Post by Jack Diamond on Apr 24, 2018 19:12:14 GMT -5
The low guttural rumble of boos overtake the Bridgestone arena in Nashville, Tennessee. It's deafening, only drowned out by the loud rhythmic pounding of an exhausted, racing heartbeat. The taste of metal, a salty warmth that moistens the inside of the mouth but does little to quench the terribly dry throat is almost gagged down. Blood trickles down around the face of our beloved Jack Diamond. Lying in a pool of his own blood, feeling like he just got hit by a Mack truck, Diamond tries to gather himself. The stars dance around in the fog of his head as he briefly forgets where he is. Then a flash of light is blinding, almost a bright white, as he tries to open his matted eyes. Then there is another flash. It is all coming back to him, he remembers the arena, the crowd, the dual title defense against Bobby Barratt. Finally through squinted eyes, he is able to make out the referee bending down over him, squeezing his hand to make sure he is cognizant. Very slowly, Diamond is able to roll over and look up, first at the overhead lights high up above the stands, burning down like fire from the rafters. Then, he tilts his head as much as a guy can who just took the amount of punishment he has, and he sees the twenty foot ladder casting a dark shadow across his almost lifeless body. The site at the top is without a doubt the worst thing Jack Diamond could have imagined...
BEEP BEEP BEEP... BEEP BEEP BEEP... BEEP BEEP BEEP
Friday June 30th - 6:00 AM
Diamond is jolted awake by his alarm clock. The scar on his head from last Monday shoots pain all the way through his body as he slams the alarm clock off. As he shakes the terrible dream and cobwebs from his mind, he sets up in bed and looks around to the empty fifth of Fireball on the bedside table of his Loews Vanderbilt Hotel room, his home away from home this week leading up to Dead End.
Jack Diamond: Damn, I really need to quit drinking so much before bed…
Diamond stands up and stretches and walks over to the radio that sits below the flat screen television. As Jack turns the radio on and moves the dial, a local morning show catches his attention. The show, on Nashville’s rock station 102.9 The Buzz, has just come back from commercial. Free Beer and Hot Wings in the Morning. The two hosts, warmly referred to as Free Beer, a sports junkie who sometimes butchers vocabulary, and Hot Wings a political and pop culture connoisseur who loves going on rants go into their next sports segment.
Free Beer: We are back, this is Free Beer and Hot Wings in the Morning and I want us to shift gears over to sports for a moment, or as many point out… Sports Entertainment.
Hot Wings: That’s right El Matador, this Sunday in the Bridgestone Arena, Icon Championship Wrestling comes to town. As many of the listeners know, I am from Michigan and this company is huge up in that neck of the woods, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, and so on. I have family up there who are ecstatic that it is coming close to me and told me I HAVE to see it live.
Producer Joe: Well if anyone likes watching guys dance in underwear, it’s you Hot Wings.
Free Beer: Ha ha! It’s funny because it’s true. In all seriousness though, I’ve been following this product as well, and while it’s far removed from the glory days of Memphis and Mid-South wrestling, it’s a pretty decent company.
Hot Wings: Who let Joe speak? Anyways, yes it is really exciting and I plan on taking the kid over to the show Sunday night. So Beer, you follow it… what match are you looking forward to the most?
Free Beer: Well, anyone would be crazy if they didn’t say the main event was their most anticipated match. You have the leader of the Kingdom, Bobby Barratt taking on the Shooting Star AND World Champion in a double title ladder match. These guys threw down a couple weeks ago and it was easily a match of the year candidate in any company, I only assume this will be magnified tenfold with two titles on the line.
Hot Wings: I’m glad you said that, I would definitely have to pick this match too and you know what? I think Bobby Barratt wins.
Back in his hotel room, Diamond listens in disbelief. He just beat Barratt a couple weeks ago and has won matches since when Barratt has done everything he could to prevent it, including the ladder match for the Shooting Star title where he overcame a preshow attack from Barratt and match interference from him.
Jack Diamond: You have to be kidding me, I thought the people of Nashville were intelligent…
Diamond picks up his phone and begins to google this radio show and their hosts. As he raises the phone to his ear, the show continues.
Free Beer: How can you say that? Jack Diamond has been running roughshod over everyone in the company, including Barratt. He is the number one wrestler in the company right now and holds the top two belts.
