is one chance. And this is it, and Chris, believe me when I tell you that you ain't met nobody like me."
"I ain't as experienced, as strong, or as decorated as some of the guys you've faced in your career, but I'll tell you one thing, none of those people could ever say they possess what I have; heart. They ain't got my heart man. They didn't come from the hood where most dudes die before their 18th birthday. They didn't go to a high school where the teachers was selling drugs to the students. They didn't drop outta college cause' they couldn't afford it. If anybody would've lived through those circumstances they would've crumbled due to the pressure but I didn't. I hardened like a diamond, and now I'm the diamond in the rough."
"I ain't never been anything other than what I am and I'm a guy who's bled for EXODUS on more than one occasion. I'm a guy who started in the crowd, dreaming of what it would be like to step through the curtains, and now I'm going toe to toe with the best of them. I came from Section B, to a Main Event World Championship Match against a living legend. That's how I know i belong here. I know I'm real because I've seen my hard work pay off. I've seen those classes with Papa Arino, I've seen all the hours of training with Jimmy Riley, I've seen the year or two I spent in (R)evolution all pay off. Now I'm here. I'm here to look you right in the eye and tell you that Black Jones ain't nothin' to fuck with."
"I'm here to tell you that you've got your work cut out for you, Chris. I ain't got nothin' to lose, playa. I've been playing with house money my entire life. I'm just a little black boy from West Philly. I was never supposed to be here at 22, wrestling for the best company in the world for the World Title. I was supposed to be in a box or a jail cell. That's why I don't take this for granted. That's why I gotta say something when cats like you come in here and talk heavy, and act like they're better than everyone else. I can't sit on my hands when I see something that ain't right. I can't close my mouth when I see somebody saying some fuck shit. I gotta call you on it."
"So I've called you out, and I've called my shot. And Monday, I'm be pulling out all the stops. I'll show you that I've got as much bite as I've got bark. I'll show you that I was born ready for this. I'm the homegrown EXODUS product. The greatest graduate of the (R)evolution Dojo. The man who's Half Man-Half Amazing. The guy who's about to become the youngest Triple Crown Winner ever!"
"I've been doing right, and now I'm being rewarded for all my good karma, by rewarding you with the biggest fade of all time. It was here where I learned how to be a man," he says, looking around at his surroundings, "and it's here I'll be coming back to as THE man, as the EXODUS World Champion." Fade to black.
