Post by Adrien Cochrane on Dec 3, 2012 16:28:44 GMT -5
Static
Soft, slightly overdriven guitar chord strums in a major key. Adrien Cochrane’s singing voice comes in after a couple of chords.
---------------------------------
Biggest match of my career? Yeah, buddy! This has been the culmination of everything I have ever done. All the hard times I suffered through over in the WWA, with the second place finishes in Summer Games, the no contest in my WWA Double Crown Title shot, the degrading comments about how I was never going to be any better than I was back then. There was always a glass ceiling separating me from where I was and where I wanted to be. And I’ll be the first person to admit it: the person holding me back was my own self.
But that started to change around 2010. I won the Manhattan Island Championship and had a great reign with it. Then when WWA closed and hopped on over to PCW this year, I kept that forward momentum going. I won the PCW Platinum Championship, beating out the current World Champion and future PCW Platinum Champion. I have victories over several Hall of Famers already…The Elite, Draven, Heather Monroe, Michael Morrison. And the best part of it is, I keep fighting to get better and better and better. Not just content with where I am.
You see, that’s what separates me from the Draven Logan Kennedy and Curtis Wilkes. They accomplished crap, then that was as far as they progressed. Draven wanted to get back to his “former self” and not be even better than he was. The Elite are still riding the coattails of their former glory, though I will say Long is starting to shake off that, and I hope Wilkes can, as well. Even if I’m at the top of the mountain, I want to keep improving, keep getting better, keep pushing myself to reach an even higher level. Best in the world isn’t good enough for me. Best that I can possibly be is what I want to attain, and even then, I want to see if I can get higher. I don’t think they have that attitude, or that kind of work ethic to do that.
But December 8th isn’t going to be about them (unless they win the Battlefield match, which I say, go for it to the two of them). The main point I want to know is whether Heather Monroe is going to be part of the former or the latter category. Is she someone who is always trying to take her game to a higher level week after week, or has the World Title gotten her believing she has nothing left to improve?
I really want her to step it up. I want our match to be one of the greatest matches in PCW. We’ve been down this road twice before. One victory for her. One for me. So this is something that could turn into an epic battle between two opponents who know…and honestly respect each other. Heather knows how I operate in the ring, and I know how she does, as well.
So after taking the world by surprise last month and became the number one contender to Heather Monroe’s PCW World Heavyweight Championship, this whole roller coaster has reached its peak. It’s time for all the speculation and hype to rest. Two great warriors will enter the ring. We will both pour everything we possibly could muster to be the one to leave the ring as the champion of the entire company.
And if it ends up being me that walks out of Struggle for Power III as the World Champion, it will make every single struggle I’ve ever had absolutely worth it. Every loss in WWA and PCW. Every missed opportunity. Every single little bit of adversity I had to fight through to get to where I am now.
The only thing I can do is turn the biggest match of my career into the biggest moment of my career. The moment I captured my first ever World Heavyweight Championship. And I do not intend to let anything stop me from doing that. Especially, and with all due respect, Heather Monroe.
Thump thump…thump thump…thump thump…
This was it. A moment of life and death. Adrien Cochrane isn’t quite sure how he got in this situation where he’s running for his life or how he’s going to get out of it. But here is, with the possibility of not even making it to Struggle for Power for the biggest match of his career, with two madmen trying to run him down.
“GET BACK HERE! I’LL SHOOT!”
Great…a gun?! How the hell did this happen?!
Adrien’s natural instincts take over as he dives behind a tree just as he hears the sound of a gunshot. Adrien stays seated behind the tree, contemplating how the hell is he is going to get out of this ordeal alive…as well as how this all started to begin with.
A few moments earlier…
A cigarette flies from its owner’s hand to the ground. The man who flicked it, dressed warmly for the cooling November weather with a pair of black leather jacket, paces back and forth as his cigarette singes a few blades of grass. Chris Marks eventually decides to step on the cigarette to extinguish it.
