How I Won My First World Championship, Part II: Back in the Game

The scene opens up on the two teenagers sat on the sofa again. They both look bored as hell, and wishing they were somewhere else.

Voice: Where was I? Oh yes. I had just turned down an offer from Chuck Matthews to join his, Corey Casey and Brandon Macdonald's new promotion, the Insurgency Wrestling Federation. I was thinking about retiring from wrestling altogether, then, Chuck and your mother collectively hatched a plan to drag me back in again. I would tell you more about that time, but it's probably best I skip over it.

Boy: Why?

Voice: Because it involves your mother and I having a small fight, and if I explain about our fights, I would have to explain how we made up afterwards as well.

Girl: Oh, GROSS. Yeah, just skip that one...

Voice: I thought you would see it like that. Let's just say that her and Chuck's plan as pretty clever, and sure enough it got me back in the ring. So, reluctantly, I had my first fight in the Insurgency.

Boy: Is this story going to take a while too?

Voice: Yes.

Boy: Then can I go to the bathroom?

Voice: No.

Boy: Aw man...

Voice: Anyway, I was getting ready to have my first fight back after a month of doing almost nothing. I had a huge mix of feelings. I was pumped, but nervous, and wasn't sure how it would go. I fought a man named Connor O'Shannon.

Girl: Did you win?

Voice: No.

Girl: Well that's the story over then. See you later.

The girl goes to get up.

Voice: There's more to it than that.

She rolls her eyes, exchanges a glance with her brother, and sits back down, frustrated.



Ruben Ricardo León is sat in his locker room, backstage before his match with Connor O'Shannon on Battle Grounds II. Even through the mask, you can tell he is nervous. His girlfriend, Maria, is stood behind him, massaging his shoulders.

Maria: Don't worry baby, you'll be fine. You're in great shape, and Connor has been out of the ring longer than you. He will be rusty too.

Ruben Ricardo León: Hopefully. He did beat all those people to win the High Impact title last week, though.

Maria: True, but no-one in that match was even close to being as good as you. You'll show Connor what you've really got. Why you're on the road to being the best.

Ruben Ricardo León: Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'll get through this match first, then I'll make a decision on what my future holds.

Maria: OK baby. That sounds good to me.

There is a knock on the locker room door. Maria stops massaging Ruben and goes over to open it. A young man wearing a black polo shirt, black cap bearing the IWF logo and a headset with a microphone walks in to the room.

Road Agent: Mr León, we need you now, your match is about to start.

Maria walks back over to Ruben as he stands up. He aims one last punch combo at thin air, then jumps on the spot a couple of times to ready himself. When he has finished, he looks deep in to Maria's eyes. She lifts up his mask so it is up above his mouth, and gives him a long kiss.

Maria: Whatever happens, Ruben, I love you.

Ruben Ricardo León: I know. I love you too.

Maria gives him another kiss and then lowers his mask again.

Maria: Now go get him.



Boy: Gross. I thought you weren't going to tell us about that sort of thing?

Voice: Be quiet and listen, or I'll tell you more.



Ruben and the Road Agent are walking down the corridor. The Road Agent turns his head slightly towards Ruben as he is walking.[/color]

Road Agent: It's an honour to meet you, Mr León. I've been a fan of yours since you started in NLWF.

Ruben Ricardo León: Thanks.

Road Agent: Your match against Chuck Matthews is one of my favourite of all time. It's part of the reason I decided to get in to the business.

Ruben Ricardo León: Really? Well, that means a lot. Thanks again.

Road Agent: Does this mean you are going to be working for IWF a lot in the future?

Ruben Ricardo León: I don't know...

Road Agent: I know that me and a lot of the other backstage staff would be psyched to see you out there again regularly.

Ruben Ricardo León: What's your name, kid?

Road Agent: Danny.

The two reach the gorilla position and stop.

Ruben Ricardo León: Well, listen, Danny. I'm not making any promises, but we'll see how things go. OK?

Road Agent: Sure thing. Good look out there.

Ruben Ricardo León: Thanks.

Ruben cracks his neck a couple of times before stretching his arms.

On the other side of the curtain the opening strains of La Ultima Hora by Breed 77 play out over the speakers.

"Siii aaaaaah..."

Ruben walks out on the darkened stage.

Am I ready for this?!

The lights burst back on as the music kicks in to reveal Ruben Ricardo León stood on the stage. As the music continues he walks forward, down the ramp towards the ring, stopping every now and then to hi five a fan or sign an autograph.

The fans seem really happy to see me back...

"In a darkened place
Man without a face
Count on fingers the choices he could have made
Paint a picture of, view from up above, you
And soon he's painting in blood"

Ruben reaches the ring and walks around the side to the announce tables, from where he jumps up unaided on to the ring apron.

