Scene opens to a dressing room Softly in the background the song "My Sacrifice" by Creed plays. It's only a few minutes after Diablo's interview where he kept saying Azure when he ment Jackson. The room has several of the other CWF wrestlers in it, this includes Shane. Many of them are preparing for their matches. Travis Smith is in one corner doing a few streaches to warm up, Marcus Fury is tieing up his boots as he sits on a bench, Tempest is searching through a garbage can looking for potential weapons, and oneAlpha13 had his eyes closed trying to mentally psyche himself up for his match. As the others go about their buisness they pay little attention to Shane Jackson who is pacing back and forth about the room. He's deep in thought.
Shane hasn't changed for his match against Diablo yet. He's still wearing his street clothes, minus the winter jacket, which is hanging on a rack near the door. His Adidas shoes make no noise as he walks. A few cents in change rattles in the pocket of his white cargo pants. His tangerine colored Hawaiian shirt is open at the front, it rustles a litte when he moves. His hair sits firmly up with gel. He's not wearing his Oakley's, they sit in a pocket in his winter coat.
Suddenly Shane stops dead in his tracks. He tilts his head to one side a little, as if an important idea has crept into his mind. He glances around the room and notices a white towel hanging above Marcus Fury's head. He walks over and takes the towel. He heads into a nearby shower stall, still clothed, and pulls the door shut. The water turns on for a few minutes, then turns off.
Shane steps out of the stall. His clothes are wet, but not soaked. His Hawiian shirt is done up, now. The towel he is holding is smeared with skin colored paint. Shane walks from the shower area toward the door, he tosses the towel on the floor and leaves the room. He doesn't take his winter coat.
He moves through the halls of the Gund arena with a purpose. He navigates them with ease. He grew up here. He watched his first wrestling match here. He realized what he wanted to be, here.
He walks until he comes to a door marked "EXIT". He pushes the door open and steps out into the parking lot. There is a thin blanket of snow on the ground. Flakes of snow glide lightly through the air as Shane continues moving. He walks through the parking lot until he comes to his car. A Dark Blue, 1999, Chevy Blazer. He pulls open the trunk and leans in searching for something. When he leans back out he's holding a large, rolled up poster. He slams the trunk closed, turns and starts walking back toward the arena. His rushing pace has slowed considerably. A few feet from the arena he stops. Shane looks down at his hand that holds the poster.
Shane: You opened your mouth Diablo. You brought up something that I thought was buried forever. The CWF3.
A look crosses Shane's face, one that only a handfull would recognise on him. Anger.
Shane: I was a different person in The 3. A person that I hated, but that I also hid behind.
Flakes of snow fall all around Shane. They drop into his hair, speckling it with white.
Shane: I hated the world and I hated myself. I was on a road to self destruction. I would walk into matches and win, not because I was good but because I would sacrifice myself. After every match I had new cuts, bruises, lacerations and scars. I took as much pain as I could stomach in The 3, my body wears the proof.
Shane opens up his shirt. He pulls it off and tosses it in the snow.
Scars criss-cross his body. Some are small and carry no story, but others run deep and hold painfull memories.
Shane: I've covered them with bodypaint since the day I started in the ICWA. It wasn't until I nearly lost my life, in a scaffold match, that I realized I had to change. I changed everything about myself. I got into the best shape of my life, learned the real art to wrestling, and started on a new road.
The flakes are slowly building up on Shane's shirt as it lays on the ground.
Shane: As the "Natural Wonder" I can say that I'm proud of myself, my accomplishments and my future. When I say I'm the greatest wrestler the CWF has ever seen I know it's true. When I say the Cleveland Express is going to run through YOUR NiteMares, believe it, because it's going to happen.
Shane begins walking again. He pulls open the door to the arena and walks in. The camera moves behind him.
Scars cover Shane's back like a blanket. They speak the same as the ones on his chest.
He moves back through the halls without any trouble. He finally stops when he comes to Diablo's dressing room. He looks a the door, then at the wall across from it.
Shane: I'm never going to be "The Ref" again. No. I'm Shane Jackson, the "Natural Wonder". Someone who's good at what he does.
Shane unrolls the poster and begins to stick it up on the wall across from Diablo's door.
Shane: Diablo. Tonight the CWF World Title is trivial to me. Tonight my only goal is to erase my past from your memory.
Once Shane gets the poster up he turns and looks directly at the camera. As he does he points to Diablo's dressing room.
Shane: The Human Highlight Reel is going to be responsible for putting your injured picture on the cover of the next CWF Magazine.
As he finishes his sentence a look of calm comes over Shane. He turns and casually walks off down the hall. As he does the camera turns to face the poster that Shane put up on the wall across from Diablo's door.
The soft background music of "My Sacrifice" ends.
The camera fades to black.