SCENE BEGINS OUTSIDE OF DICK DAVIS ARENA IN TIMBUCKTO, IDAHO, HOME OF ICW (IDAHO CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING.
A LONG BLACK LIMOUSINE PULLS UP... A SHORT BLACK MAN WITH A GOATEE EXITS THE DRIVERS' DOOR AND WALKS TOWARDS THE BACK OF THE LIMO. HE OPENS THE DOOR TO COMPLETE SILENCE.
OUT STEPS A SIX-FOOT, FIVE-INCH; 245-POUND MOUNTAIN OF MUSCLE WEARING A BLACK VERSACCI SUIT WITH PLATINUM LINING, A PURE PLATINUM WATCH AND A PAIR OF BLACK RAY-BAN SUNGLASSES.
HE TIPS HIS DRIVER $200 AND WALKS TOWARDS THE BACKSTAGE ENTRANCE OF THE ARENA. HE KNOCKS ON THE DOOR. A SECURITY GUARD ALLOWS ENTRY AS SOON AS HE GLANCES AT THE MAN'S FACE. THE MAN WALKS DOWN A HALLWAY AS PEOPLE STOP AND GET OUT OF HIS WAY.
HE WALKS THROUGH A CURTAIN AND INTO THE SMALL VENUE WHERE LESS THAN 100 PEOPLE ARE WATCHING THE LOCAL WRESTLING CARD. KIDS RUSH TOWARD HIM WITH EXCITEMENT WANTING AUTOGRAPHS, BUT THE FAN BRUSHES THEM OFF AND TAKES AN EMPTY SEAT IN THE FRONT ROW
THE WRESTLERS IN THE RING STOP AND GLANCE AT HIM, SHOCKED BY HIS APPEARANCE.
INSULTED BY THEIR GESTURE, THE MAN REMOVES HIS JACKET... FOLDS IT NEATLY AND LAYS IT ACROSS THE ROPE SEPERATING THE CROWD FROM THE RING.
HE REMOVES HIS WATCH AS THE TWO MEN LOOK ON. HE LOOSENS HIS TIE AND LIFTS AN EYEBROW BEFORE REMOVING HIS GLASSES. THE FANS, INSTANTLY RECOGNIZING THE MAN KNOWN AS "THE FRANCHISE" LANCE MINION STAND AWAY, SHOCKED.
MINION STEPS OVER THE ROPE AND WALKS TOWARD THE RING. BOTH MEN AND THE OFFICIAL BACK UP. MINION HOPS ONTO THE RING APRON AND SLIDES THROUGH THE MIDDLE ROPE.
HE LOOKS ALL THREE MEN IN THE EYE AS SIX WRESTLERS RUN TOWARDS THE RING FROM THE LOCKER ROOM AREA.
A SHORT, BALD-HEADED MAN FOLLOWS AND ROLLS INTO THE RING. HE WALKS UP TO MINION.
Man: What are you doing here?
Are you who I think you are? You're too big for us. We can't pay you. Why are you here?
Minion: I've got to know...
Man: You've got to know what?
MINION LOOKS THE MAN, THE PROMOTER OF ICW IN THE EYES...
Minion: I've got to know... if I still have it!
MINION DECKS THE MAN OUT OF THE WAY AND MOTIONS FOR BOTH OF THE WRESTLERS TO COME TOWARDS HIS DIRECTION. ONE OF THE GUYS, A MASKED MAN, RUSHES AT MINION. HE IS MET BY A STIFF KICK TO THE FOREHEAD, IMMEDIATELY KNOCKING HIM TO THE MAT. THE SECOND WRESTLER, A SKINNY, BLONDE-HAIRED YOUNGSTER DUCKS OUT OF THE RING AS DOES THE OFFICIAL.
THE OTHER WRESTLERS STAY OUTSIDE OF THE RING AS THE FANS LOOK ON IN SHOCK.
Minion: I've got to know! Do I still have it?!?!
TWO OF THE WRESTLERS PULL THE MASKED MAN FROM THE RING AND BACK TOWARDS THE LOCKER ROOM. MINION, KNOWING THAT HE DISRUPTED THE SHOW, CLIMBS BACK OUT OF THE RING WITH AN EVIL GRIN ON HIS FACE, GRABS HIS COAT, HIS WATCH AND HIS GLASSES AND WALKS TOWARDS THE FRONT ENTRANCE.
A LITTLE KID APPROACHES HIM WEARING AN OLD VCW "FRANCHISE THAT" T-SHIRT. MINION LOOKS AT THE KID AND PATS HIM ON THE HEAD BEFORE WALKING OUT OF THE MAIN ENTRANCE.
THE CAMERA CIRCLES MINION AS HE PLACES HIS GLASSES OVER HIS EYES. A TEAR FALLS FROM HIS LEFT EYE AS A SERIOUS LOOK EMERGES ON HIS FACE.
