Post by Mark Hunter on Jan 15, 2021 16:18:36 GMT -5
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DIE IN THE SHADOWS
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"Opportunities don't happen. You create them." - Chris Grosser
Unaired Footage
San Jose - California
21:01 - December 24th, 2020
After a deep breath and this time unlike normal, some serious hesitation about going in and approaching his girlfriend's brother. Mark Hunter makes his way into Supreme’s and through a much smaller crowd than he expected for christmas eve and reaches the bar where he as always sees a suited Steve Martyn standing there. Mark refuses the stool due to his still bruised coccyx from the damn stupid piledriver on Matt Knox from a carzy height, fortunately his cracked ribs and knee ligament tweak are giving him very little issue due to the pain killers in his system. Steve greets Mark with a smirk and a bottle of bud.
“Why is that old bag with thirteen kids always up there singing like a fucking virgin the moment you turn the damn karaoke on?” Mark asks whilst taking a swig and looking toward the stage.
Steve chuckles “She spends money, I’ll survive.”
“The only thing more mind boggling to me is that she managed to get laid thirteen bloody times.”
“That’s harsh.”
“Well… would you?”
Steve raises his eyebrow “Fuck off”
Mark looks back at Steve “What happened anyway? I thought you’d paid for a performer tonight?”
“Jeez, Don’t ask.”
“Too late, I already did.”
A deep intake of breath from Steve is clearly audible “Guy named Axton King, he was so bad it was borderline funny, I had to tell him to do one.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, people were leaving before he finished his first f’ing song.”
“Damn.”
“Don’t need to be some sort of oracle to know letting him drive all my customers away would be bad for business.”
Mark looks around “Explains the lack of crowd I suppose. As much of a ninnyhammer as you are, you ain’t thick enough to let one person's ability to make so many others run for the hills destroy business. Does mean listening to that geriatric tone deaf cow singing crap Madonna shit again.”
Steve lets the ninnyhammer comment go but certainly notes it for future digs “The funny thing is, as I told him to wrap up his set because he was getting booed and losing me custom, he started screaming about everyone other than him being wrong and how I should kick my patrons out while he carried on doing the shit no one liked.”
“Deluded twatwaffle.”
“Clearly, the idiot had to be carried out by security after he started stomping his feet and screaming like a baby. I sure as hell ain't using LRK Productions again to supply my entertainment.”
“Don’t you normally use Alex Winter’s agency?”
Steve nods “Don’t get any shit from him, expensive though.”
“Quality often is.”
At that point Mark reaches into his jacket and pulls out a little jewellery box and hands it to Steve, Steve glances at Mark then toward the little box before opening it and staring at the 18ct white gold diamond solitaire ring Mark had bought on December the eighth.
Mark looks straight at a clearly shocked Steve “Asking her dad isn’t an option, so I’m asking you…”
Aired Footage
San Jose - California
01:23 - January 15th, 2021
The night sky was as clear as it could be made out to be, the air may have been cold yet crisp, enough to wake even the sleepiest of eyes. No clouds were visible and the twinkle of odd flutters of stars could be seen although most were shielded because of the lights from the city. With every breath that was taken, visual signs of air could be seen, it was that cold. The patter of steps on concrete could be heard as Markus Lee Huntington, wearing Nike jogging pants, sneakers and a hoodie with the hood over his head, could be seen jogging up several steps, lit only by moonlight.
In some cities, gym work is easy to find and sometimes it finds you. But other times, the plain exhaustion of traveling and the various other things that come with the gig, you need to walk away from the standard procedure and work at your own pace, whether it be stamina, fitness or endurance. Well maybe not Rocky Balboa style in Rocky IV, but there are ways around everything.
The more steps Mark jogged up, the greater the strain on the thighs and his right knee, more and more sweat pouring down his body. Inside his clothes, he felt as though he had walked through a furnace, the heat almost unbearable, but whenever he stopped, to catch a breath for example, the cold night caught up with him. It was easier and warmer that matter, to continue traveling forward, running.
It was times like this Mark felt completely alive, at the satisfaction of knowing that although he wasn't getting younger, he was in his physical prime, like a stallion with an unstoppable amount of energy. The pain he'd been feeling was slowly starting to evaporate, his back not feeling new, but refreshed and ready to fight another day. With the cold of the air, every so often Mark's chest would begin to feel tight, his lungs feeling cold. This was the worst part of the warm up, continuous inflation.
Mark smiled to himself, proud of his two Project Honor appearances. The last company he worked for had been nothing but hard work and backstage politics. Project Honor and a tag match against The Commonwealth meant yet more opportunity.
Mark tried to shake the thoughts out of his head as he approached a bridge crossing a river. It was a footbridge which could be simply exiled from one side to the other. But the questions still roamed in his head.
What was his level right now? He had beat everyone in the purge match and one on one, he’d beat the guy who just successfully defended his X-Factor title before going on to win a match involving the Grand Champion, Dickie Watson.
As Mark finally got over the bridge, the ground became muddy, a divide between concrete and grass came into plain view and Mark was trekking through the grass. He also began running against the wind, which had a chillier feel to it this way, his breath occasionally being taken away from him. His sneakers were fitted loosely on his feet and on several occasions would take extra effort to lift his foot up so as not to be wedged in the ground. Mark managed to lift himself off of the grass, back onto the concrete sidewalk.
This area was different from what he'd seen so far, it was more like the Kentish ground of his youth than American. Mark stopped, looking around, the heat off his body straight away became noticeable. The sidewalk was long, it stretched into the darkness and Mark couldn't make out where its destination came to. Mark noticed that he was literally steaming, the heat from his body and the cold air of the night colliding with the side effect coming into plain sight. It was an area that reminded him of being home, a sidewalk with a bicycle path, a road in the middle that separated the two sides and the bridge that he crossed, with its crafts and assembly not seen as much in the US as he did back in the UK.
