Post by David Troy on Nov 13, 2022 4:16:26 GMT
“Vegas, baby.”
Cold open.
David Troy greets us, sitting at the foot of a bed in what appears to be a luxurious hotel hotel room, with an open window giving us a lovely view of the Las Vegas Strip. The Fox Among the Lions has a smile on his face, as he appears to be dressed for a night out on the town.
“I thought I’d take a moment to talk to the folks of Pollo Road, as well as my opponent for Monday night, before date night begins, so I’ll try and be brief. I came up short at Golden Road, and the thought of that sticks in my craw to this day. Every time I get up on my feet, I keep thinking about how that matchup would have gone, had my knee not tweaked itself. Perhaps I would have been able to take Reo Ojima down. Perhaps I would be the World’s Cruiserweight Champion, instead of him. But sometimes, life simply does not go the way we want, and so we must push on.”
A sigh.
“And so, I push on. On to the next match, on to Jin Hirai, and on to that first step on the road towards proving myself a worthy challenger, one on one, against Reo Ojima and that belt. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to take Jin Hirai lightly, no sir. In fact, I’m going to take him down like the threat he is; not just because of the obvious skill and savvy he shows every time he wrestles, but because frankly, I see a lot of myself in him.
“Think about it. A star athlete on the back end of his career, and trying to compensate for his body aging. Where have we seen that before?”
Troy chuckles and points a thumb at himself.
“I’ve been in that spot, man. It sucks. I’m 42, and it never gets easier, especially when you pride yourself on being one of the top fighters in the world like I do. I was 36 once, and on top of the athleticism fading, I was dealing with substance abuse and a brush with Death itself.
“I hope you never have to deal with anything like that, Jin Hirai. I don’t want anyone to deal with that. The truth is, I should be dead, and I say that with no hyperbole whatsoever.”
The three-time world’s heavyweight champion looks down on the floor by his feet, taking a deep breath and cracking his knuckles.
“I shouldn’t be alive, much less wrestling at this level. Much less pushing myself to stay ABLE to wrestle at this level. But I still do. God knows HOW, but I do. I push. And I fight. And I win.”
He looks back up towards us, behind the camera. He slightly lightens his serious tone, but not too much.
“You and me, Hirai, we’re old-timers. We’ve seen it all, and know a few things about tripping up these young guns. The triumph of experience over hope, so to speak. The young kids come into this business with all these hopes and dreams like we did many years ago, and we show up to show them it ain’t gonna be so easy making them come true.
“We’re that first hard lesson to the aspiring stars. Their first test. We ask them the question, ask them if it’s worth the pain.”
A shrug and a sigh. He cracks a knowing smirk.
“You and me, we were those young kids once. And we both got asked that question, and said yes. Not once, but many times. We stuck to this business longer than we probably should have, because it’s all we ever imagined ourselves doing, right, Jin?”
David Troy chuckles and grins.
“We’re getting on up there in years, man. Our bodies are a little stiffer, a little harder to carry around, so we count on our experiences and the lessons we learned on this path to help us fight. Y’know, there’s a whole subset of lucha libre that revolves around that. They call it maestro style. Fighting by guile. Old-timers trying to see who’s bag of tricks has more surprises to get the duke.
“Let’s see who’s got the best tricks Monday night, eh, Jin?”
A woman’s voice can be heard off-screen, saying “David, I’m ready when you are!” Our hero simply looks to us with a smile and a wink, before rising to his feet and walking off-screen.
Cut.
Cold open.
David Troy greets us, sitting at the foot of a bed in what appears to be a luxurious hotel hotel room, with an open window giving us a lovely view of the Las Vegas Strip. The Fox Among the Lions has a smile on his face, as he appears to be dressed for a night out on the town.
“I thought I’d take a moment to talk to the folks of Pollo Road, as well as my opponent for Monday night, before date night begins, so I’ll try and be brief. I came up short at Golden Road, and the thought of that sticks in my craw to this day. Every time I get up on my feet, I keep thinking about how that matchup would have gone, had my knee not tweaked itself. Perhaps I would have been able to take Reo Ojima down. Perhaps I would be the World’s Cruiserweight Champion, instead of him. But sometimes, life simply does not go the way we want, and so we must push on.”
A sigh.
“And so, I push on. On to the next match, on to Jin Hirai, and on to that first step on the road towards proving myself a worthy challenger, one on one, against Reo Ojima and that belt. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to take Jin Hirai lightly, no sir. In fact, I’m going to take him down like the threat he is; not just because of the obvious skill and savvy he shows every time he wrestles, but because frankly, I see a lot of myself in him.
“Think about it. A star athlete on the back end of his career, and trying to compensate for his body aging. Where have we seen that before?”
Troy chuckles and points a thumb at himself.
“I’ve been in that spot, man. It sucks. I’m 42, and it never gets easier, especially when you pride yourself on being one of the top fighters in the world like I do. I was 36 once, and on top of the athleticism fading, I was dealing with substance abuse and a brush with Death itself.
“I hope you never have to deal with anything like that, Jin Hirai. I don’t want anyone to deal with that. The truth is, I should be dead, and I say that with no hyperbole whatsoever.”
The three-time world’s heavyweight champion looks down on the floor by his feet, taking a deep breath and cracking his knuckles.
“I shouldn’t be alive, much less wrestling at this level. Much less pushing myself to stay ABLE to wrestle at this level. But I still do. God knows HOW, but I do. I push. And I fight. And I win.”
He looks back up towards us, behind the camera. He slightly lightens his serious tone, but not too much.
“You and me, Hirai, we’re old-timers. We’ve seen it all, and know a few things about tripping up these young guns. The triumph of experience over hope, so to speak. The young kids come into this business with all these hopes and dreams like we did many years ago, and we show up to show them it ain’t gonna be so easy making them come true.
“We’re that first hard lesson to the aspiring stars. Their first test. We ask them the question, ask them if it’s worth the pain.”
A shrug and a sigh. He cracks a knowing smirk.
“You and me, we were those young kids once. And we both got asked that question, and said yes. Not once, but many times. We stuck to this business longer than we probably should have, because it’s all we ever imagined ourselves doing, right, Jin?”
David Troy chuckles and grins.
“We’re getting on up there in years, man. Our bodies are a little stiffer, a little harder to carry around, so we count on our experiences and the lessons we learned on this path to help us fight. Y’know, there’s a whole subset of lucha libre that revolves around that. They call it maestro style. Fighting by guile. Old-timers trying to see who’s bag of tricks has more surprises to get the duke.
“Let’s see who’s got the best tricks Monday night, eh, Jin?”
A woman’s voice can be heard off-screen, saying “David, I’m ready when you are!” Our hero simply looks to us with a smile and a wink, before rising to his feet and walking off-screen.
Cut.