Actually...I've sort of missed this. I've missed this a lot more than I thought I did.

He then turns around, and raises his arms to the fans, before rolling backwards over the ropes.

"And that man is me
La vida perdi
Now I'm casting a shadow in front of me
Now I've drained my heart so I no longer bleed"

Ruben climbs the turnbuckle and raises his arms to the fans again before backflipping in to the center of the ring, landing on his feet.

Listen to them cheering. They LOVE me. Why did I ever think I should quit this? There's still so much I have left to achieve. There's no way I can just stop again now.

Megan O'Day: Introducing the first opponent in this non-title match, fighting out of Villahermosa, Mexico, Ruben Ricardo León!

The lights dim down, the fans scream in anticipation. Suddenly guitar and drums are heard playing rapidly. Slowly it dies down as the lights die down with the melody. Suddenly there's a guitar riff along with a spacey melody play. Another guitar softly plays a melody, suddenly a voice distorted slowly becomes clear. The voice sings along to the melody...

I stand still out in the rain
and look up at a broken sky
every raindrop looks the same
they fall without pretending through the night
But water isn't always what you see
another surface lies beneath
Can you see this isn't really me?
no this is someone else
I am just beneath the surface...

A guitar erupts along with drums. Suddenly the guitar breaks into small solo. Connor slowly emerges from the stage. He smirks as the fans cheer. He has a black warm up jacket on with the Irish flag on the right side.



Voice: At that point, I was more pumped up and ready to fight in a match than I think I had ever been up to that point, maybe since too.

Boy: And you lost?

Voice: Yeah...

The two kids sigh with disappointment.

Girl: I'm starting to wonder how you ever won a World Championship at all.

Voice: And I'm starting to wonder whether or not you want to be grounded.

Girl: Fair enough.

Voice: We went back and forth for a bit. It was quite an even match actually, but then I made one mistake at the end and O'Shannon capitalised on it. But that wasn't it. In case the reaction I had got from the fans wasn't enough to convince me that retiring was a bad idea, something else happened after the match that convinced me completely that I had to come back.



Connor slowly gets to his feet, as Ruben watches him. When he is standing, Ruben jumps off the rope, backflipping towards Connor.

Anna - He's going for a standing shooting star press

Chuck - Look at him fly through the air! Look how high he is!

Connor catches Ruben in the air by the neck with both of his hands, and uses Ruben's momentum to deliver an enormous two handed sit-out chokebomb, driving Ruben's back into the mat.

Chuck - NOOOOOO!!!

Anna - Connor catches him in mid-air and hits the Shamrock Driver!

Connor O'Shannon goes for the cover on Ruben, as the ref begins to count



-1-



-2-



-3-



[Ding Ding Ding]

Megan O'Day - Here is your winner, by pinfall, the High Impact Champion, Connor O'Shannon!

Connor O'Shannon gets to his feet as the referee holds his hand to the sky. The crowd claps as Connor poses with his title on a turnbuckle.

Chuck - I can't believe it

Anna - Ruben had that match won. But he wanted to go for more.

Chuck - He made just one mistake. Why Ruben? Why?

Connor sees Ruben slowly getting to his feet. He walks over to him and helps him up. He and Ruben look at each other for a moment, before hugging in the middle of the ring. Connor grabs Ruben's hand and raises it, pointing at Ruben. The crowd erupts into cheers.

Anna - What a show of respect by Connor.

Chuck - He knows that Ruben gave it all he could, and how lucky he was to come out with a win

Ruben waves at the crowd, and then points at Connor. Both men go to opposite turnbuckles and pose as the crowd cheers.

Anna - And the crowd sure appreciates it

Chuck - Two of the most exciting superstars that IWF has to offer. They loved every minute of it

Both men exit the ring together and walk up the entrance ramp. At the top of the stage, Connor motions for Ruben to stay, and he leaves. Ruben looks at the crowd, and waves again, before bowing before them, as they cheer loudly. Ruben slowly walks into the back with the crowd chanting his name.

Anna - The crowd chanting his name, as he walks back. With all of the rumours of his retirement, could this be the last time we see Ruben Ricardo León?

Voice: It wasn't.

As Ruben walks in to the back, he watches Connor walk off around the corner. After he has, he runs off in the direction of his locker room. He bursts through the door to find Maria sitting there waiting for him, having been watching the match on a television.[/color]

Maria: Don't worry, baby, you did a great job out there. It was really close.

Ruben Ricardo León: I don't care that I lost. That was incredible. It was like my first match all over again. I have never wanted to wrestle as much as I do right now.

Maria jumps up and runs over to Ruben, embracing him.

Maria: That's great news! So you'll be joining the Insurgency full time, then?

