Post by Icon Lord Leon Corbin on Aug 2, 2015 3:46:29 GMT -6
Greer finally steps forward under the cautious gaze of the bruised champion, offering a cheese-y grin as he approaches the bed.
Icon Corbin: Listening in? Hoping to get some juicy gossip for the dirt sheets?
Greer: You know that’s not the kind of journalist I am.
Leon raises his eyebrows, or at least that was his intention with no change in expression. This was a man who has taken to hiding inside dust bins just to get a little scoop, sneaking around. Mickey simply assumes his agreement with no clear reaction to his words.
Greer: But this isn’t about me. It’s about you, the reason why I am here and why you asked me to speak to you after Heatwave. You were so sure it would be you walking out as the champion but how could you possibly have been so confident? We are talking about a Highway to Hell match and, as we all bore witness to, absolutely anything can happen!
Icon Corbin: Half the battle won is believing. I don’t just spit shit for the cameras. I truly believe I am the very best this business can produce and for years I have proven it.
Greer: Yet none of the other two are looking in the way you do right now…
Icon Corbin: What relevance is there to that? What does that matter, Mickey? I might be the only laid up recovering and I did I take quite a beating out there. Does that make me less of a man? Or does it demonstrate that even at their best, they’ve still not got enough to put me away?
Greer: Well…Sean Locke was removed from that match thanks to John Champa. Surely you cannot take credit for beating him when he was all but ready to walk away as the new World Heavyweight champion. In fact, you could probably be thanking J-
A hand from the champion slams hard on his bedside table, stopping the greasy reporter midsentence.
Icon Corbin: No one asked John Champa to get involved and no one fucking cares that he did. Thank him for what, Mickey? He’s singling out Sean Locke. Why? For some old beef that has lost all meaning and no one even remembers? John is complaining that he's the very epitome of this company but he’s hiding instead of standing up to the challenge I’ve put before him more than once. So what am I thanking him for? For being a pussy as attacking Locke was the only way he could get involved in the main event nowadays. How long before those two disappear again anyway? How long before John needs to go “find” himself again. You know, he doesn’t have to go far. All you need to do is take a good long hard look at yourself in the mirror and admit what’s really standing there. But truth and reality is not John’s style and forte so he’ll be waiting a long time before he finds what he’s looking for.
Greer: Well, alright but even if it hadn’t been Sean Locke, Alex Cross was next to walk away as champion anyway.
Icon Corbin: Then that’s what he should have done if he really wanted to win that fucking badly. He has put his entire life on the line, his relationships, friendships, reputation all on the line to become World champion. That was supposed to be his main goal but the reality is that the championship is an afterthought when he thinks of me. He’s confused, Mickey. If he wanted it, he could have had it at that point. I’m not ashamed to admit that. Did he have to come back over to me? Not really. By that point I was busted open real good. Broken body parts, a fall that took me out, blood everywhere, cuts, and contusions. For all he knew, I could have been dead when I fell through the ring. What more would he have needed to do to me? He didn’t need to and it cost him because unless I am physically unable to move, I am not just going to give up. That could have been his moment but I am more important to him than the title, and you know what? Munin is going to know that too. For all he has said to her, he displayed that she didn’t play second fiddle to an elusive title belt, it was to me.
Mickey’s dark and heavy brows rise at the sound of the 2007 Lord’s words.
Greer: That’s quite a statement.
Icon Corbin: And one that he made, not me. It’s been months of taking blame and beatings but I hadn’t done anything to him for that. Not really. He began this tirade and it hasn’t paid off. It’s cost him everything. Happiness, glory, peace of mind, and I’d put money on it that he’s lamenting right now. I kept telling him being the second coming of Vicious was a bad idea. For all the ability and talent in the world, it’s not always going to get you where you want to be if your mind isn’t in the right place. Didn’t work for me and it isn’t working for him. I know he can be dangerous. Does he need to make a physical display to prove that? Did I?
Greer: Looking back, only you can truly answer that. I do wonder though, had you lost, and it was quite a possibility, would you really have walked away as you alluded to? Or was that just a publicity stunt?
Icon Corbin: I don’t need to do publicity stunts, Mickey. I said what I meant and I meant what I said. I’m a cunt but I am still a man of my word.
Cocking his head, Mickey’s mouth hangs a little from the obscene language of the champion. He clears his throat.
Greer: Some very…choice…words…Uhm…I do have to bring this up. And this did get a lot of people thinking. At the beginning of the match, the team work and dynamic between you and Cross was incredible. Was it just because of you both having a common enemy, so to speak or…
Icon Corbin: Or what? A part of it definitely was that we both wanted rid of Sean Locke because this was always meant to be about the two of us.