Marks is standing on a street corner in the middle of uptown New Orleans. While most of the area is residential, Chris Marks lights up his second cigarette in front of a local pawn shop, sitting in between a laundromat and liquor store. With the setting sun as his backdrop, Marks doesn’t have his usual arrogant smug look on his face. If anything, it expressed panic.
“There you are, Chris! What is going on? What has you so freaked out?”
A man briskly walks towards Chris Marks. This man, too, was prepared for the rapidly declining temperatures with a dark brown jacket, covering up a light blue t-shirt. If the dirty blonde hair and blue eyes didn’t make the PCW World Heavyweight number one contender recognizable, his voice certainly did.
Chris: “Adrien, I’m going to need you to help me out of a really big mess.”
Adrien Cochrane looks at Chris Marks with a very stern look. The words “What did he do now?” echo inside the head of the former Platinum Champion. But then Adrien notices the worrisome expression on the face of Chris Marks. While Chris Marks is an arrogant jerk who only thinks of himself, he’s not an idiot. Adrien decides to give the man the benefit of the doubt and attempts to calm him.
Adrien: “Alright, alright. What happened?”
Chris Marks doesn’t get a chance to respond. Angry yelling coming from around the corner overpowers the strength to respond.
“OVER THERE!!”
Marks does the only thing he believes he could possibly do: hide inside the laundromat. Which leaves two large men charging after Adrien who do not look happy at all and appear to be armed. Adrien doesn’t believe attempting to take on these men head on to be a wise decision, so the former track star begins sprinting in the opposite direction.
Man 1: “GET YOUR ASS BACK OVER HERE BEFORE I RIP YOUR HEAD OFF.”
Man 2: “I’LL TEACH YOU TO SCREW ME OVER!!”
Back to present time…
Okay, why do I have the feeling that this is somehow Chris Marks’s fault? I can’t believe he’s going to end up getting me killed!
Adrien Cochrane can still hear the two men speaking indistinctly right around the tree he was hiding behind. The good news is that they appeared to have stopped running. The bad news is that if Adrien moves from behind this tree, they get to try their game of target practice with their handgun again.
It was at this moment that Adrien knew he had to come up with a solution to this where everyone could walk out of this predicament alive…even Marks, wherever he ran off too. Obviously, if we have two guys with guns, they aren’t going to be the most reasonable people to try to talk things out with. Based on their chase with Adrien, he believes they are more of the “shoot first, ask questions later” type of crowd.
On the other hand, Adrien wasn’t going to be able to hide behind this tree forever. The sun is almost completely set and the streetlight about ten feet away will conveniently spotlight his location to his new acquaintances. He considers trying to climb the tree but that would reveal his location as he was climbing and allowing them to open fire blindly in the trees…and even that’s assuming he would make it up there before they shoot.
Come on, Adrien…think…
“Alright! Alright! Don’t shoot, let the other guy go…”
CHRIS!!
Adrien peeks from behind the tree to confirm the identity of the speaker, Chris Marks. The two men were already turned around…the gun wielding one has his handgun pointed directly at Chris Marks. Marks has his hands in the air to show he is surrendering.
Chris: “It was me.”
Gun Wielding Man: “Where’s the stuff?”
Chris: “Right here.”
Adrien starts to creep a little closer, eventually hiding behind the wall to an office about seven feet away from the other three. He is pretty sure Marks saw him sneaking there and was relieved Marks didn’t alert them to what Adrien’s movement.
Other Man: “Place it on the ground and turn around.”
Adrien can see Chris Marks place a small package on the ground. The large man grabs it and Chris obeys the order to turn around, but Adrien saw something Chris did not. The gun wielding man cocks his gun.
Gun Wielding Man: “I’ll show you to steal from me.”
Oh hell no, you are not going to do that to my protégé…
Adrien’s blood beings to boil in fury. Adrien sprints from his hiding spot and quickly disarms the man with the gun, causing it to fly a few feet behind Adrien. The other man swings a punch, but Adrien ducks and the punch hits his partner. Adrien then sweeps the legs of both men. Adrien looks down upon the two downed men with a look of rage.]
