HD: Leon promo

[King Cucaracha 0]

COLE
The main attraction here tonight undoubtedly the OAOAST World Championship match in our main-event. The stars are out in force to support hometown hero Krista Isadora Duncan in her pursuit of the gold. Emotional favourites don't come too much bigger than Krista in LA. In the face of this partizan atmosphere, World Champion Leon Rodez finds himself in the unusual position of spoiler. How is he feeling ahead of tonight's big title defence? He's standing by with Josh Matthews.


We find the aforementioned interview and World Champion in front of the HD interview backdrop, a noticably more serious World Champion than usual.

MATTHEWS
Leon, first of all congratulations on retaining the World Heavyweight Title at AnglePalooza. But as relieved as you must be, little time to dwell on the celebrations from Sunday, as tonight you must defend against Krista Isadora Duncan, in her hometown, never beaten in singles competition.

RODEZ
So you want to know my thoughts? Quite frankly I'm not sure of them myself. Of course, I'm feeling happy to still be the World Heavyweight Champion. Am I happy with how it went down? Not a bit. Here I stand, on the 300th episode of OAOAST HeldDOWN, representing this company as the World Heavyweight Champion and it's an honour. But I don't feel much honour over what happened Sunday night and to be honest it's one of a few things bugging me just a little bit at the moment.

Leon scratches at his neck uncomfortably.

RODEZ
AnglePalooza was my first big test. Tonight was supposed to be the second. Problem is, I didn't exactly pass the first with flying colours. What with Mister Dick wiping out the referee and Tha Puerto Rican sticking his nose in, Sunday night left everybody with more questions than answers about me as a World Champion.

MATTHEWS
Well when PRL came down, you were in a pretty bad way.

RODEZ
Yeah no kidding, I'd just got punched in the nuts. If you want, we can see how you cope with the rest of the interview in a similar condition.

MATTHEWS
No, that's... that's fine, thank you.

RODEZ
Besides, I never asked for nor wanted PRL's help. Right after I won the World Title, I vowed to everyone that I was going to be a fighting champion. For the good of the company. For the good of the fans. Not only that, for the good of me, because I realise I've got to prove myself as World Champion. What I wasn't expecting was for my first Pay Per View title defence to be tarnished by outside interference to help me retain. That's not what I had in mind when I vowed to be a fighting champion. Not by a longshot. So I really didn't prove a thing.

MATTHEWS
Tonight you've definately got the chance to make that up and prove yourself though. And then some.

RODEZ
Krista's record speaks for itself. There's... something about her. I'm not going to kid myself into thinking any different, because I've been in the ring with her before and I know what she's capable of. She throws people off their gameplans. And it's gotten to the point where psychologically, she's got half of her opponent's beat before they even step into the ring, because they're either so worried about the record, or they're so obsessed with not falling into Krista's gameplan that they don't have time to impliment their own. Don't get me wrong, it's not all headgames. You don't go as long as she has without a singles loss to her name without having talent. But you've got to deal with the headgames or you're done for. So with that said, all of that plus her hometown behind her, you could argue this isn't just my toughest title defence, it's one of the toughest title defences any World Champion has ever had to make. But am I worried? ...well, maybe. But I'm also looking forward to it in a sick, twisted way. This... this is what being World Champion is all about. Nights like this. Challenges like this. If I can overcome this, nobody can doubt that I'm World Title material because it'll be talked about for years to come, that on the 300th HeldDOWN I overcame the odds and put on the performance of a champion. So for all the motivation Krista's got behind her, I've got more than enough of my own. Sunday's been and gone. Tonight, it's all about erasing that memory and creating a better, longer lasting one. Because I don't intend on becoming a footnote in history, I intend on MAKING history.

Leon walks off, still in determined mood.

MATTHEWS
Okay guys, back to you.

To Sofa Central.

COLE
The World Champion clearly focused, but champion or not he goes into tonight's main-event as the underdog to many. Well, to the majority, if you factor everything in. We spoke to leading Las Vegas bookmakers earlier in the week to get their thoughts on proceedings and although they rudely laughed us off and insisted they'd never provide odds on professional wrestling, the last letter of the last word they said, "Off", is an 'F'. And since 'F' designates 'Female', it's clear the Vegas oddsmakers have Krista as their favourite. Very interesting.