Post by neelan on Feb 12, 2022 4:23:28 GMT
Fate seemed ready to screw Prince Devitt time and time again. From international success as part of the biggest thing to hit the Japanese wrestling scene in years, he'd managed to fall upwards into international superstardom…as half joke, half special attraction designed to sell toys to children. But the grand shakeup of the wrestling industry had given him a chance to cast away the fake name and the damage done to his reputation. It had given him another shot at stardom, this time in the right ways and under his own control and his own vision.
Fitting, then, that he wouldn't get to enjoy the first fruits of this labor or reinvention for long, especially at the hands and words of Matt Cardona. Sure, X-Division title contendership sounds like a reward, but have to do it over the back of someone that in a lot of minds represented the worst of the former titan of the industry, especially knowing that he had come from nowhere to get this opportunity while Devitt had just overcame the challenge of a former World championship caliber opponent and an accomplished fellow journeyman, well, it could be seen as a slap in the face.
But not one that the Real Rock 'n' Rolla was keen to take lying down. While the two men had shared locker rooms in the past, Devitt had to admit that he knew very little about Cardona beyond his usage of social media and seeming obsession with toy collecting. But as Sun Tzu once said, "know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated." And how better to know your enemy than to go where he goes and do what he does?
Which is how Devitt found himself in, of all places, Midtown Comics' famous Times Square location. Surrounded by comics, toys, and all sorts of the memorabilia of that subculture. Devitt's been here only a few minutes, but he's long since started second-guessing the decision. But still he wanders, filming this excursion with his cell phone camera to better analyze later.
PRINCE DEVITT: This was a horrible fookin' idea.
Devitt's is about ready to leave, giving up on the whole plan, when a greasy-looking twentysomething man walks up to him.
MAN: Uhh, excuse me, sir?
Debit rolls his eyes and braces himself for the interaction he knows is coming.
PRINCE DEVITT: Yeah?
MAN: Pardon me, but aren't…aren't you Finn Balor?
The grimace comes first, the scowl comes later. Of course Devitt can't escape the name he had been given, the role he'd been forced to play.
PRINCE DEVITT: No, not anymore.
The man looks at Devitt in confusion before ducking his head.
MAN: Oh, I'm sorry, I…I must've been mistaken…wait, what?
PRINCE DEVITT: I said, not anymore. That might as well have been a fookin' slave name. Let me guess, next you're gonna want me to do the pose or sign yet another one o' those fookin' cheesy 8 x 10s of me in the stupid makeup.
MAN: I…uhh…
PRINCE DEVITT: Just leave me the bloody hell alone. Or better yet, get a fookin' clue and try to keep up with the times. You fookin' fans are all the same.
The man scurries away in shame. Devitt shakes his head in anger and disgust before the inspiration strikes and he quickly turns the camera towards himself.
PRINCE DEVITT: Seriously, this was a horrible idea. I thought I'd come in 'ere, get a little look in my opponent's head for Ascension. I mean, that tosser Cardona practically LIVES in places like this, between the endless amount of meet 'n' greets he and the other has-beens and never-weres do to keep their names out there and the whole toy collectin' fetish thing he's into, from what I've seen. But dealin' with all these tossers and nutjobs ain't worth it.
Far as I figure, everyone o' the people in this building, just like ol' Matt himself, lives in a God damned fantasy land of their own makin'. They wake up in the mornin', telling themselves that this'll be the day. This is the day I get that promotion, or this is the day I stop being ignored, or this is the day I finally get to touch a real live human being. They sit there and tell themselves all kinds of lies like that, but they never actually do anything to change who they are or what they do.
Devitt shakes his head again, gesturing with his free hand at the rows of wasteful garbage he's surrounded by.
PRINCE DEVITT: It fits, Matt, that these are your people. It fits like a fookin' glove. You act like I'm the one stuck in the past while you're clingin' to a relevancy that ain't never been yours. You spent all that time in the fookin' limelight doin' all your Internet bullshit and gettin' your name out there, and where'd it get ya then? You got your girl stolen from you and fookin' pushed off a stage in a wheelchair. That was your shot at the big time. Those indies you supposedly carried on your back don't mean a damn thing for nothing, mate.
Devitt snorts, his mind wandering to his own period of time carrying a company on his back.
PRINCE DEVITT: Carrying indies on your back. For fook's sake, pal. If I wanted to waste your time and mine, I could go on and on about the time I carried the wrestling scene of an entire country on my back. But you don't see me usin' that kind of bullshit to get me nowhere, do ya? Because it doesn't fookin' matter. The landscape has changed, Cardona. The entire wrestling world has been turned on its head, and now WCLW is all that matters.
I was the biggest thing in Japan until I wasn't. The big fed in the sky tried to make me a joke and a cartoon. But I'm not that anymore either. What I am now, I get to decide. And I'm choosin' to kick your ass on the way to takin' over this place, just like I did Japan. You can keep on playing with toys and thinkin' you're God's gift to wrestlin'. But when I prove you wrong at Ascension, and when I got to move on to takin' that X-Division title, well, I sure as hell hope the checks for your therapy bills come out of Foley's pay and not mine.
Devitt smirks, but only for a moment before turning stone cold serious.
PRINCE DEVITT: Because I'm not here to play nice with the special kids. I'm here to rise to the top, where I fookin' belong. Too bad for you, mate, that you got put in my way.
Before he can say anything else, there's a voice from the background somewhere. Apparently, someone else has dared to approach him in recognition.
VOICE: Hey, aren't you…?
Before he can finish, Devitt turns his head quickly and interrupts.
PRINCE DEVITT: Yeah, I'm Hulk fookin' Hogan. What'cha gonna do?
The words may be light-hearted, but there's an edge to Devitt's voice that a more savvy person would recognize and walk away from. Clearly, this person isn't one of those people.
VOICE: No, really, you're that Finn Balor guy…
PRINCE DEVITT: Piss off, before I kick your arse across this building.
The owner of the voice gets the hint and quickly walks away. Frustrated wit the entire experience, Devitt gives up and starts to walk out of the building. He has better places to be and things to do to prepare. But before he shuts off the camera, he gets in one last expression of his exasperation.
PRINCE DEVITT: Fookin' nerds.