Adrien: “Take what’s yours and leave. NOW!”
Adrien kicks the gun towards the tree he was hiding behind before either man even had a chance to think about it. The two men grab the package Chris had and runs off. Chris Marks turns around and looks at Adrien. He looks thoroughly disappointed.
Chris: “Well…that was a close one…”
Adrien: “What the hell were you thinking, Chris?!”
Chris is caught off guard by Adrien’s yelling.
Chris: “Well, I wa…”
Adrien: “Stealing, Chris?! What was going through that thick skull of yours?”
Chris: “Old habits die hard?”
Adrien turns around, so disgusted with Chris that he can’t even look at him. Adrien shakes his head as the light poles flicker on. Adrien tries to calmly ask Chris the next question.
Adrien: “What was so important that you had to steal from them?”
Chris doesn’t respond. Adrien isn’t surprise so he begins to repeat the question, back to yelling.]
Adrien: “WHAT WAS SO DAMN IMPORTANT TO STEAL THAT YOU NEARLY ENDANGER…”
Chris: “DIAMONDS!”
Better than drugs, I supposed…
Adrien shakes his head, shamefully and furiously. He has never been so frustrated with Chris Marks in his entire life…and that really says something. He thought he finally had Chris turned into a fully functional member of society. He thought he turned Chris Marks into a respectable human being. Sure he was still a jerk and couldn’t get him to stop smoking, but a lawful evil at worst. Or so Adrien thought.
Chris: “I’m sorry…”
Adrien: “How am I supposed to trust you, Chris, if you keep doing this? And how is this going to work if I can’t trust you?”
Chris: “You can trust me, Adrien.”
Adrien: “Can I, Chris? That was a great demonstration tonight of just how much I can!”
Adrien’s usually fun sarcasm was more cold anger this time. Chris didn’t know what to say. He’s never seen Adrien angry like this before, and that says a lot when you consider he’s known Adrien longer than anyone else in PCW. Angry Adrien is outright terrifying.
Adrien: “Point is, Chris, you went behind my back, did the one thing we tell you not to do. I can tolerate your impulsive need to hit on every single woman on the planet, including Richelle and Aurora. I can tolerate the fact that you can be a real smug jerk for no reason at all. I can tolerate the fact you seem to smoke more cigarettes a day than you drink cups of water. I can even tolerate the fact that you will sit on my couch all day, watching my gigantic television all day, and never verbally thank me for taking you in, housing you, and training you. But I cannot tolerate you doing the one thing that put you in this very position in the first place.”
Chris: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I let you down…can we move on from this already?”
Adrien: “Let’s just find my car and go home. I can’t even look at you right now…”
Neither Adrien nor Chris spoke a word to the other one for the remainder of the night.
-------------------------
“The goal of everyone in this company is to reach the top. If anyone tells you any different, they are lying through their crooked, yellow teeth.”
The challenger for the PCW World Heavyweight Championship is sitting on the edge of a rooftop. After the camera pans out a little bit, the rooftop is revealed to be of Adrien’s own home. Adrien Cochrane looks at the camera behind his signature pair of sunglasses. His long sleeve, buttoned up blue plaid shirt gently blowing in the wind, and his blue jeans covering his dangling legs.
Adrien: “Fact of the matter is, it takes four things to win a World Championship: hard work, talent, patience, and a little luck. The culmination of those four things can make for a very unstoppable competitor. It’s why people toss and turn at night when their next opponent is someone like Danielle Lopez. When someone lacks one of those qualities, such as Draven not having hard work, Marina not having patience, or Gemini not having talent, it is a tougher road for them to keep advancing forward. Tough, but not impossible. Look at Marina’s double championship as evidence of that.”
“Heather Monroe is a talented individual. She worked hard to get keep working up the ranks, and was patient to wait her turn. I’m not denying the champion any of that. And luck was on her side when Michael Morrison disappeared off the face of the earth and she was able to sneak into that main event and end up winning it. But the number one killer of champions is complacency.”
