May 23, 2009
10:05 P.M.
Binions Casino
The scene opens about an hour after Black Jack McGraw has just defeated Mark Regis. As we look on, we are back stage at the Pit of Binions. By now, Black Jack McGraw has stopped by his dressing room and is carrying a large green gym bag out to toward the parking area. As he walks along, with a limping swagger, we hear yelling from behind. “Wait”! “Black Jack, I really need to talk to you”! We then see that it is Sean O’Leary. In one hand, he has a clipboard. In the other, he holds a microphone. Black Jack finally hears him after a few yells and turns around to find an exhausted interviewer looking him directly in the face. For some reason, Jack still has a very wild look in his face. The match has been over for a good while, but for some reason, he has not lost that demented expression that many have noticed when he is in the ring.
Black Jack: What’s up, Sean?
O’Leary: (He takes a second, as he is still winded.) Black Jack, I have some big news! Huge news!
McGraw steps back for a second and just looks at him.
Black Jack: You have news. Okay, then spit it out. What sort of news is it?
Now, O’Leary has bent over and is grabbing his knees to catch his breath. Jack then begins to pat him on the back.
Black Jack: Come on, breath it in. Get that air down those lungs. (He pauses.) You know, Sean, you really should lay off those Lucky Strikes.
O’ Leary: Yeah, that is an idea.
Black Jack: So, what is this huge news? You ran me down. What is so important?
They then begin to walk toward the parking area of the Binions.
O’ Leary: Well, Black Jack, Mr. Rutherford had me to find you. This is huge for next week.
Black Jack: Yeah, I have that. So, what is it?
O’ Leary: Mr. Rutherford said that you have been on sort of a roll the last few weeks. You came up a little short with Synic, but still you were impressive. Then, in the last two weeks, you have scored wins over Mark Regis. This was a guy, at one time, that was seen as a blue chipper. All those things, along with you past and fan following have made Mr. Rutherford think that it is time for you to main event next weeks show.
Black Jack: Main Event? So, is it going to be a hardcore match? Or does he want a Japanese Death Match?
Black Jack almost drools at the idea of being to main event in a match of that type.
O’Leary: No! It’s bigger than that. Next week, you have a title shot in the main event!
McGraw looks very serious now at the Sean as they now reach the parking area.
Black Jack: Okay, Hayden Moore can know that he’s gonna have to work to keep his new title.
O’Leary: No! No! Not Moore! This week, you have Ace Montana.
McGraw really looks stunned now. As he walks up beside his primer colored 1978 Cadillac El Dorado, he drops his bag from it.
Black Jack: I have a shot at the world title?
O’Leary: That’s right.
Black Jack: I have a shot at the World heavy weight title?
O’Leary: Yes. You see, Mr. Rutherford felt that you of all people would give Ace more of a test than anyone else here. He just remarked that he hoped that you were up to it.
Black Jack than gives a huge laugh.
O’Leary: What is it?
Black Jack: Oh I was just thinking. Who in the world would believe that two out of shape over the hill guys would be main eventing for ANY world title? HA, HA, HA!
O’Leary: Do you have anything else left to say?
Black Jack: No, Sean, you see, I really have to think on this one. I have to take some time and get to a very special, happy place before I can tell anyone my feelings. I do promise you thought. I will let everyone know my feelings.
With that, he gets into the beat up car and cranks it up. As he backs up, it looks like a scene from Cheech and Chong as smoke fills the parking garage. As camera goes to black, O’Leary is standing there, coughing from all the oily smoke that has engulfed the area.
May 25, 2009
1:30 A.M.