Hot Wings: None of it is earned! He has been handpicked by owner, Shawn Rossdale from the start. Apparently he bought tickets for fans to give ICW their very first sell out and it’s been straight to the moon since then.
Free Beer: Well I guess you have a point there. I mean, he has had some really amazing matches but I guess there is an asterisks beside his tenure in the company so far. Barratt is definitely the real deal, I see so much of my old childhood favorite, The British Bulldog in him, although maybe it is the accent.
Hot Wings: That is the comparison? No wonder you are high on someone like Jack Diamond. I bet you have a Diamond Club shit don’t you?
Producer Joe: Hate to break up the debate fellas, but we have someone very interesting on the line. The Ace of Spades himself, Jack Diamond.
Free Beer: Uh, is this real?
Jack Diamond: Yes it’s real, and here I am, trying to get my day started after a night on the town in this great city, and I turn on the radio and I hear this trash? That Bobby Barratt is going to beat me?
Free Beer: That was all Hot Wings, champ, I am one hundred percent a member of the Diamond Club.
Hot Wings: Oh don’t suck up now man, you were just agreeing with-
Diamond: It really doesn’t matter what either one of you think. It matters what the true Diamond Club VIPs think and know. That is that when the chips are down on the table, all bets point to Jack Diamond taking the pot. You two clowns better remember that.
Diamond hangs up the phone, clearly agitated after his bad dream and the doubt from two Nashville radio hosts. He throws his phone down on the bed and heads off into the bathroom to wash his face as the radio show becomes muffled as the two hosts try to get the show back on track after the impromptu call-in.
Friday June 30th – 9:30 PM
The scene picks up outside of the Parthenon in Nashville. This majestic landmark was built in 1897 as a full-scale replica of the one in Athens. While it originally was going to be a temporary structure, it was decided that removal would be too expensive and Nashville has kept it maintained ever since. On this summer evening, the Parthenon is glowing red. As the cameras come closer, we see a massive ladder, maybe fifty feet tall, sitting in the lawn out front with a spotlight shining down on it. The red hue from the building, and spotlight on the ladder provides a unique contrast from the dark night that surrounds Centennial Park. Atop the ladder, in one of his finest suits, sits Jack Diamond, both of his titles dangling from the second-to-top rung. As the camera zooms in, gone is the “happy-go-lucky” Diamond we are used to, in its place, a solemn, focused, almost scary looking Ace of Spades. Jack raises his head and his eyes pierce through the night as he stares into the camera.
Jack Diamond: Bobby, you really want to know what happens when you peel away the happy joking exterior of Jack Diamond? You face me one-on-one in a ladder match, and you think you achieved something by “baiting me” into this match? Something in that Walsall water has got you delirious pal. I am Mr. Ladder Match, I am the ICW Shooting Star and World Champion. There is a reason for that. It’s not because I am Shawn Rossdale’s “golden boy” as so many in the back would want you to believe. No, Bobby, you know as well as I do that I am the real deal. When you laid motionless in the ring a couple weeks ago, with your knee almost tied up like a pretzel after Aces Wild, and Jack Diamond looking down at you… I know you seen it in my eyes. That willingness to do anything and everything to not only get to the top of this business, but to stay at the top.
Diamond stands up, at the very top of the huge ladder, and looks down at the ground below him. He takes his jacket off, throws it to the ground. As it flutters in the night down to the grass below, Jack loosens his tie, takes off his glasses and hangs them from his collar.
Jack Diamond: I’ve never been one to shy from theatrics, and this ladder, is about twice the size of what I will need to climb to regain my belts Sunday night. You think putting the belts an extra five, ten feet in the air hurt me? Shawn could have hung those belts from the rafters of Bridgestone Bobby, and it won’t change the fact that I will climb, jump, scratch and claw my way to my titles. You want to talk about all the training you did the last sixteen years? I can respect that. The paths we’ve traveled down haven’t been so different. I started out as a young boy, going to all the local shows, learning the ins and outs, setting up rings, driving from town to town and busting my ass to barely make money, just because I love this business. We are definitely not a rags to riches story, but what we are is living proof that with enough work and sacrifice, we can be at the top of our class. That all culminates this Sunday.
Jack bends down and picks up his two titles, and holds them out by his sides, almost Christ-like. The red glow coming off of the belts make it appear that he is holding fire directly in his hands.