Greer: And the other part?
Icon Corbin: What are trying to get out of me?
Greer: Well, it just seems as if there was more.
Icon Corbin: Okay look. You have to remember that I’ve now known Alex for a number of years. It might not seem like it but we have known each other a long time now and at one time we did talk like two normal human beings, and I did like him. He’s been to the Corbin Academy in London before, we’ve even trained together in the distant past. He may have a selective memory these days but he cannot have forgotten everything and a part of me thinks he hasn’t, just he’s gone so far on this path he can’t afford to remember or turn back now. That is what fucks me off about him so much…This is all just so…unnecessary. And if he really is anything like I have been in the past then the only thing stopping him from being truly great is himself because his ego is eating him alive and soon there will be nothing left unless he gets a grip and fast. How do you do that when you have nothing left in your life to keep you grounded?
Greer: You mean like you have your family now? He does have a friend in the new TV title champion Amanda Reynolds.
Icon Corbin: Does he? She’s a little girl who has no understanding of the adult life around her, Mickey. She sees another girl kiss her boyfriend so she goes and does the same. She sees a man who hits a woman and wants to befriend him? A woman of the world would turn away and just keep walking.
Greer: And what of a man of the world? Didn’t you and Vernon Vanderbilt have a most volatile relationship?
Icon Corbin: Yes, and look how that turned out…
Greer: I guess what happens with those two remains to be seen. In the meantime, what is next for the World Heavyweight champion and championship?
Icon Corbin: First I heal up. The gaps between this show and the next will provide ample time for recovery and to get ring ready again. I’m hurting right now but I won’t always be looking and feeling like this. And sometimes that’s the best message to send out to the world. That it doesn’t matter what they do to you, you still get right back up. As for the title, I am not hogging it. I have opened the challenge to any and all this entire time and all it takes is for someone to grow a pair and accept that challenge.
Greer: You say that but wasn’t that what Locke did? You called out old Globalstars who have had fame and glory. Ring of Honor Icons?
Icon Corbin: No. He walked in off the street after lazing on his sofa and was handed a shot. You can’t compare him to the likes of Icon Williams or Fiery for instance. The boy has no class, no drive, no prestige. But then I proved my point with the old guard as well. For a bunch who were all too happy to accept the handouts, they have as good as turned their backs on the company that lined their pockets. Icons indeed…
Greer: I’ve known those men, and I don’t agree.
Icon Corbin: Well, it’s a good thing this is about my opinion and not your very inapt one then, isn’t it…?
Greer: Well, actually…
Icon Corbin: Get on with it. I can feel myself getting annoyed already.
Greer: Uhm…okay, so rumour is, the main event on the upcoming show is possibly a tag match between the team of you and Lady Munin against Alex Cross and Amanda Reynolds.
Icon Corbin: Rumour?
At that moment, Leon’s phone vibrates on the bedside table, alerting him to a message. Mickey peers over to get a glance but it’s vain with the screen locked anyway. Leon snatches it quickly, noting the flaring of Mickey’s nostrils and has a quick read.
Icon Corbin: Okay, it’s in stone.
Greer: How do you feel about that?
Icon Corbin: How should I feel? I’m teaming with a woman close to the family, all a bit crazy and that can single-handedly take out the entire team of Clan Mayhem. What the fuck do I have to worry about?
Greer: You understand that there will be a lot of emotion between the other three?
Icon Corbin: And none from me. That puts me at an advantage as far as I’m concerned. I have no emotional stake in this and can be there to ensure the match goes our way. Munin is one crazy little bitch but I am certainly no stranger to crazy either, I just try to stay in control these days if I can. So the other two have a problem. In a way it should be Raze in her corner but then they wouldn’t be taking Alex away in a stretcher, it’d be a bloody body bag and that’s probably bad for business.
Greer: As it will be Cross and Reynolds, is there a fear that James will be using Payne to create an advantage?
Icon Corbin: No fear of that at all… Once everyone is aware of this card and people put Heatwave in the past, I’m sure the possible inclusion of Payne will be fully accounted for.
He tries to wink but Mickey comes over concerned.
Greer: Your eye…Do you want me to call someone?!
Icon Corbin: What? No?!
With Leon’s voice becoming raised, the nearby nurse is alerted once again. She storms over with a stern expression, hands on her hips.
Nurse: I thought I told you to stop working up my patients! I think you should leave! Right now!