Black Jack McGraw’s Room
Binions Hotel and Casino
The camera now pans around the darkened room, as we see that now, Black Jack has sank into an almost trance like state. As we look around, there are several empty half gallons of Heavenly Hill whiskey littering the floor. There also seems to be cartons of cigarette buts in a huge ashtray on a coffee table. The camera then pans in and shows that Black Jack is sitting on his couch, staring at a picture of Ace Montana. As we look closer, we can see that same demented smile as he has shown so many times in so many of his matches just before he lowered the boom on his opponents. He then picks up his famous barbed wire two by four and begins to hold it, almost hugging it. As he does this, the wire catches in his arm and rips part of his shirt.
Black Jack: I promised all of you my reaction. I promised you my idea of what will happen this week. Now, it is time to reveal those ideas. You see, I have thought long and hard about Ace Montana. I thought about all those matches I called in Detroit where he was a top guy. I even sat down and watched a few dvd’s with him in them. As I looked at all those matches. As I thought about calling his world title victory, I started to think. When I soaked all of this information into my skull and it soaked into this brain of mine, I started to really see a lot about my opponent this week. Ace has been in this business a very long time. Much like me. He came in at a young age, and he made a name early. Much like me, he was in some very brutal, very physical blood baths with some of the biggest names in this business. You see, I look at that part of him and I say, Ace really could give me a really good match. He might even beat me out there. Oh my GOD! What have I gotten myself into. Then, I looked at his more recent history. I see him prancing around with Well N’ Dowd. I see the same guy that was such a monster at one time pulling off his shirt, only to reveal that once chiseled physique now holds two of the biggest tits that could ever be worn by a man or woman. I saw that and laughed. All I could think of is, Got Milk? Then, I look at that absurdly huge beer belly! I look at you and wonder, should I punch you in it, and make your pants fall down, like King Hippo in the old Mike Tyson game, or should I pull out a tap, pierce you belly button and serve all the boys in the back a pint? Sure, I’m one to talk. I’m making fun of a rotund grappler. I have fat rolls on top of fat rolls and I have more scars than some one that has been thrown into a meat grinder. Of course, when I walk, it sounds like a Rice Crispy commercial taking place. There’s one thing I can say. I lost much of my career because owners didn’t want to take a risk. They didn’t want to see people get hurt. They didn’t want to see someone put it all on the line and risk it all just for the fans. You see, I just wasn’t marketable as one of those guys said. I just wasn’t pretty enough to sell the shirts or the dolls to all the kids. Then, I look at you. You have been going most of your career. You have never had a long time off. The fact is, if I were facing that earlier guy, I would worry. But then, I see…..
He then bangs his head about five times into the coffee table until blood starts to gush from new wounds he acquired from the Regis match. He then looks up, wilder than ever.
Black Jack: I look at you now. I see nothing but a shell of what was once a really good wrestler. I see a guy who really could have embodied this business, but instead decided to piss it all away to take the cheap route to victory, titles and any other thing this business could provide for you. Sure, I may not be the one to talk. I’m a guy who has had over fifty broken bones. I am a guy who is most famous for being thrown out of a second story window during a hardcore match. Still, one thing can never be said about me, Ace. I never sold out! I look at you, and it’s really sad, Ace. I see a guy who was once one of the toughest son of a bitches to ever walk into a ring, now spoiled by limousines, fancy suits and the good life in general. I see a guy who pretty much has had his whole run here in Honor handed to him on a silver platter. Where I was canned for wanting to take chances, you were rewarded for playing it safe! You got the world title, didn’t defend it, and it was still handed back to you. Am I world champion material? Who knows. I just got back into this game. Back in Detroit, Ace, I would have been happy just to sit in the booth and call your matches week, after week, after week, but our new boss had a better plan for me. He saw the potential. He had the vision of violence that will lead Honor out of the roach infested dump that we all worked out of in Detroit. And now, now it comes down to this, Ace.
He then looks down at the glass of the coffee table and sees the blood running down his face. He just gives a snaggled tooth smile and looks back up to the camera.