Jack Diamond: You are proud that you are in my head? Well you’re damned right you are in my head Bobby. If you knew what was good for you, you would get the Ace in your head as well. See, I have never been more focused in my life. I eat, sleep, and breathe this life in ICW. I will climb up one rung, ten rungs, a hundred rungs, and once and for all end your dreams of being anything but a washed up “what-if” who sits around and tells his grandchildren about the time he almost had Jack Diamond. Almost Bobby, but as was the case a couple of weeks ago, I will once again stand over you holding both of these belts. This is what you asked for, this is as real as it gets. This Sunday, your Kingdom comes crumbling down!
The scene comes to an end.
BEEP BEEP BEEP... BEEP BEEP BEEP... BEEP BEEP BEEP
Friday June 30th - 6:00 AM
Diamond is jolted awake by his alarm clock. The scar on his head from last Monday shoots pain all the way through his body as he slams the alarm clock off. As he shakes the terrible dream and cobwebs from his mind, he sets up in bed and looks around to the empty fifth of Fireball on the bedside table of his Loews Vanderbilt Hotel room, his home away from home this week leading up to Dead End.
Jack Diamond: Damn, I really need to quit drinking so much before bed…
Diamond stands up and stretches and walks over to the radio that sits below the flat screen television. As Jack turns the radio on and moves the dial, a local morning show catches his attention. The show, on Nashville’s rock station 102.9 The Buzz, has just come back from commercial. Free Beer and Hot Wings in the Morning. The two hosts, warmly referred to as Free Beer, a sports junkie who sometimes butchers vocabulary, and Hot Wings a political and pop culture connoisseur who loves going on rants go into their next sports segment.
Free Beer: We are back, this is Free Beer and Hot Wings in the Morning and I want us to shift gears over to sports for a moment, or as many point out… Sports Entertainment.
Hot Wings: That’s right El Matador, this Sunday in the Bridgestone Arena, Icon Championship Wrestling comes to town. As many of the listeners know, I am from Michigan and this company is huge up in that neck of the woods, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, and so on. I have family up there who are ecstatic that it is coming close to me and told me I HAVE to see it live.
Producer Joe: Well if anyone likes watching guys dance in underwear, it’s you Hot Wings.
Free Beer: Ha ha! It’s funny because it’s true. In all seriousness though, I’ve been following this product as well, and while it’s far removed from the glory days of Memphis and Mid-South wrestling, it’s a pretty decent company.
Hot Wings: Who let Joe speak? Anyways, yes it is really exciting and I plan on taking the kid over to the show Sunday night. So Beer, you follow it… what match are you looking forward to the most?
Free Beer: Well, anyone would be crazy if they didn’t say the main event was their most anticipated match. You have the leader of the Kingdom, Bobby Barratt taking on the Shooting Star AND World Champion in a double title ladder match. These guys threw down a couple weeks ago and it was easily a match of the year candidate in any company, I only assume this will be magnified tenfold with two titles on the line.
Hot Wings: I’m glad you said that, I would definitely have to pick this match too and you know what? I think Bobby Barratt wins.
Back in his hotel room, Diamond listens in disbelief. He just beat Barratt a couple weeks ago and has won matches since when Barratt has done everything he could to prevent it, including the ladder match for the Shooting Star title where he overcame a preshow attack from Barratt and match interference from him.
Jack Diamond: You have to be kidding me, I thought the people of Nashville were intelligent…
Diamond picks up his phone and begins to google this radio show and their hosts. As he raises the phone to his ear, the show continues.
Free Beer: How can you say that? Jack Diamond has been running roughshod over everyone in the company, including Barratt. He is the number one wrestler in the company right now and holds the top two belts.
Hot Wings: None of it is earned! He has been handpicked by owner, Shawn Rossdale from the start. Apparently he bought tickets for fans to give ICW their very first sell out and it’s been straight to the moon since then.
Free Beer: Well I guess you have a point there. I mean, he has had some really amazing matches but I guess there is an asterisks beside his tenure in the company so far. Barratt is definitely the real deal, I see so much of my old childhood favorite, The British Bulldog in him, although maybe it is the accent.
Hot Wings: That is the comparison? No wonder you are high on someone like Jack Diamond. I bet you have a Diamond Club shit don’t you?
Producer Joe: Hate to break up the debate fellas, but we have someone very interesting on the line. The Ace of Spades himself, Jack Diamond.