“Complacency kicks in when someone reaches the top and calls it quit. Talent fades away. Hard work disappears all together. Patience cuts short, and luck runs out. As good of a kid Jay Thunder is, he should not have gotten that close to defeating Heather Monroe did. If Heather Monroe doesn’t counter that TDT, we would be considering that one of the greatest upsets in PCW history. What that match tells me is that Heather Monroe is slipping. Not very good thing to happen when you’re about to defend your World Title against a very hungry opponent.”
The Dropkick King stands up on the rooftop. The gentle breeze makes Adrien’s dirty blonde hair sway a little.
Adrien: “You must not forget, Heather Monroe, this is not our first rodeo. I’m not Mike Park, trying to make a name for himself in a debut match. I’m not Jay Thunder just trying to prove myself. I’m not even Danielle Lopez who will settle for a great match-up. You know me well enough that I haven’t come this far to come out empty handed. I’m someone that takes advantage of any opportunities thrown my way.”
Adrien removes his sunglasses. His blue eyes stare directly into the camera, changing the subject calmly.
Adrien: “I’m honored that so many people have considered me one of the best. I really am. When you are earning praises from Danielle Lopez, Mariano Fernandez, Jakob Alexander, and even my opponent, Heather Monroe, you are doing something right. But I haven’t earned that yet. No, for me to be considered one of the best around here, in a company full of past champions, I need to win this coming Saturday. I need to have a World Heavyweight Championship on my résumé.”
Adrien hops off the roof onto a padded landing area. He rolls off the padding and starts walking directly towards the camera.
Adrien: “Until I do, I am just another wrestler on the ground looking up…
The musician stops walking and looks up where he was sitting on the rooftop.
Adrien: “…at the top of the mountain like everyone else. But Saturday will be the day that finally happens. I set a goal for myself, and I plan to accomplish it. I will climb until I run out of mountain to climb. Losing is not an option for me anymore. I will walk out of Struggle for Power the new PCW World Heavyweight Champion. Because there is no other alternative.”
A shot at the rooftop zooms into the sunset until it fades to black.
-------------------------
Knock. Knock.
“Come in.”
Adrien Cochrane’s voice calls from across the room as he continues to play a calming song on his grand piano. Chris “The Filth” Marks enters the room. Adrien is still wearing his plaid shirt and jeans from his promo, which was just shot an hour ago. Chris Marks’s attire is a lot more upscale for his usual self, wearing a Metallica t-shirt and a pair of khaki cargo shorts. None of which is severely torn or faded, a first for Marks.
Chris: “For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about last night.”
No response from the former PCW Platinum Champion. He just continues to play his piano.
Chris: “So you’re probably still angry…”
Adrien: “I’m not angry.”
Adrien stops. He spins around on the piano bench to face Chris Marks. Chris Marks doesn’t know what to think of Adrien’s reaction.
Chris: “Well, I’m glad you’re not angry but something tells me you’re no…”
Adrien interrupts Chris again.
Adrien: “I’m just disappointed. Chris, you did the ONE thing we can’t afford for you to be doing. You should just be happy they tried to self-police instead of calling the real police. You’d probably be in prison until you’re older than Edward Nair.”
Chris: “It won’t happen again…I promise…”
Adrien takes a deep sigh.
Adrien: “For better or for worse, you know I’m a forgiving person. But just know your leash just got a whole lot shorter.”
Chris Marks puts on a brave face, but is slightly disheartened by the final sentence.
Adrien: “Get your gear ready. You and Aurora are gonna be training tonight.”
Chris Marks nods his head as he leaves the room, with his head still hanging low.
Chris: “Alright.”
Adrien notices the sullen tone Chris Marks had as he was leaving the room.
Adrien: “You did what you had to do, Adrien. You did what you had to do.”
Adrien plays one more note on the piano before standing up and collecting his gear to train up his partners. This was going to be a long night.
Soft, slightly overdriven guitar chord strums in a major key. Adrien Cochrane’s singing voice comes in after a couple of chords.