Minion: This was my life. This was my destiny. It grew old and I had it taken away. I flirted with the idea of coming back, but knew that I couldn't handle the toll of the road. I couldn't handle the toll of wrestling 300 days a year... the toll of risking my life and the life of others in that very ring.
MINION WALKS AROUND THE BACK OF THE BUILDING WHERE HIS LIMO WAITS
Five years ago, a young man came here looking for an answer. He came looking for a direction in his life. A new direction. He was sent to battle the likes of the Meyhus', the Ace Shockers', the Diamond Kids', Da Big Rig's. The Synn's, the Boca del Inferno's and the list goes on and on and on.
He won many fights. He lost his fair share, but he always woke up knowing that on any given night... he was the best the business had to offer. He has to know if it's still in him.
MINION SITS DOWN ON A CONCRETE STEP AND LOOKS TOWARDS THE CLOUDIED MIDNIGHT SKY
I miss the pain. I miss falling off cages. I miss the feel of a ladder smashing against my head. I miss the feeling of taking a barb-wired bat, taking a steel chair and ending the careers of those who I deemed below my standards. I was that guy. I was that asshole.
Who's to say, I'm not that guy today?
MINION REMOVES HIS GLASSES
Oblivion Wrestling gave me an opportunity.They gave the same opportunity to a man named Brandon Slade. A man who's life has been through hell. We're talking about a man who lost his woman, his child. A man who'd been through so damn much. A man who is looking to inflict his pain, his misery on others.
Brandon Slade, you went to a show and your life died. You miserable scumbag. You went to a show, while your girl laid there in agony. Your girl laid there in pain. Your girl, knowing that she was probably in her last minutes wanted to make sure that her baby, YOUR BABY, lived.
Well it didn't and you weren't there. You may have felt agony, you may have felt pain. But you rebounded with another fucking trailer park whore and left the memory of those behind you.
LANCE LOOKS INTO THE CAMERA AND CLAPS
Way to be the hero Brandon Slade.
I heard your story. I read your comments. I watched your tapes and frankly, I felt for you. I felt for a man who grew up without many of the privilages I had.
MINION BEGINS LAUGHING HARD
Okay, I'm lying!
MINION GIVES A SERIOUS LOOK
People like you are nothing compared to folks like me. I am a first class citizen, I have dined with world leaders, I have slept with many a queen. I have battered low class scum... I'm the baddest son of a bitch you will have ever seen!
People like you cry, moan and complain your whole life about not being as privilaged as folks like me. The truth is, Brandon Slade... you don't deserve it. People like you don't deserve it. Only the elite, only the best deserve this.
My father busted his ass for years to make sure that me and my mother were secure for the rest of our lives. But my father was there to teach me lessons. My father busted my ass when I made mistakes. My father taught me right from wrong. When I missed a tackle in a pee-wee football game. When I made a B on my report card. When I smarted off to one of my friends.... My father made me walk outside and grab a big limb off of a tree. He made me pick the leaves off of it. Then I'd hand it to him. He'd bust my ass.
You see Brandon Slade, you never had that figure. It explains itself when you say that you abandoned those who mattered most for a show. What kind of show Mr. Slade? An NSYNC concert? What did you do, go climb into your little beat-up Ford Pinto, drive to the 7-11, grab you a blue slurpee and stand outside with the other uncool kiddies and masterbate to pictures of Marilyn Manson?
You make me sick! When I grew up, I knew what I wanted to do. I busted my ass in the weight room and on the practice fields six days a week to make sure I was able to play College Football. Those days I worked hard, those nights .... well, my face was in the books. I got an education and I had a chance to play professional ball.
One night, I took my girlfriend to see a movie. I saw a man hit his wife and something came over me like I have never felt before. I charged him and speared him into a wall. Blood ran from his mouth and dripped onto my shirt. I knew then that I could make a difference.
So I studied... and I discovered that one profession draws men with this behavior. Men who live on the drugs. Men who abuse their wives. Men who leave their families behind. That profession was Professional Wrestling.
Not this sports entertainment bullshit you see on the smallscreen. No I'm talking about real punishment. Real infliction. Real pain.
At one time, I sold out to the corporate jackoffs. At one time, I thought I was above this business. When I took time off, I realized how much I missed my roots. How much I missed making sure people like you, who complained and griped your whole life, paid the price.
Slade, you could have made something from yourself. Will you? It remains to be seen. I will personally be damned if you begin making yourself at my expense.
MINION RISES FROM THE STEP AND WALKS TOWARDS THE LIMO. THE DRIVER STEPS BACK OUT AND OPENS THE DOOR AS THE FOG RISES AND RAIN BEGINS TO FALL
At Oblivion-On-Demand, folks may not be able to watch what I do to you on the tube. But folks in that arena will see the two of us tango. They will see you laying on that mat, with that look in your eyes. Then.... and only then.... will you have become.... FRANCHISED!
FADE TO BLACK