Greer: What? This is a misunderstanding. I was just interviewing my colleague here and…
Nurse: Like you “interviewed” Maud?! Somebody get me security!!
Greer: No wait! That won’t be necessary, I’m going! Please! I could lose my job over this!!
Nurse: And so could I if my patients are getting worse in my care now go away!!
A brandishing of her finger is all it takes to send the reporter packing and hurrying off back up the ward with Leon chortling and grabbing his glass of water. She turns around once she’s certain Greer has disappeared, looking over her patient whose face suddenly and easily looks distressed.
Nurse: Are you alright?
Icon Corbin: I…He was upsetting me and…Could I have some tea? This water isn’t going to calm me down…
Immediately she spins on her heel to fetch the Icon a cup of tea to keep the peace on her ward. Tea when all he was getting was water? Winner! Leon fist pumps to himself then groans as he tears a stitch and turns to his side.
Icon Corbin: Listening in? Hoping to get some juicy gossip for the dirt sheets?
Greer: You know that’s not the kind of journalist I am.
Leon raises his eyebrows, or at least that was his intention with no change in expression. This was a man who has taken to hiding inside dust bins just to get a little scoop, sneaking around. Mickey simply assumes his agreement with no clear reaction to his words.
Greer: But this isn’t about me. It’s about you, the reason why I am here and why you asked me to speak to you after Heatwave. You were so sure it would be you walking out as the champion but how could you possibly have been so confident? We are talking about a Highway to Hell match and, as we all bore witness to, absolutely anything can happen!
Icon Corbin: Half the battle won is believing. I don’t just spit shit for the cameras. I truly believe I am the very best this business can produce and for years I have proven it.
Greer: Yet none of the other two are looking in the way you do right now…
Icon Corbin: What relevance is there to that? What does that matter, Mickey? I might be the only laid up recovering and I did I take quite a beating out there. Does that make me less of a man? Or does it demonstrate that even at their best, they’ve still not got enough to put me away?
Greer: Well…Sean Locke was removed from that match thanks to John Champa. Surely you cannot take credit for beating him when he was all but ready to walk away as the new World Heavyweight champion. In fact, you could probably be thanking J-
A hand from the champion slams hard on his bedside table, stopping the greasy reporter midsentence.
Icon Corbin: No one asked John Champa to get involved and no one fucking cares that he did. Thank him for what, Mickey? He’s singling out Sean Locke. Why? For some old beef that has lost all meaning and no one even remembers? John is complaining that he's the very epitome of this company but he’s hiding instead of standing up to the challenge I’ve put before him more than once. So what am I thanking him for? For being a pussy as attacking Locke was the only way he could get involved in the main event nowadays. How long before those two disappear again anyway? How long before John needs to go “find” himself again. You know, he doesn’t have to go far. All you need to do is take a good long hard look at yourself in the mirror and admit what’s really standing there. But truth and reality is not John’s style and forte so he’ll be waiting a long time before he finds what he’s looking for.
Greer: Well, alright but even if it hadn’t been Sean Locke, Alex Cross was next to walk away as champion anyway.
Icon Corbin: Then that’s what he should have done if he really wanted to win that fucking badly. He has put his entire life on the line, his relationships, friendships, reputation all on the line to become World champion. That was supposed to be his main goal but the reality is that the championship is an afterthought when he thinks of me. He’s confused, Mickey. If he wanted it, he could have had it at that point. I’m not ashamed to admit that. Did he have to come back over to me? Not really. By that point I was busted open real good. Broken body parts, a fall that took me out, blood everywhere, cuts, and contusions. For all he knew, I could have been dead when I fell through the ring. What more would he have needed to do to me? He didn’t need to and it cost him because unless I am physically unable to move, I am not just going to give up. That could have been his moment but I am more important to him than the title, and you know what? Munin is going to know that too. For all he has said to her, he displayed that she didn’t play second fiddle to an elusive title belt, it was to me.
Mickey’s dark and heavy brows rise at the sound of the 2007 Lord’s words.
Greer: That’s quite a statement.
Icon Corbin: And one that he made, not me. It’s been months of taking blame and beatings but I hadn’t done anything to him for that. Not really. He began this tirade and it hasn’t paid off. It’s cost him everything. Happiness, glory, peace of mind, and I’d put money on it that he’s lamenting right now. I kept telling him being the second coming of Vicious was a bad idea. For all the ability and talent in the world, it’s not always going to get you where you want to be if your mind isn’t in the right place. Didn’t work for me and it isn’t working for him. I know he can be dangerous. Does he need to make a physical display to prove that? Did I?