I stand before the gazing eyes of millions
For the opportunity of a lifetime
To triumph over the forces that be
And take my position at the top
The Struggle for Power has begun
Before the gazing eyes of millions.
For the opportunity of a lifetime
To triumph over the forces that be
And take my position at the top
The Struggle for Power has begun
Before the gazing eyes of millions.
---------------------------------
Biggest match of my career? Yeah, buddy! This has been the culmination of everything I have ever done. All the hard times I suffered through over in the WWA, with the second place finishes in Summer Games, the no contest in my WWA Double Crown Title shot, the degrading comments about how I was never going to be any better than I was back then. There was always a glass ceiling separating me from where I was and where I wanted to be. And I’ll be the first person to admit it: the person holding me back was my own self.
But that started to change around 2010. I won the Manhattan Island Championship and had a great reign with it. Then when WWA closed and hopped on over to PCW this year, I kept that forward momentum going. I won the PCW Platinum Championship, beating out the current World Champion and future PCW Platinum Champion. I have victories over several Hall of Famers already…The Elite, Draven, Heather Monroe, Michael Morrison. And the best part of it is, I keep fighting to get better and better and better. Not just content with where I am.
You see, that’s what separates me from the Draven Logan Kennedy and Curtis Wilkes. They accomplished crap, then that was as far as they progressed. Draven wanted to get back to his “former self” and not be even better than he was. The Elite are still riding the coattails of their former glory, though I will say Long is starting to shake off that, and I hope Wilkes can, as well. Even if I’m at the top of the mountain, I want to keep improving, keep getting better, keep pushing myself to reach an even higher level. Best in the world isn’t good enough for me. Best that I can possibly be is what I want to attain, and even then, I want to see if I can get higher. I don’t think they have that attitude, or that kind of work ethic to do that.
But December 8th isn’t going to be about them (unless they win the Battlefield match, which I say, go for it to the two of them). The main point I want to know is whether Heather Monroe is going to be part of the former or the latter category. Is she someone who is always trying to take her game to a higher level week after week, or has the World Title gotten her believing she has nothing left to improve?
I really want her to step it up. I want our match to be one of the greatest matches in PCW. We’ve been down this road twice before. One victory for her. One for me. So this is something that could turn into an epic battle between two opponents who know…and honestly respect each other. Heather knows how I operate in the ring, and I know how she does, as well.
So after taking the world by surprise last month and became the number one contender to Heather Monroe’s PCW World Heavyweight Championship, this whole roller coaster has reached its peak. It’s time for all the speculation and hype to rest. Two great warriors will enter the ring. We will both pour everything we possibly could muster to be the one to leave the ring as the champion of the entire company.
And if it ends up being me that walks out of Struggle for Power III as the World Champion, it will make every single struggle I’ve ever had absolutely worth it. Every loss in WWA and PCW. Every missed opportunity. Every single little bit of adversity I had to fight through to get to where I am now.
The only thing I can do is turn the biggest match of my career into the biggest moment of my career. The moment I captured my first ever World Heavyweight Championship. And I do not intend to let anything stop me from doing that. Especially, and with all due respect, Heather Monroe.
Thump thump…thump thump…thump thump…
This was it. A moment of life and death. Adrien Cochrane isn’t quite sure how he got in this situation where he’s running for his life or how he’s going to get out of it. But here is, with the possibility of not even making it to Struggle for Power for the biggest match of his career, with two madmen trying to run him down.
“GET BACK HERE! I’LL SHOOT!”
Great…a gun?! How the hell did this happen?!
Adrien’s natural instincts take over as he dives behind a tree just as he hears the sound of a gunshot. Adrien stays seated behind the tree, contemplating how the hell is he is going to get out of this ordeal alive…as well as how this all started to begin with.
A few moments earlier…
A cigarette flies from its owner’s hand to the ground. The man who flicked it, dressed warmly for the cooling November weather with a pair of black leather jacket, paces back and forth as his cigarette singes a few blades of grass. Chris Marks eventually decides to step on the cigarette to extinguish it.
