Newark, New Jersey
Friday June 1, 2018
4:25pm Eastern Standard Time

Pest sits behind the desk in his club’s back office looking down at the multitude of papers spread out in front of him. The brim of his “New York Giants” cap obstructs the view of his face as he grabs a pen sitting to his right and begins writing on one of the papers. After a moment we hear the voice of Beasley from within the club.

Yo Pest!

Without looking up from his papers Pest responds.

Whaddup?

You got a Fed-Ex from XWF.

Beasley makes his way into the office, envelope in hand as Pest finally looks up front his desk. The cap on his head is pulled down to just above his brow, so though he is looking up we can only really see his nose and mouth.

A’ight, open it. Let’s see what dez muthafucka want.

Beasley shrugs and proceeds to open up the envelope. Initially, he pulls out a single sheet of paper and reads it.

“Mr. Johnson, your presence is formally requested to participate in our Pre-Wednesday Night Warfare press conference and Fan Meet-and-Greet. Please RSVP informing us of your availability of this even.”

Beasley smirks and shakes his head as Pest raises the brim of his cap finally giving us a view of his eyes.

Dez niggas serious?!?! Man…fuck that shit! Aint no way I’m doing that. You might as well throw dat shit away, dog.

Beasley pulls out a second set of papers and flips through them.

Well that’s not it. There’s also a contract for a title match at the show. You vs. Robert Main for the Hart Championship.

What?!? Let me see dat!

Beasley hands the contract to Pest. Pest leans back in his chair flipping through the paperwork, after a moment he speaks.

I don’t get it.

Don’t get what?

Why are they giving me this match? After everything I said about this company, why are they continuing to do the exact same thing?

Beasley shrugs.

What did you expect them to do, see the error of their ways and change? I mean, come on man.

Pest places the contract on the desk and begins rubbing his chin.

Dat’s what I’m sayin man. I mean, I didn’t expect anything to change overnight. But none of this makes any sense.

I…I don’t trust it. Not even a little bit. Shit just doesn’t sit right with me. We both know that they didn’t want me to win that battle royal so what’s their “plan B?” How are they gonna fuck me over this time?

Beasley chuckles.

I’m sure they’ll figure out a way. My suggestion…do what you said you were gonna do…fuck shit up. Break all of these muthafucker off until they have no one left. You know they are gonna take you down…take ‘em down with ya.

Beasley walks out of the office and Pest looks down at the contract before nodding.


Plainfield, New Jersey
Monday, June 4, 2018
6:25pm Eastern Standard Time

We find Pest sitting in a wooden lounge chair on the porch in front of his “Sleepy Hollow” home. Initially the camera is to his left so we only have a profile view of him. Pest sits canted to his right with his chin in his right hand and the camera zooms in a bit. Pest stares off into the distance for a moment before finally breaking the silence.

A couple of months ago I would have been really excited about the position I’m currently in. I mean…number one contender to the Universal Championship…guaranteed shot at the current face of this company…Second Chance battle royal winner…In position to be the man around here. It all seems to be going really good for me right now. But honestly…

Pest shifts in the chair sitting up straight and quickly rubs his finger along the top of his upper lip.

Honestly, all this is just a fantasy. A fake world that XWF has created around me in hopes getting me to fall back in line. How do I know this?

Pest chuckles to himself.

Just call it a hunch…a gut feeling.

I wasn’t supposed to win that battle royal; everyone knew it. I stood in that ring waiting for the ceiling to fall on me and it just…didn’t. Next thing I know I’m the last man standing. I wanted to celebrate…I wanted to jump around that ring arms in the air, screaming to the mountain tops.

But I couldn’t.

You know that feeling you get when you think something is looming behind you? That chill up your spine that causes the hair on the back of your neck to raise?

Ever since I kicked Scully’s hand off that rope and watched him fall to the floor, I’ve had that feeling. And I can honestly say that it’s not from fear of this new “position” I’m currently in. It has nothing to do with any potential opponent I may face from here on out. It’s from the fact that I know trouble is following me. Cause there’s no way that I’m gonna say and do the things I’m planning to do within this company and get away with it.

A slight smile grows in the corners of Pest’s lips.