Black Jack: This week, Ace, this week I want you to bring your A game! This week, I want you to try and show me just how bad you are. I want you to try and brawl your way out of this one, Ace. One thing I will promise you. No matter how much you hit me, I will come back. No matter how many times you try a Royal Flush, I will just return it with a Slobber Knocker! You see, Ace, I don’t care what you have running in that mind of yours. I don’t care if you see yourself as the be all, end all champion. I came back to this business to do one thing, and that is to prove all those promoters, road agents and owners wrong who always said I would never make it. This week, as I see it, I get a chance to beat one of their golden boys. I get to take one of their sacred cows, cut it throat and bleed it dry as they watch! Do you really think I would trade that for anything? Do you really think I would go light or fight this fight half way? This is my SHOT Montana! This is MY chance! No amount of blood will stop me! No amount of pain will keep me for coming after you. Pain is just a concept, Montana. It's one I have mastered through the years, and one I intend on teaching you well. As your body tears, twitches and contorts, you will look up. First, you will hope it is God, calling for you to come home. Then you'll realize, damn, I'm still alive! Then, you'll look for your help as always. You look and you look, but no one! Nothing there to help you, Ace. There will be no Jimmy Dowd! There will be no Brian Well! But there will be Black Jack McGraw, and I will only be there to give you more and more and more!
He then begins to rock back and forth in almost and autistic manner. We then see him pull a handful of his hair out by the roots.
Black Jack: You see, Ace, I look back. I see how my career has went. I see how all the times I was put in this situation I was told to give the other guy a shot. “Oh, let him win, it will make him a star facing you.” Well you know what, Montana, screw that! Screw being thrown out of windows, off scaffolds, or into fire just to let some Johnny come lately become a star! Screw being bashed and bashed and bashed in the head with chairs, bats or trash cans just so another Messiah for this business will be born! (He pauses) Ace, in these last few weeks, I have seen things I never thought I would ever get the opportunity to see again. I have got to see my arm raised in victory. I have gotten to see the mat of the honor arena painted in the blood of me and my opponents. (He sickly smiles.) Oh, it is just like some sort of dream. A dream that I thought about so many times when you and others came out and I had to call the blow by blow of you in the ring. You see, I call this my dream. You will call it your nightmare. You like to think of yourself as the top, the highest, or as they say in cards, the ACE. Well, Ace, if we are gambling here, just think about it like this. We’re playing a nice game of Poker. You look down at your cards. You wipe the sweat from you forehead and then look down to see an ace in your hand. You then look some more. You see, Ace, Ace, king, king, king. It’s a full boat! You get all excited! You actually nearly shit your pants from the pure luck of the situation. Then, you look over at me. I am saying nothing. Then, just as you move to take all your winnings I throw down four of a kind. Three threes and one Joker! That’s right, Ace, if you’re the Ace, I’m the Joker. I’m the wildcard here in Honor that will always keep popping up. And never will you ever know what’s brewing in this twisted mind of mine! HA, HA, HA! Just as you almost break down in tears, I reach out and take all that is yours! When the game is over, the announcers says, here is your NEW CHAMPION, BLACK JACK McGraw! I then take my new title, hold it in the air for all the world to see. I then look down at you, defeated and beaten and just hold it in your face. Then I hold it up for the camera for all those experts who always claimed to know what people wanted to see in this sport! I didn't have the face. I didn't have the body, I didn't have the skills in the ring. Still, after I after I take the title, they will learn what every good card player knows, alway respect the guy who holds the wild card. ALWAYS RESPECT THE GUY WHO IS THE WILD CARD!
He pauses again and looks down. He trembles then for just a bit, before he looks directly at the camera.
Black Jack: You may think this is all just the ramblings of a crazy person. You may even call it the dream of a has been. I call it a prophecy! I call it a prediction! You see, Ace, no mater how this match goes, there will be one thing that I will assure you of. You will not have a nice night! HA, HA, HA, HA, HA , HA! Are you in or are you out?
With that, he reaches over to the only light that is burning and cuts it out. As the lights go dark, we can still hear his tortured laughter in the background.
