Post by Ben-Stev on Mar 14, 2017 10:28:14 GMT -5
“Oh, Austin… Ignorance is bliss.”
After saying that rather cliché yet catchy term, Benny Stevens slowly blows up the smoke of his cigar. The surrounding is different: a simple room which has several mirrors covering the walls – their parallel alignment creates a series of smaller and smaller reflections that recede into an infinite distance. The Daredevil of AWE sits on a comfortable chair.
He chuckles and lightly presses the cigarette to a floor stand ashtray; next, he rests the object on it. Finally, he eyes the camera confidently.
“You know what they say about people who need to surround themselves with fast cars, yachts and fancy clothing, right, Austin? It appears that you’re doing your best to overcompensate for lacking something, and I know exactly what that is…
… Believe it or not, Austin, but you don’t actually believe in yourself. I don’t really blame you, though. I mean, it must’ve been hard growing up with a family that expected nothing but the very best from you, huh? Even worse, you have a brother that had quite a successful wrestling career, and no matter how hard you try to catch up to him, you still find yourself way behind when it comes to accomplishments. The thing is, you’re starting to realize that – you’re starting to realize that you’re nowhere as good as you thought you were.
But that’s great, Austin… That’s true maturity! Since you’re a so-called glorified rookie, let me give you a piece of advice: you have to be a student of the game in order to improve. Your approach to our match was different, and I admit that you’ve impressed me. However, your ignorance is still no surprise to me whatsoever.”
Benny takes a quick pause to let out a relaxed chuckle.
“Don’t ever think that I’m counting my days outside of AWE, Austin. As a matter of fact, if I had an opportunity to relive those days, I wouldn’t change a damn thing! What you fail to realize is we have to deal with the choices that are done in the past. I made poor choices and realized so, which, thankfully, led to my growth as a man and a wrestler. You don’t actually have to remind me, because I don’t forget shit easily – I mean, you mentioned that I wore dresses… But so did you in one of your videos which you attempted to mock me. Remember that? But honestly? You ain’t even wrong. I WAS a comedy character, and that’s the difference between you and me, Austin… I’m perfectly capable of recognizing my own reflex when I look into the mirror.”
Benny looks around.
“When I look at all these reflexes of myself, I see a man that will always believe in himself no matter how impossible it is for him to accomplish his goal. For instance, take our match as fine example… You may go ahead and bribe Dexter, our special referee. Try and instigate him to attack me from behind again – play with the cards that you’re dealt with, while I’ll stick to switching the ones that I’m dealt. I was never a fan of the whole underdog bullshit, and I guarantee that no matter how stacked against me the odds are, I’ll never see myself as an underdog – I’m no underdog going into this match. On the contrary, I fully trust myself to deal with all kinds of adversities, even though I’ve been stacking losses.
What about you, Austin?
What about you, Austin?
Do you even trust your own abilities to succeed?
Nah, I don’t think so. Well, not anymore… I remember when you were talking a bunch of shit on people and basically claiming to be a blessing to the AWE universe. You’re no longer pulling that act, are you? You supposedly had a plan to deal with Zack Fantana, but now you’re sure that you’d lose to him. You used to trash Amis Shelton, now you appear to be one of his fans – joined the club alongside Kimitsu, huh? She must have a strong head game for you to change your mind like that. See, that’s the kinda shit that I cannot respect, you’re just another bitch that flip-flops when it’s convenient for you – sorta like Dominic Lawson. The difference is when things aren't working out, you’ll just throw your money into the mix and hope for the best.
Say whatever you want, but all you appear to trust in this business is money… You put your money over your own in-ring skills. You realized that you’re not as good as you thought you were, so you gave up on your little campaign and decided to invest into another man’s – James Radford and his Alpha Cup contract. I mean, look at you acting all big just because, apparently, you bought yourself a goddamn title shot. Are you fucking serious!? Are you actually proud of being such a coward? You even said that money helps you win Championships – now I wonder: is that working out for ya?”
Benny shakes his head.
“I don’t see a strap around your waist, and hey, you’re probably the richest guy on the roster. Make no mistake, Austin, I pay attention to everything happening in AWE… Everything. I’m aware that you haven’t lost a match to Bindy – but she destroyed your whole mindset, didn’t she? She saw through your shell, just like I did, and tore to pieces your thoughts of yourself that were nothing but illusions. And I’ll do the same when we square up, Austin. So if you want to stand a chance against me, you'll have to believe in yourself like you’ve never done before…
… Stack the odds against me. I don’t want opportunities to be handed to me; I wanna keep earning my spot just like I’ve been doing since day one.”
Benny lifts the lit cigar to his mouth and takes a puff.
“You’d better hope Dexter kills me before I’m through with you, because your money won’t be enough to save you from me, Austin!”
Black screen.