Ruben Ricardo León: Yeah. But I'll be doing it properly. I am rusty, I need to train more, so I'm going to take a couple of weeks to get back in to shape. Then, when I feel like the time is right, I will make my return, full time, and I won't quit until I win that World Championship. I promise.

Maria hugs Ruben again, even harder than before.

Maria: You'll be Champion in no time!



Boy: Wow Papa, that's actually pretty cool.

Girl: Don't encourage him...

Voice: The way the fans had reacted to me being there, and the respect that Connor had shown me after the match was overwhelming. I couldn't believe that I was even thinking for a second about giving all that up then. I knew I had another run in me, and I wasn't going to let anything get between me and that World Championship. However, it couldn't be just anything that I returned for, it had to be something special. Something worth fighting for. And then, a couple of weeks later, I saw that the IWF was having a Briefcase Tournament. The winner would receive a briefcase they could cash in to have a title match at any point. Corey Casey was running an invitational gauntlet, and if someone managed to beat him, they would automatically gain the number one seed in that Tournament. It seemed perfect. All I had to do was beat Corey, and I was in a prime spot to win the Tournament, and then the Briefcase, and then the IWF Championship.

Boy: And did you?

Voice: Now, there's a VERY interesting story behind that...

Girl: Why am I not surprised?


Scene: A field. A buff, muscular man in a mask is stood, arms folded, on a wooden platform. Several people walk up to him.

Man: We have found a douche, may we burn him?

Crowd: BURN!! BUUUURN HIM!

Ruben Ricardo León: But how do you know he is a douche?

Man: He looks like one!

Crowd: Yeah! He looks like one!!!

Ruben Ricardo León: Bring him forward.

A man is pushed through the crowd of people to the platform. He is dressed all in black, has douche written on his forehead, and a black paper hat on his head, which reads DOUCHE in big white letters.

Corey Casey: I'm not a douche, I'm not a douche!

Ruben Ricardo León: Er,...but you are dressed as one.

Corey Casey: THEY dressed me up like this.

Crowd: No! nooo! We didn't! We didn't!

Corey Casey: And this isn't my hat, they put it on me!

Ruben removes the hat.

Ruben Ricardo León: Well?

Man: Well, we did do the writing.

Ruben Ricardo León: The writing?

Man: And the Hat. But he's a douche!

Crowd: Yeah! Burn him! Burn! Burn him!


Ruben Ricardo León: How do you like THEM apples, Corey?

Corey, I thought the Insurgency Wrestling Federation meant a new beginning for everyone. A chance to make that change to make yourself a better person, or a better wrestler, or whatever. It was such a great opportunity for Corey to give up his douche ways and turn over a new leaf as a nice guy. An opportunity to become a good man, so that his fiancée can be proud to marry him, and his future kids can be proud to call him their father.

Guess not. What is that saying? A leopard never changes his spots? Sounds about right. Corey, you sound like a broken record. You're only about the millionth person to point out that I never beat Brandon Macdonald. Well, thank you Captain Obvious! I don't think I would have noticed that if you and everyone else I've fought since hadn't pointed it out. You're right, I've never managed to beat Brandon, but the day will come when I will. What other obvious fact are you going to point out next? That I'm Mexican? Of course I am, that's why I have this outraaaaaaaaaaaageous accent.

Actually, something else you said has confused me slightly. You said that since I came to IWF, I have been a perpetual disappointment and that I have been crushed by every single one of my opponents since I got here. I think maybe you should pay more attention to your own federation, Casey, because so far I've only had one match. I don't think it's really fair to accuse me of all that after one match. Anyway, perpetual disappointment means that I continue to disappoint, and I have no intention of doing that whatsoever.

Corey, you are a tool. You've never done anything to personally offend me, but I see the things you do, week in, week out. I watched as you strung up the fake Anna Macdonald, and the fake Gunther, and whoever else you have stuck on a cross and set on fire throughout your illustrious career. You may try and claim that you aren't doing that shit anymore, but I say once a douche, always a douche.

I'm going to show you exactly what I think of people like you, Corey. I'm going to step in that ring with you at Battle Grounds, and I am going to show you exactly what I am capable of, and by the end of the match, the only thing you will be disappointed about is how much of a bitch you look when you get beaten by a guy that you called a 'perpetual disappointment.' Won't that be embarrassing for you?

I don't even care if I am first up against Corey in this little gauntlet. It doesn't matter, because whether I go up first, 5th or 50th, there won't be anyone going up after me. When the bell rings to signal the end of the match, it will be my name that is announced as the winner. You're just lucky that IWF rules prevent me from crucifying you and setting you on fire, cause if they didn't, we'd be burning a douche at the end of the night. Cause when it comes down to it Corey, now matter how you try and disguise your true self, we all know that you really weigh EXACTLY the same as a duck.