Marks is standing on a street corner in the middle of uptown New Orleans. While most of the area is residential, Chris Marks lights up his second cigarette in front of a local pawn shop, sitting in between a laundromat and liquor store. With the setting sun as his backdrop, Marks doesn’t have his usual arrogant smug look on his face. If anything, it expressed panic.
“There you are, Chris! What is going on? What has you so freaked out?”
A man briskly walks towards Chris Marks. This man, too, was prepared for the rapidly declining temperatures with a dark brown jacket, covering up a light blue t-shirt. If the dirty blonde hair and blue eyes didn’t make the PCW World Heavyweight number one contender recognizable, his voice certainly did.
Chris: “Adrien, I’m going to need you to help me out of a really big mess.”
Adrien Cochrane looks at Chris Marks with a very stern look. The words “What did he do now?” echo inside the head of the former Platinum Champion. But then Adrien notices the worrisome expression on the face of Chris Marks. While Chris Marks is an arrogant jerk who only thinks of himself, he’s not an idiot. Adrien decides to give the man the benefit of the doubt and attempts to calm him.
Adrien: “Alright, alright. What happened?”
Chris Marks doesn’t get a chance to respond. Angry yelling coming from around the corner overpowers the strength to respond.
“OVER THERE!!”
Marks does the only thing he believes he could possibly do: hide inside the laundromat. Which leaves two large men charging after Adrien who do not look happy at all and appear to be armed. Adrien doesn’t believe attempting to take on these men head on to be a wise decision, so the former track star begins sprinting in the opposite direction.
Man 1: “GET YOUR ASS BACK OVER HERE BEFORE I RIP YOUR HEAD OFF.”
Man 2: “I’LL TEACH YOU TO SCREW ME OVER!!”
Back to present time…
Okay, why do I have the feeling that this is somehow Chris Marks’s fault? I can’t believe he’s going to end up getting me killed!
Adrien Cochrane can still hear the two men speaking indistinctly right around the tree he was hiding behind. The good news is that they appeared to have stopped running. The bad news is that if Adrien moves from behind this tree, they get to try their game of target practice with their handgun again.
It was at this moment that Adrien knew he had to come up with a solution to this where everyone could walk out of this predicament alive…even Marks, wherever he ran off too. Obviously, if we have two guys with guns, they aren’t going to be the most reasonable people to try to talk things out with. Based on their chase with Adrien, he believes they are more of the “shoot first, ask questions later” type of crowd.
On the other hand, Adrien wasn’t going to be able to hide behind this tree forever. The sun is almost completely set and the streetlight about ten feet away will conveniently spotlight his location to his new acquaintances. He considers trying to climb the tree but that would reveal his location as he was climbing and allowing them to open fire blindly in the trees…and even that’s assuming he would make it up there before they shoot.
Come on, Adrien…think…
“Alright! Alright! Don’t shoot, let the other guy go…”
CHRIS!!
Adrien peeks from behind the tree to confirm the identity of the speaker, Chris Marks. The two men were already turned around…the gun wielding one has his handgun pointed directly at Chris Marks. Marks has his hands in the air to show he is surrendering.
Chris: “It was me.”
Gun Wielding Man: “Where’s the stuff?”
Chris: “Right here.”
Adrien starts to creep a little closer, eventually hiding behind the wall to an office about seven feet away from the other three. He is pretty sure Marks saw him sneaking there and was relieved Marks didn’t alert them to what Adrien’s movement.
Other Man: “Place it on the ground and turn around.”
Adrien can see Chris Marks place a small package on the ground. The large man grabs it and Chris obeys the order to turn around, but Adrien saw something Chris did not. The gun wielding man cocks his gun.
Gun Wielding Man: “I’ll show you to steal from me.”
Oh hell no, you are not going to do that to my protégé…
Adrien’s blood beings to boil in fury. Adrien sprints from his hiding spot and quickly disarms the man with the gun, causing it to fly a few feet behind Adrien. The other man swings a punch, but Adrien ducks and the punch hits his partner. Adrien then sweeps the legs of both men. Adrien looks down upon the two downed men with a look of rage.]
