Chad Mason: “An interesting turn of events, isn’t it?
Steel Angel and I are asked to pick each others opponents for the week….and I get Crimson Skull.
That’s the best you could do, Steel? Anyone on the roster…anyone at all…and you give me the guy who’s struggling to keep his head above water? You give me the guy who won at Isolation by count-out, still got laid out, and lost his precious mask?
You’re right about one thing, Skull. You are exactly the kind of person Natural Law is taking out of the picture:
A washed-up, worn-down ‘veteran’ who’s been idling by far too long on his own name.
Or did you completely miss the point of what we’ve been doing the past couple of weeks?
We’ve been labeled menaces to this company. What you people fail to realize, though, is that we’re helping IWF. We’re making it better. We’re trimming the fat. We’re getting rid of the pieces of the company that IWF could do without. We got rid of the arrogant, like James Shark and Chuck Matthews. We got rid of the lazy with Jason Hawk and Ryan Apollos.
That’s the thing that I hate most about this company…about this industry…and that’s the reason I’ve assembled this group of men and women. I’m making a change.
Natural Law is not ridding the company of competition. We’re ridding it of a severe lack thereof. We’re getting rid of those who would try and bring this company down. Those who should have left a long time ago. Those who, by continuing to try and salvage a career that’s past them by, or a career that never really existed, tarnish the reputation of IWF.
What’s more than that? We’re slowly ridding the company of this sick sense of entitlement.
Look at the Ragnarok card. Look at the matches thus far. We have Beno, who has earned his way into a Full Throttle title match, thanks to his victory in a qualifying match. I have an IWF Title shot, after beating the champion in a match last week. When Ruby decimates her opponent this week for the second straight week, she’ll be looking down her sights at Anna Stone.
Do you see the trend here? Say what you will about Natural Law…but the title matches we’re lining up for ourselves? We earned them. We took matches, knowing a title match was on the line, and we succeeded. Why? Because we don’t have names we can throw around like they mean something. We’re new. We’re young.
Yet, Chuck Matthews gets a title match at Isolation after going on a losing streak for a month?
Jason Hawk is a champion despite being…well, Jason Hawk?
James Shark, the biggest moron in company history, is your ‘proud’ IWF Champion?
If you’re proud to have someone like James Shark as your company’s champion, I think it’s time you sat down as a company and asked yourself where the fuck you went wrong.
Or we can look at Death-Angel, the Hall of Famer.
What?!
What did this guy ever do that was so critical to wrestling that you felt the need to induct him into the Hall of Fame? What was his defining moment? What did he do that was so amazing?
Best Loser in Wrestling?
Biggest Monkey to Ever Step Into a Ring?
Professional Zombie?
I look at Death-Angel’s career, and I see no impressive title reigns…no jaw-dropping rivalries…if anything, he had one or two interesting matches. The only impressive thing he ever did was grow to be obnoxiously big, and stick around the business for years longer than anyone else.
And that’s all it takes to be a legend in wrestling?
Fuck that.
So we took him out.
Skull, you’re in the Chuck Matthews boat. I won’t be so ignorant as to say you’ve had no success in your career. You have. The problem? You should have hung up your boots a long time ago. Just like Chuck, you’ve spent the last months…hell, maybe the last years…hanging onto a career that died ages ago. You’re nothing compared to what you used to be. You refuse to give it up.
Fine. We’ll make you give it up.
And you know what the sick irony is? We’re helping you. We’re keeping you from continuing to drag your name through the mud. With every match you lose…with every feud you’re carried through…with every championship you try and fail to win…your name means a little bit less, every time. Look at Chuck. He should have stayed on the commentary team. Instead, he decided to step back into the ring. Had one good match against Brandon Macdonald…won a tag title thanks to his scheming…but besides that? He’s lost. He’s been boring. He’s been trying to relive glory days that he’ll never duplicate.
Now look at Natural Law.
We’re young. While you established names have already passed your primes, we’re still in the process of setting our legacies in stone.
So far, we’re off to a great start.
Do you know why we’re going to succeed, Skull? Why Natural Law has been so dominant in the last couple of weeks, and why you can expect more of the same in the weeks to come?
It’s because nobody knows quite what to expect. It’s because nobody is aware of what we’re truly capable of.
Look at our match this week. Think about it. I have years and years of tapes I can watch. I can look at dozens, hundreds of Crimson Skull matches. I can learn what you can do in the ring…and what you can’t do. I can learn your habits. I can learn your tricks.
Can you say the same about me?
Say what you will, the fact remains…this is my sole advantage over every opponent. Look at my matches. Tell me, Skull. What am I capable of? What’s my style? How am I going to beat you? Will I overpower you? Will I take you down from the sky? Will I fight a grounded style?
I’ll answer for you. You haven’t the slightest clue. You have a handful of matches to look back on where I was able to go in and succeed. And yet…I changed my battle plan every time.
