Smarkdown promo you didn't see

[Toxxic 0]

"Fans, I'm backstage with Michael Stephens," Ben Hardy greets viewers off the commercial break before turning to his interviewee. "Michael, you shocked a lot of people when you returned, as most of us had given up any thoughts that you would respond to Landon's challenges. Now you're back, and the situation that you've been saying you want to avoid is taking place; you are facing Landon Maddix at 13th Hour, in a Last Man Standing match, no less. Your thoughts, please."

 

"Ben, I won't deny that Landon kind of outmanoeuvred me on this one," the man formerly known as Toxxic admits. "I wasn't expecting him to force me to make a promise, but in hindsight I should have been. He's not as dumb as he looks - although to be fair, that would be very hard - and he knows I'll keep to my word. I don't like it, but I'll be there... and just because I don't like it, it doesn't mean I won't be ready."

 

"You and Landon have faced off twice before one-on-one," Hardy nods, "with the honours even. How do you see this one going? Are you still feeling any ring-rust, or do you think the time off will have benefited you as Landon has been on the road?"

 

"Yeah, but Landon hasn't done much wrestling since winning the World Title," Stephens snorts, "so I think you can count that one out. Ben, it's going to come down to one thing; who wants it more. And Landon," he continues, now turning to address the camera, "I think you'd best remember one thing, sunshine. You've backed me into a corner, a corner that you're determined I won't walk out of, and that was a mistake. See, I’ve been trying to play nice,” he carries on, moving perhaps unconsciously until he fills the lens and Ben Hardy is blocked out, “but that wasn’t good enough for you, was it? You couldn’t leave it. So now you’re going to have to see if you’ve got enough, if you want it enough, to take me down.

 

“Landon, you’ve asked for this before and it didn’t do you much good then either. When it came to it you did not have the moves, the skills or the guts to put me down for ten,” the Englishman continues, “now maybe things have changed since then, maybe not. What I know is, I’m going into this match with the knowledge I might be fighting for my life. You want to know what I can do in that situation, you go ask Aecas for an account of our 200 lightubes match. Hell, go find Kibagami, if you can. You’ve been working yourself up to this for months, for over a year; you’ve dug deeper into yourself than you probably thought possible, certainly deeper than any of the rest of us thought possible,” the straight-edger says. “You’ve come out with the serious side you always needed, but you’ve twisted it into a dark side. Sunshine, I don’t need to dig to find that. I carry it with me all the time. I can turn it on,” he clicks his fingers-

 

*snap*

 

“…like that.”

 

Michael Stephens’ grey eyes are boring into the camera now and his tone of voice has changed slightly; it’s a little harder; a little sharper. But then, as before, he seems to deflate slightly. He backs off a step, chews his bottom lip for a moment, then continues in a more subdued tone.

 

“But I don’t want to. I want to leave it dead and buried where it belongs. I want to go into this match and wrestle for the World Title, and nothing more. Bloody hell Landon, isn’t that enough? You took the title from me once. Then we went at it again, and that time I stopped you from repeating the feat. Now we’ve got the rubber match, and we’re going to go full circle because I’m going to take it from you.”

 

“Are you confident of that?” Ben Hardy asks, stepping back into view. Stephens looks at him for a moment, perhaps having forgotten that the interviewer was there, then grins at him - a slightly rueful grin perhaps, but not the lopsided rictus everyone used to associate with the Straight-Edge Sensation.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I am,” Stephens says. “See, one thing that I don’t know if Landon realises is a little statistic about me and title matches. Namely; no-one has ever, ever retained a title against me. Any title I’ve challenged for, I’ve won. Simple as. Now,” he continues, “Landon was the first person in the SWF to ever make me tap out. Maybe he’s going to be the first person to ever retain a title against me. We’ll see. In the meantime,” he says, cracking his neck from side to side, “I’ve got a little nutcase called the Insane Luchadore to take care of. Just like old times.” And with that, the former World Champion disappears from view.

 

“Well fans, there, you have it,” Ben Hardy say, “Michael Stephens is-”

 

Suddenly Stephens hoves back into view and, ignoring Hardy, focuses on the camera again.

 

“Landon. Word of warning, sunshine. If it comes to a choice between burying my dark side, and burying me… then that ain’t no choice at all.”

 

 

 

 

FADE OUT

[Sly 0]

Ha! That'll teach you for being active!

[chirs3 0]

I nosold it? I remember this promo, I coulda sworn I put it in there.

 

EDIT: Guess not. Sorry about that.

Edited June 8, 2006 by chirs3