Adrien: “Take what’s yours and leave. NOW!”
Adrien kicks the gun towards the tree he was hiding behind before either man even had a chance to think about it. The two men grab the package Chris had and runs off. Chris Marks turns around and looks at Adrien. He looks thoroughly disappointed.
Chris: “Well…that was a close one…”
Adrien: “What the hell were you thinking, Chris?!”
Chris is caught off guard by Adrien’s yelling.
Chris: “Well, I wa…”
Adrien: “Stealing, Chris?! What was going through that thick skull of yours?”
Chris: “Old habits die hard?”
Adrien turns around, so disgusted with Chris that he can’t even look at him. Adrien shakes his head as the light poles flicker on. Adrien tries to calmly ask Chris the next question.
Adrien: “What was so important that you had to steal from them?”
Chris doesn’t respond. Adrien isn’t surprise so he begins to repeat the question, back to yelling.]
Adrien: “WHAT WAS SO DAMN IMPORTANT TO STEAL THAT YOU NEARLY ENDANGER…”
Chris: “DIAMONDS!”
Better than drugs, I supposed…
Adrien shakes his head, shamefully and furiously. He has never been so frustrated with Chris Marks in his entire life…and that really says something. He thought he finally had Chris turned into a fully functional member of society. He thought he turned Chris Marks into a respectable human being. Sure he was still a jerk and couldn’t get him to stop smoking, but a lawful evil at worst. Or so Adrien thought.
Chris: “I’m sorry…”
Adrien: “How am I supposed to trust you, Chris, if you keep doing this? And how is this going to work if I can’t trust you?”
Chris: “You can trust me, Adrien.”
Adrien: “Can I, Chris? That was a great demonstration tonight of just how much I can!”
Adrien’s usually fun sarcasm was more cold anger this time. Chris didn’t know what to say. He’s never seen Adrien angry like this before, and that says a lot when you consider he’s known Adrien longer than anyone else in PCW. Angry Adrien is outright terrifying.
Adrien: “Point is, Chris, you went behind my back, did the one thing we tell you not to do. I can tolerate your impulsive need to hit on every single woman on the planet, including Richelle and Aurora. I can tolerate the fact that you can be a real smug jerk for no reason at all. I can tolerate the fact you seem to smoke more cigarettes a day than you drink cups of water. I can even tolerate the fact that you will sit on my couch all day, watching my gigantic television all day, and never verbally thank me for taking you in, housing you, and training you. But I cannot tolerate you doing the one thing that put you in this very position in the first place.”
Chris: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I let you down…can we move on from this already?”
Adrien: “Let’s just find my car and go home. I can’t even look at you right now…”
Neither Adrien nor Chris spoke a word to the other one for the remainder of the night.
-------------------------
“The goal of everyone in this company is to reach the top. If anyone tells you any different, they are lying through their crooked, yellow teeth.”
The challenger for the PCW World Heavyweight Championship is sitting on the edge of a rooftop. After the camera pans out a little bit, the rooftop is revealed to be of Adrien’s own home. Adrien Cochrane looks at the camera behind his signature pair of sunglasses. His long sleeve, buttoned up blue plaid shirt gently blowing in the wind, and his blue jeans covering his dangling legs.
Adrien: “Fact of the matter is, it takes four things to win a World Championship: hard work, talent, patience, and a little luck. The culmination of those four things can make for a very unstoppable competitor. It’s why people toss and turn at night when their next opponent is someone like Danielle Lopez. When someone lacks one of those qualities, such as Draven not having hard work, Marina not having patience, or Gemini not having talent, it is a tougher road for them to keep advancing forward. Tough, but not impossible. Look at Marina’s double championship as evidence of that.”
“Heather Monroe is a talented individual. She worked hard to get keep working up the ranks, and was patient to wait her turn. I’m not denying the champion any of that. And luck was on her side when Michael Morrison disappeared off the face of the earth and she was able to sneak into that main event and end up winning it. But the number one killer of champions is complacency.”
