“Tombstone, your next challenge comes in the way of a Last Man Standing match with none other than The Yellow Python. What do you have to say about that?”
“The Yellow Python, Johnny? Why does it feel as if people think I’m some kind of joke? In what world does that pipsqueak belong in the same ring as The Game?”
“He’s quite an accomplished…”
“Do you know what it takes to play The Game?”
Silence.
“Do any of you even know what the game is? It’s not child’s play. If you put a man that size in the ring with a man of my size, that’s murder. But if those in charge wish to put a death sentence on that boy’s head, so be it.”
“Are you ready, Python?”
“Because you had better be. Old School Wrestling isn’t the game. Olympus isn’t the game. Hell, wrestling in the middle of that ring isn’t the game. Anyone can do it. Anyone can walk through those doors, pull on a pair of tights, or in your case a gimp suit and lace a pair of boots. Anyone.”
“Being able to stand toe to toe with anyone on this roster is not the game afoot. Yet everyone with a glint in their eye and a dream in their mind wants to be the man. They all think they’ve calculated their plan, considered their options and taken their lumps. Once they step through the ropes, to them, the game has begun.”
“They’re wrong.”
“If they aren’t the game, and wrestling isn’t the game, then what is the game, Tombstone?”
“I’m not finished, Johnny.”
“When I step through those ropes, I calculate every inch, every angle, every potential outcome, and movement. I consider everything I do, from the first fist to the last boot and everything in between. I weigh up the options. I’m calculated in every single moment of defence and every single moment of attack. There’s nothing I haven’t thought of. That’s why they call me the Cerebral Assassin, Johnny.”
“It starts even before I get there. It starts here when I make The Yellow Python think twice about what he knows. It starts mentally, when I take men like him who call themselves students of the game and I prove them wrong.”
“This coming week at NXT Level, The Yellow Python finally meets The Game.”
“He finally steps into the ring and goes toe to toe with it.”
“I’m The Game, Johnny.”
“I’m the OSW World Heavyweight Champion. I’m the one stood on top of that mountain, no-one else. I’m the one at the precipice of greatness and I’m the one so called students of the game learn from.”
“This’ll be boys versus men.”
“And I’m the man.”
“The Yellow Python stands not a single chance next week…”
“So, let me ask you kid – are you ready?”
“Because I am The Game and I am…”
“That…”
“Damn…”
“Good.”