Free Beer: Uh, is this real?
Jack Diamond: Yes it’s real, and here I am, trying to get my day started after a night on the town in this great city, and I turn on the radio and I hear this trash? That Bobby Barratt is going to beat me?
Free Beer: That was all Hot Wings, champ, I am one hundred percent a member of the Diamond Club.
Hot Wings: Oh don’t suck up now man, you were just agreeing with-
Diamond: It really doesn’t matter what either one of you think. It matters what the true Diamond Club VIPs think and know. That is that when the chips are down on the table, all bets point to Jack Diamond taking the pot. You two clowns better remember that.
Diamond hangs up the phone, clearly agitated after his bad dream and the doubt from two Nashville radio hosts. He throws his phone down on the bed and heads off into the bathroom to wash his face as the radio show becomes muffled as the two hosts try to get the show back on track after the impromptu call-in.
Friday June 30th – 9:30 PM
The scene picks up outside of the Parthenon in Nashville. This majestic landmark was built in 1897 as a full-scale replica of the one in Athens. While it originally was going to be a temporary structure, it was decided that removal would be too expensive and Nashville has kept it maintained ever since. On this summer evening, the Parthenon is glowing red. As the cameras come closer, we see a massive ladder, maybe fifty feet tall, sitting in the lawn out front with a spotlight shining down on it. The red hue from the building, and spotlight on the ladder provides a unique contrast from the dark night that surrounds Centennial Park. Atop the ladder, in one of his finest suits, sits Jack Diamond, both of his titles dangling from the second-to-top rung. As the camera zooms in, gone is the “happy-go-lucky” Diamond we are used to, in its place, a solemn, focused, almost scary looking Ace of Spades. Jack raises his head and his eyes pierce through the night as he stares into the camera.
Jack Diamond: Bobby, you really want to know what happens when you peel away the happy joking exterior of Jack Diamond? You face me one-on-one in a ladder match, and you think you achieved something by “baiting me” into this match? Something in that Walsall water has got you delirious pal. I am Mr. Ladder Match, I am the ICW Shooting Star and World Champion. There is a reason for that. It’s not because I am Shawn Rossdale’s “golden boy” as so many in the back would want you to believe. No, Bobby, you know as well as I do that I am the real deal. When you laid motionless in the ring a couple weeks ago, with your knee almost tied up like a pretzel after Aces Wild, and Jack Diamond looking down at you… I know you seen it in my eyes. That willingness to do anything and everything to not only get to the top of this business, but to stay at the top.
Diamond stands up, at the very top of the huge ladder, and looks down at the ground below him. He takes his jacket off, throws it to the ground. As it flutters in the night down to the grass below, Jack loosens his tie, takes off his glasses and hangs them from his collar.
Jack Diamond: I’ve never been one to shy from theatrics, and this ladder, is about twice the size of what I will need to climb to regain my belts Sunday night. You think putting the belts an extra five, ten feet in the air hurt me? Shawn could have hung those belts from the rafters of Bridgestone Bobby, and it won’t change the fact that I will climb, jump, scratch and claw my way to my titles. You want to talk about all the training you did the last sixteen years? I can respect that. The paths we’ve traveled down haven’t been so different. I started out as a young boy, going to all the local shows, learning the ins and outs, setting up rings, driving from town to town and busting my ass to barely make money, just because I love this business. We are definitely not a rags to riches story, but what we are is living proof that with enough work and sacrifice, we can be at the top of our class. That all culminates this Sunday.
Jack bends down and picks up his two titles, and holds them out by his sides, almost Christ-like. The red glow coming off of the belts make it appear that he is holding fire directly in his hands.
Jack Diamond: You are proud that you are in my head? Well you’re damned right you are in my head Bobby. If you knew what was good for you, you would get the Ace in your head as well. See, I have never been more focused in my life. I eat, sleep, and breathe this life in ICW. I will climb up one rung, ten rungs, a hundred rungs, and once and for all end your dreams of being anything but a washed up “what-if” who sits around and tells his grandchildren about the time he almost had Jack Diamond. Almost Bobby, but as was the case a couple of weeks ago, I will once again stand over you holding both of these belts. This is what you asked for, this is as real as it gets. This Sunday, your Kingdom comes crumbling down!
The scene comes to an end.