Guess I’m gonna have to learn to live with this feeling for a while. Cause as I said before there’s nothing this company can offer me that would change my current mind set.

Pest turns his head slightly toward the camera; slight smile still on his face.

But you’ll do what you can to make it seem like you’re offering me everything won’t you, XWF?

Head facing front again.

Another public appearance and an additional title shot. A title shot, I might add, that I earned months ago when I won that eight man tag match.

Pest shakes his head.

Cute!

Well, while I won’t be participating in your bullshit promotional event, I will take advantage of the opportunity to throw hands with one of your champions the night after. I like the sound of that…a lot! The idea of beating the shit out of your Hart Champion and taking that title by force really interests me. Not so much because of being the Hart Champion…

Pest shrugs.

I don’t care about the Hart Championship. What I care about is taking the things that belong to you piece by piece and making it MINE.

Now…I know that Robert Main isn’t gonna like hearing that. I mean, this is a man who takes it personally when you tell him that…well…he’s been flat out fucking missing. And though he’ll tell you it’s been a “few weeks off”, it’s been more like a month and a half. Damn near a month and a half of not seeing the Hart Champion.

He’ll also get offended if you tell him that the Hart Division as of late has been pretty fuckin garbage. But let’s be honest, of all the people that have challenged him during his reign, only TWO of them are still here. Mezian (Give me a break!) and Gilmour (Give me a bigger fucking break!). And don’t get it twisted and let him lead you to believe that he’s the reason the others are gone…He’s not.

Now, I’m not in the business of telling champions they suck. Main is the champion for a reason, clearly he has championship caliber ability. But you can’t tell me that he’s been this phenomenal champion as of late. I just can’t buy that. Has he been good…sure. But not phenomenal.

There was one thing that Main said that intrigued me though.

So let me make sure I understand this correctly. Me winning the battle royal is now somehow invalidated because Robert Main wasn’t in it?

Pest chuckles.

Aint dat some shit…

Well I guess the obvious response is…Where the hell was Robert Main at then?

I mean…if he had the victory in the bag, then why didn’t he come take it? The match was open to anyone on the roster. Main had as much right to be in one of those rings as anyone else did. Yet he choose to stay home and watch from the sideline? Sounds to me like homeboy is talkin out his ass right now.

Let me guess…Still on those “few weeks off?” Typical.

Well allow me to hit you with some fact. Had Main been in that match the end result would not have changed. Robert Main would have been another member of the roster eliminated twice in one night. Which is probably the why he didn’t show up in the first place and is giving us lip service now.

Now I’m sure there’s gonna be a plethora of excuses as to why he wasn’t there. Honestly he can save them for someone that gives a fuck. At this point what’s done is done. I’m the Second Chance Battle Royal winner and there’s nothing that can change that.

Here’s what Main needs to focus on at this point; out paths are about to cross. He’s gonna have to stand in that ring with me, look me in my eye and hope that he was what it takes to defend that title for the sixth time. He’s gonna have to hope that I’m just like all the others he’s beaten.

Over the course of the next week and a half, he’s gonna stack me up against the men and women that have tried and failed and pray that I get lost in the shuffle. He’s gonna convince himself that I’m just some fly-by-night, flash in the pan, fluky motherfucka that he can just step over…hell, he’s already starting to do that.

Listen to the man talk.

Listen to him brag about his past; like we care.

Listen to him talk about how he should be relevant; which he isn’t.

Listen to him talk about being my biggest threat; which he could never be.

These are the things you have to look forward to all week until I push his teeth down his throat and shut him the fuck up.

But pay no attention to him…It’s all empty words. Nothing he says has any substance, so it doesn’t matter what garbage flies out of his mouth. Just a small dog that barks at everything it sees until a bigger dog shows up causing it to scurry away tail tucked between it’s legs.

Pest points at himself with his thumb.

Big dog.

I hear all this talk about time and you know what…it’s appropriate.

Tennessee Williams once wrote “Time is the longest distance between two places.” Those two places metaphorically represent Main and myself. And as time passes…we get closer. When that time finally ends…

So does Robert Main.

Holla at cha later bitch!