Mark ducked his head and continued on his run, though he still had no idea where his destination would take him. With his mind still on the never ending debate in his mind at least of his standing in Project Honor and the upcoming tag match versus Dickie Watson and Aiden Reynolds.
A car roared past, the first time all night he had noticed that. It made him jump also as the deadly silence originally scattered by the ferocious engine. It was also foggier than Mark realised, with the headlamps of the car being obstructed by the sinking cloud. Mark simply squinted his eyes, head down with the hood up, continuing to run against the wind. In the predicament of being against the wind, Mark would test his endurance, of being able to continue when he felt like submitting. The road wasn't flat, it had an upwards slide to it, another factor which pushed him, punished him so to speak.
Jelena crossed his mind now, Mark was content with life away from wrestling for the first time in longer than he can remember. In wrestling he was close, he felt appreciated, he was on the show he wanted, and he was competing in a main event against the company's stars on only his third appearance.
Now Mark finally comes to a stop and smiles at the camera.
“Ramesses, if after this you think I’m ignoring your existence… well done for being right.”
Mark takes a couple of deep breaths before going on.
“Dickie Watson, is your speed the only thing you have going for you? Judging by your matches, I'd say yes. You have little skill inside that ring. Yes speed is a great tool, but so is power. That's something you don't have. You are seriously one dimensional. I am the all rounder you can only dream of being. I can and will do things that you could never do. Such as pick you up and drop you on your damn head. Unlike most, I'm not scared of you Dickie. I can overcome your strengths because I have so much more going for me. Including strength of spirit and strength of will. Things like dedication and perseverance, they're foreign to you, nobody ever realises how foriegn those things are to them until they get in a wrestling ring with myself, they then see REAL dedication and REAL perseverance, at that point they realise what they really had was not even comparable. Dickie you may be the Grand champion, but you are weak. You’re simply a coward hiding behind the ability to move.”
“Don't take this personally champ, it's just business. I'm sure you've already predicted yourself and Aiden as the winners, that's just the kind of person you are. Egotistical.. I admit I can be the same. But that's where your trouble begins.”
“I'm sure you're gunning for me since I serve as the biggest threat to the Grand Championship. You also probably want to be seen as the benchmark for Proving Ground. I wish you luck in your attempts. If you think you're better than me, you're oh so sadly mistaken. Regardless of how much you believe in yourself, and how you predict yourself and Aiden as winners, I will beat you Dickie. I will beat you rather than Aiden, because I have to prove my words with actions, I will beat you because of the exact same reason I’ll beat you at a later date for that belt...because I want it more than you. The Grand title is gonna be mine, and after you meet me in the ring and know it too, that will eat you up. You simply can not get the job done. That feeling is gonna haunt you until I take both your belt and spot at proving ground.”
“There should be no doubt about me being a force to be feared. There is no doubt that at any given time...any member of the proving ground roster can fall to me. I’m gonna do the unthinkable. No, it won't be luck, so please.. don't plan to pull that card. I’ll beat Dickie.. remember it... eat it.... and die with it. Now that the ability to be the show's leader is on the line, my game just went up to a level unobtainable to others.”
Mark’s earlier smile has slowly become more serious as the promo has gone on.
“Finally I’ll talk about Aiden Reynolds. I don't care about you Aiden. In all honesty my friend you don't deserve any care. People in this company give you a little credit. You hold tag gold with Dickie in lesser promotions... but does anyone give a shit? Anyone at all? I didn't think so. Welcome to the year twenty twenty one... the year of Mark Hunter! Welcome to my ring Aiden! Yes at one point you may matter, but right now, it isn't about you.”
“Aiden, you want the fame and all the glory you currently can’t have. Above all that, you want to prove you're one of the best. Inside your mind, you possibly believe you are. You live through the lives of others. You wanna be them Aiden, but deep down you know you couldn't. So keep fighting that good fight Aiden..... I'll show you first hand, you don't belong. I'll prove to you, just like I will everyone else. They'll watch as I beat the living shit out of you for wasting everyone's time. The reason Dickie has you as a partner is obvious to the whole damn world, you are the only wrestler on the planet stupid enough to think Dickie’s shadow is a good place to be. As I diminish his spotlight, your little spot in the shadow becomes smaller, you need to make a choice Aiden. Step out, prove something… or die in that shadow.”
“You see, Dickie is not your ticket to the top. You've got an opportunity to start proving yourself but you can only do that by walking away NOW! Then fight alone, all you can do is try Aiden. When you fail again, you'll realize it wasn't meant to happen but at least it will be your failure that ruins you, not Dickie Watson’s. I don't want to see you hiding behind someone else. Infact, having you around and visible is entertaining. I wanna enjoy watching you week in and week out fighting for something. Honor, Pride.. whatever you want. Ultimately I’m asking you to grow a set of balls and not allow Dickie to decide how you use them.”
“At Proving Ground the Commonwealth is not going to face Mark Hunter the superstar, you’re going to face the next Grand Champion, and a man damn proud to be this rosters leader and centrepiece. You’re going to face a man no one ever faced before, a man that might be looked upon ridiculously right now as the underdog, but in time will be respected. I’m going to bring the best and I pray you both do the same. When the smoke clears... I'll be there standing high.. as the future Grand Champion and as your superior in every way!!”
Mark looks even more serious now than he has at any other point in the promo.
“The Hunt is Fucking On..........”
With that the Mark turns away and starts walking the route he was previously running, as Mark disappears into the distance, the scene does the same.