[GB] AND IT TOOK MY PLACE. (II)

[guillotinegb]

"...but this wasn't always your fault, David." 

Graham Baker emerges once again, this time still on the streets of New York, collecting in his hands a hot dog from a street vendor, decked out with a solid coating of Sabrett onions. Baker takes a bite, and cringes for a moment, before downing the rest of it. He tosses a couple bills to the vendor, and then turns back toward the street, continuing to walk. 

"I wouldn't expect someone from a shithole like this, who takes his big championship moment and uses it as an honorific for the place he's from. I mean, hell, when I walk out of Hostile Intent with your belt in my hands, I'm not gonna go about renamin' it the South Street Championship. You're too closed-minded, my friend, too focused entirely on the desires that you've got in that stomach of yours, tunnel visioned with your own success despite how it might make ya look. That mentality-that self absorption-it's what sets men like me apart from boys like you. Goin' after your earliest carnal urges ain't always the best bet, especially when you find yourself head to head with a fuckin' Megalith like me. Shameful display, really-when a beast comes swinging for you, you'd best be ready to take the hit or die on impact. 

Care to bet on where you'll end up? 

I've already addressed the field, of course, and I'm sure they've got a great many words for me. I'm sure they're all great competitors, all wondrous combatants in the field of NLW specifically, top contenders for this championship. After all-I was the last man added to this match, I'm still proving myself, while many of these others have been fortunate enough to find themselves placed here pre-emptively. Already proven, while I've got to undertake my own proving, step out into trial by fire and find out if I can reign supreme. It's a bit of a role reversal here, for someone as talented and as fuckin' well-proven as myself, to come into a place like this and have to reaquaint myself with the locals. 

Would almost make me laugh, assumin' the stakes weren't so fuckin' high. 

But sling rocks, they will, upon my back. You, David, and all the others. Outsider and Unwelcome, I'd imagine-but I don't care to check. The movements of ants around the feet of an elephant have never bothered it before, lest they step too far out of their lane and find themselves reduced to nothing under a monumental footfall. It's the same general concept here, the idea that I'm not going to bother addressing some of the refuse slinging mud and shit my way. I'm not going to humor the rest of you with your hateful words, I'll simply draw my battle lines and prove why I came here, why I made my way into this match, and lay my mission statement bare for not just you, David, but every other to come and see. 

And that truth? That mission statement?

Simply put, I'm one of the best in the world." 

Baker grits his teeth and chuckles, a low, hollow sound, devoid of joy. 

"Week after week, I run from Japan, to Colorado, to the United Kingdom, and back. I wear myself down to the fuckin' bone with my schedule, I don't ever stop performing. I don't win every match, of course-because who does?-but I make my mark known. I went from nobody to a genuine fuckin' threat in the United States after just a few years, and I replicated that success three times as fast in my first foray into the fucking Pacific. I was able to return to my homeland, even, and come forth as a bonafide fuckin' legend. NLW may not be a new land, but it is another conquest, another treasure I'm going to lay my hands upon, another territory that I'm going to claim under my fuckin' kingdom. 

And honestly? I invite you to stop me. I invite you to stand before me, because what's a fuckin' king without competition? What would Godzilla be without King Kong? The Gaijin Kaiju is here to stay, and even if I don't take this championship-because, hell, maybe you'll be better than me on this given night-I won't stop fuckin' coming for you. I won't stop peeling piece after piece off of you, reducing you to naught but a shell, an outer flesh, a casing. I will force you to evolve, David, and if you survive that process, that metamorphosis, maybe you can beat me. Maybe anyone in this match can beat me, really. Unwillingness to cope, to change, is non-negotiable. Unwillingness to shed the old flesh is inexcusable. Shift your beliefs, your hierarchy, your desires and the limits you're willing to push yourself to, or you will falter.

You will fail. 

I'm on another fucking level to you, David. Honestly, I'm on a different level to anyone in this match, and I'm going to prove that. 

And after Hostile Intent? I'll be Southern States Champion. Undisputed. Proven. Elite."

Baker cracks a rare smile, and then glances back to the camera. 

"But hey, look on the bright side, eh, David? You made a guest appearance on the on my show before-maybe you and the other four will get some spotlights to start climbing, too." 

Baker walks off, leaving his last words hanging on the air as we cut to black.