Post by davidtroy on Dec 22, 2018 23:02:05 GMT -5
No cold open or anything. Instead we’re treated to a video that looks like it was filmed with a cell phone.
David Troy sits at the foot of a Western-Style hotel bed, dressed casually in jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie bearing the logo of the band Municipal Waste. At his side lays his newly won King of Lions World’s Heavyweight Championship belt, but the champion doesn’t look at us with the swagger of a man on top of the world; instead, he looks at us with sadness and grief.
“So it’s come to this.
“Lion’s Road is now defunct.”
The first and only two-time world champion bows his head, almost as if to mourn.
“There is something sadly fitting… poetic, almost, in going into the final show of a company only to find that its sister promotion is also closing. Like Maximum Japan and Lion’s Road truly were joined at the heart. At least Max-J will have a chance to properly say goodbye. And that is why tomorrow night, here in Yokohama, I am going to do what I always said I was going to do back home… and carry the banner of Lion’s Road to new heights!”
With a snap of his head, the Afterman gives us that classic glare.
“And I’m not going at it alone. I’ve got… and I can’t believe I’m saying this after all the time I was an asshole to the kid, but… AJ Knight in my corner.”
Around now, David might spit on the floor in disrespect. But not here, and not now.
“I may not have always agreed with him on how we saw this sport philosophically, but I always knew he had a good heart in him. And I can attest to his abilities as a fighter. And that’s why of all the people I could possibly be teamed up with to fight the Demon Brigade, I’m glad that it’s you, kid.
“You have experience dealing with this… cult, and sockin’ it to ‘em where it counts, after all. Maybe I’m not a big bad sumo like Mushigihara, but I don’t like xenophobes either, so I’m sure you and I will have a grand ol’ time. For my part, I’m gonna kick GRIM and Zombie so hard it knocks the brainwashing right out of ‘em.”
He grins.
“If Lion’s Road didn’t close up shop, AJ, I truly feel like you and I would be the torchbearers of a new generation, whether opposite one another or on the same side. Let’s show these Demon Brigade chumps why they say WE raised the standard back home.
“And then, when that’s all said and done, I get to travel to Tokyo and take on that Monty Python himself, Sen Oka. In a… chessboxing match.”
A chuckle.
“I promise I’ll spare y’all the corny ‘checkmate’ jokes in this one, folks. But when I step in the Black Lion’s Road ring, I’m not only defending Lion’s Road’s honor… but I’m defending the entire sport of professional wrestling, in one of its most hallowed hometowns, no less. Of course, it not being a wrestling match may be a disadvantage, because I may have been a kickboxer, but that and Western boxing are two different animals.
“But that just means he can’t pull out that Right Knee of God… but I still got two of the Eight Limbs that sweet, sweet Thai science uses, so… advantage, me. Just as long as he’s not a deadly chess player. I… was never really good at that. Stratego was always my game.
“Thanks, dad.”
David takes a deep sigh and bows his head.
“And then… that’s it, huh? The companies that took me in and set me on a path to become the champion I am today both shut their doors and I’m left to find my next path in setting this industry ablaze.”
He looks towards his hotel window and lets out a sniffle.
“To think that over twenty years in this business, of stumbling and trying to find my way, and I would ascend to the top of the profession after no more than ONE year in Lion’s Road.
“I owe my career to Lion’s Road. AND Max-J. So what do I do now to repay them? Simple.”
He turns back to us, with one eye glimmering in what appears to be a tear.
“I carry them on my back and blaze a trail with them.”
The cellphone camera zooms in on his face.
“One. More. Time.”
Cut.
David Troy sits at the foot of a Western-Style hotel bed, dressed casually in jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie bearing the logo of the band Municipal Waste. At his side lays his newly won King of Lions World’s Heavyweight Championship belt, but the champion doesn’t look at us with the swagger of a man on top of the world; instead, he looks at us with sadness and grief.
“So it’s come to this.
“Lion’s Road is now defunct.”
The first and only two-time world champion bows his head, almost as if to mourn.
“There is something sadly fitting… poetic, almost, in going into the final show of a company only to find that its sister promotion is also closing. Like Maximum Japan and Lion’s Road truly were joined at the heart. At least Max-J will have a chance to properly say goodbye. And that is why tomorrow night, here in Yokohama, I am going to do what I always said I was going to do back home… and carry the banner of Lion’s Road to new heights!”
With a snap of his head, the Afterman gives us that classic glare.
“And I’m not going at it alone. I’ve got… and I can’t believe I’m saying this after all the time I was an asshole to the kid, but… AJ Knight in my corner.”
Around now, David might spit on the floor in disrespect. But not here, and not now.
“I may not have always agreed with him on how we saw this sport philosophically, but I always knew he had a good heart in him. And I can attest to his abilities as a fighter. And that’s why of all the people I could possibly be teamed up with to fight the Demon Brigade, I’m glad that it’s you, kid.
“You have experience dealing with this… cult, and sockin’ it to ‘em where it counts, after all. Maybe I’m not a big bad sumo like Mushigihara, but I don’t like xenophobes either, so I’m sure you and I will have a grand ol’ time. For my part, I’m gonna kick GRIM and Zombie so hard it knocks the brainwashing right out of ‘em.”
He grins.
“If Lion’s Road didn’t close up shop, AJ, I truly feel like you and I would be the torchbearers of a new generation, whether opposite one another or on the same side. Let’s show these Demon Brigade chumps why they say WE raised the standard back home.
“And then, when that’s all said and done, I get to travel to Tokyo and take on that Monty Python himself, Sen Oka. In a… chessboxing match.”
A chuckle.
“I promise I’ll spare y’all the corny ‘checkmate’ jokes in this one, folks. But when I step in the Black Lion’s Road ring, I’m not only defending Lion’s Road’s honor… but I’m defending the entire sport of professional wrestling, in one of its most hallowed hometowns, no less. Of course, it not being a wrestling match may be a disadvantage, because I may have been a kickboxer, but that and Western boxing are two different animals.
“But that just means he can’t pull out that Right Knee of God… but I still got two of the Eight Limbs that sweet, sweet Thai science uses, so… advantage, me. Just as long as he’s not a deadly chess player. I… was never really good at that. Stratego was always my game.
“Thanks, dad.”
David takes a deep sigh and bows his head.
“And then… that’s it, huh? The companies that took me in and set me on a path to become the champion I am today both shut their doors and I’m left to find my next path in setting this industry ablaze.”
He looks towards his hotel window and lets out a sniffle.
“To think that over twenty years in this business, of stumbling and trying to find my way, and I would ascend to the top of the profession after no more than ONE year in Lion’s Road.
“I owe my career to Lion’s Road. AND Max-J. So what do I do now to repay them? Simple.”
He turns back to us, with one eye glimmering in what appears to be a tear.
“I carry them on my back and blaze a trail with them.”
The cellphone camera zooms in on his face.
“One. More. Time.”
Cut.