“Complacency kicks in when someone reaches the top and calls it quit. Talent fades away. Hard work disappears all together. Patience cuts short, and luck runs out. As good of a kid Jay Thunder is, he should not have gotten that close to defeating Heather Monroe did. If Heather Monroe doesn’t counter that TDT, we would be considering that one of the greatest upsets in PCW history. What that match tells me is that Heather Monroe is slipping. Not very good thing to happen when you’re about to defend your World Title against a very hungry opponent.”
The Dropkick King stands up on the rooftop. The gentle breeze makes Adrien’s dirty blonde hair sway a little.
Adrien: “You must not forget, Heather Monroe, this is not our first rodeo. I’m not Mike Park, trying to make a name for himself in a debut match. I’m not Jay Thunder just trying to prove myself. I’m not even Danielle Lopez who will settle for a great match-up. You know me well enough that I haven’t come this far to come out empty handed. I’m someone that takes advantage of any opportunities thrown my way.”
Adrien removes his sunglasses. His blue eyes stare directly into the camera, changing the subject calmly.
Adrien: “I’m honored that so many people have considered me one of the best. I really am. When you are earning praises from Danielle Lopez, Mariano Fernandez, Jakob Alexander, and even my opponent, Heather Monroe, you are doing something right. But I haven’t earned that yet. No, for me to be considered one of the best around here, in a company full of past champions, I need to win this coming Saturday. I need to have a World Heavyweight Championship on my résumé.”
Adrien hops off the roof onto a padded landing area. He rolls off the padding and starts walking directly towards the camera.
Adrien: “Until I do, I am just another wrestler on the ground looking up…
The musician stops walking and looks up where he was sitting on the rooftop.
Adrien: “…at the top of the mountain like everyone else. But Saturday will be the day that finally happens. I set a goal for myself, and I plan to accomplish it. I will climb until I run out of mountain to climb. Losing is not an option for me anymore. I will walk out of Struggle for Power the new PCW World Heavyweight Champion. Because there is no other alternative.”
A shot at the rooftop zooms into the sunset until it fades to black.
-------------------------
Knock. Knock.
“Come in.”
Adrien Cochrane’s voice calls from across the room as he continues to play a calming song on his grand piano. Chris “The Filth” Marks enters the room. Adrien is still wearing his plaid shirt and jeans from his promo, which was just shot an hour ago. Chris Marks’s attire is a lot more upscale for his usual self, wearing a Metallica t-shirt and a pair of khaki cargo shorts. None of which is severely torn or faded, a first for Marks.
Chris: “For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about last night.”
No response from the former PCW Platinum Champion. He just continues to play his piano.
Chris: “So you’re probably still angry…”
Adrien: “I’m not angry.”
Adrien stops. He spins around on the piano bench to face Chris Marks. Chris Marks doesn’t know what to think of Adrien’s reaction.
Chris: “Well, I’m glad you’re not angry but something tells me you’re no…”
Adrien interrupts Chris again.
Adrien: “I’m just disappointed. Chris, you did the ONE thing we can’t afford for you to be doing. You should just be happy they tried to self-police instead of calling the real police. You’d probably be in prison until you’re older than Edward Nair.”
Chris: “It won’t happen again…I promise…”
Adrien takes a deep sigh.
Adrien: “For better or for worse, you know I’m a forgiving person. But just know your leash just got a whole lot shorter.”
Chris Marks puts on a brave face, but is slightly disheartened by the final sentence.
Adrien: “Get your gear ready. You and Aurora are gonna be training tonight.”
Chris Marks nods his head as he leaves the room, with his head still hanging low.
Chris: “Alright.”
Adrien notices the sullen tone Chris Marks had as he was leaving the room.
Adrien: “You did what you had to do, Adrien. You did what you had to do.”
Adrien plays one more note on the piano before standing up and collecting his gear to train up his partners. This was going to be a long night.