In a way, that IS my style. Adaptability. I can step up against any opponent, and you can know with certainty that I will find a way to beat you. Sure, I have favored styles. But the great thing about me? I can change it up at any time. I’ve trained under some of the best in the world. I’ve practiced for years. I’ve learned from every opponent I’ve ever faced…from every opponent who’s ever beaten me.
After ages of losing, of studying, of learning…I’ve returned, and I’ve done so to put my study to use. Now? I’m unstoppable.
Would you like to prove me wrong? Would you like to jump on the “Mason is a Failure” bandwagon? I dare you to try. That’s the funniest thing of it all. I’ll sit here and tell you it was all a plan, that this is the true Chad Mason, that the whole joker loser you knew and loved was a farce…and you’ll tell me I’m trying to save face.
That’s nice. Maybe I am. Maybe you’re exactly right, and I really am the loveable loser.
Now picture how that makes you look when I beat you.
Deny it all you like. The entire IWF locker room hypes me as a failure. They tell the world I’m a loser, destined to fall. So last week?
Your IWF Champion lost to me. The guy you spend so much time trying to bury.
Crimson Skull will lose to me this week…another so-called legend, falling to the man you claim is IWF’s biggest failure.
You’re starting to see, Skull, that I am exactly who I claim to be. You’ll sit there and call me a liar. Say I’m blind to what I really am. Let’s be completely honest. I went out to get the admiration of the crowd…and I succeeded.
Then I threw it all away in the blink of an eye. In one night, I turned an entire company fan base against me.
And all I needed to do was spear a black guy into a sound set.
You? You’re spending your time, rotting away in the ring, waiting for someone to take you out for good. And in the meantime, you have a nice little back and forth going with your comrade in Cozy Oaks Retirement home, Johnny Stylez.
Fortunately, I am that salvation you so desperately seek. I’m the breath of life in a dying industry. I’m the shining star, guiding us into a new era. I’m the bullet in the chamber, prepared to put the old dog down.
You, on the other hand…you do exactly what I predict you to do. Get by on your name, while you try so desperately to convince yourself, and anyone who will listen, otherwise.
Your career was over a long time ago. It’s time you see that, and give it up.
Contrary to what you might believe, Skull, you aren’t the same man you used to be. Five guys who can do what you do in the ring? I can name six.
Coincidentally, all of them happen to be right here…in Natural Law.
Including me.
That’s the biggest mistake you’ve made, Skull. You’ve done exactly what Chuck and Jason did at Isolation. What Death-Angel did. What Ryan Apollos did. What James Shark did. And, most recently…what Steel Angel did.
You underestimated me. You underestimated Natural Law. You’re right, I’m fighting a legend in this business.
You’re fighting the unknown.
Say what you will, you know absolutely nothing about me. You don’t know my motives. You don’t know my plans. You don’t know how I fight. You don’t know my style. Hell, it amazes me you even know my name.
That is a strong advantage in my favor. Tell me, Skull…how do you fight something you don’t understand? How do combat something you know nothing about?
Fitting that this episode of Battle Grounds is called ‘Know Your Enemy,’ because it’s clear to me that you’ve completely failed at this very concept.
I think it’s in your best interest to start seeing me for who I really am. I am not, as you would like the IWF fans to believe, a loser. I am not a failure. I am not some flash in the pan who had a lucky break. I’m every bit as talented as the individuals I’ve been taking out these last few weeks. And for the weeks to come, I’m going to prove it. Over…and over…and over again.
How long will it take, IWF? How many people will I have to beat? How many legends will I have to destroy? How many champions will I have to send back to the locker room with their tails between their legs? How long before you finally realize, Chad Mason is here to stay? How long before you learn that I am the future of this company? That I am the future of this business?
The sooner you get it through your skulls, the better. I am here for one reason, and one reason only.
I am going to revolutionize the way you look at wrestling. I am going to change the product. I’m going to change everything.
No more will we deal with stupid character like the one I was forced to play for the past two years. No more will we have to sit through the incoherent ramblings of Death-Angel, or listen to the limitless ego of James Shark. Never again will we be bored to tears by a Ryan Apollos match. Never will we be irritated by Jason Hawk’s desperate attempts to thrust himself back into a spotlight he doesn’t deserve.
Crimson Skull…maybe you’re right. Maybe you are the type of guy IWF can do without. Maybe you are someone we’ll be targeting in weeks to come.
But this week, you’re simply the opponent chosen for me by Steel Angel. You're a random competitor, thrown in front of me in a sad effort to try and slow me down. A hurdle for me to leap over, and continue on my path towards becoming the IWF Champion. Sorry to bust your bubble, Skull. I didn't request this match. I don't really care about this match. What this is, is a momentum builder. Another opportunity for me to prove that I'm here to stay, and that I'm here to destroy anything and everything in my path.
And that makes you an unfortunate victim of circumstance.”
Subject: Continuing My Path 
Sat Jun 09, 2012 3:11 pm