Greer: Looking back, only you can truly answer that. I do wonder though, had you lost, and it was quite a possibility, would you really have walked away as you alluded to? Or was that just a publicity stunt?
Icon Corbin: I don’t need to do publicity stunts, Mickey. I said what I meant and I meant what I said. I’m a cunt but I am still a man of my word.
Cocking his head, Mickey’s mouth hangs a little from the obscene language of the champion. He clears his throat.
Greer: Some very…choice…words…Uhm…I do have to bring this up. And this did get a lot of people thinking. At the beginning of the match, the team work and dynamic between you and Cross was incredible. Was it just because of you both having a common enemy, so to speak or…
Icon Corbin: Or what? A part of it definitely was that we both wanted rid of Sean Locke because this was always meant to be about the two of us.
Greer: And the other part?
Icon Corbin: What are trying to get out of me?
Greer: Well, it just seems as if there was more.
Icon Corbin: Okay look. You have to remember that I’ve now known Alex for a number of years. It might not seem like it but we have known each other a long time now and at one time we did talk like two normal human beings, and I did like him. He’s been to the Corbin Academy in London before, we’ve even trained together in the distant past. He may have a selective memory these days but he cannot have forgotten everything and a part of me thinks he hasn’t, just he’s gone so far on this path he can’t afford to remember or turn back now. That is what fucks me off about him so much…This is all just so…unnecessary. And if he really is anything like I have been in the past then the only thing stopping him from being truly great is himself because his ego is eating him alive and soon there will be nothing left unless he gets a grip and fast. How do you do that when you have nothing left in your life to keep you grounded?
Greer: You mean like you have your family now? He does have a friend in the new TV title champion Amanda Reynolds.
Icon Corbin: Does he? She’s a little girl who has no understanding of the adult life around her, Mickey. She sees another girl kiss her boyfriend so she goes and does the same. She sees a man who hits a woman and wants to befriend him? A woman of the world would turn away and just keep walking.
Greer: And what of a man of the world? Didn’t you and Vernon Vanderbilt have a most volatile relationship?
Icon Corbin: Yes, and look how that turned out…
Greer: I guess what happens with those two remains to be seen. In the meantime, what is next for the World Heavyweight champion and championship?
Icon Corbin: First I heal up. The gaps between this show and the next will provide ample time for recovery and to get ring ready again. I’m hurting right now but I won’t always be looking and feeling like this. And sometimes that’s the best message to send out to the world. That it doesn’t matter what they do to you, you still get right back up. As for the title, I am not hogging it. I have opened the challenge to any and all this entire time and all it takes is for someone to grow a pair and accept that challenge.
Greer: You say that but wasn’t that what Locke did? You called out old Globalstars who have had fame and glory. Ring of Honor Icons?
Icon Corbin: No. He walked in off the street after lazing on his sofa and was handed a shot. You can’t compare him to the likes of Icon Williams or Fiery for instance. The boy has no class, no drive, no prestige. But then I proved my point with the old guard as well. For a bunch who were all too happy to accept the handouts, they have as good as turned their backs on the company that lined their pockets. Icons indeed…
Greer: I’ve known those men, and I don’t agree.
Icon Corbin: Well, it’s a good thing this is about my opinion and not your very inapt one then, isn’t it…?
Greer: Well, actually…
Icon Corbin: Get on with it. I can feel myself getting annoyed already.
Greer: Uhm…okay, so rumour is, the main event on the upcoming show is possibly a tag match between the team of you and Lady Munin against Alex Cross and Amanda Reynolds.
Icon Corbin: Rumour?
At that moment, Leon’s phone vibrates on the bedside table, alerting him to a message. Mickey peers over to get a glance but it’s vain with the screen locked anyway. Leon snatches it quickly, noting the flaring of Mickey’s nostrils and has a quick read.
Icon Corbin: Okay, it’s in stone.
Greer: How do you feel about that?
Icon Corbin: How should I feel? I’m teaming with a woman close to the family, all a bit crazy and that can single-handedly take out the entire team of Clan Mayhem. What the fuck do I have to worry about?
Greer: You understand that there will be a lot of emotion between the other three?
Icon Corbin: And none from me. That puts me at an advantage as far as I’m concerned. I have no emotional stake in this and can be there to ensure the match goes our way. Munin is one crazy little bitch but I am certainly no stranger to crazy either, I just try to stay in control these days if I can. So the other two have a problem. In a way it should be Raze in her corner but then they wouldn’t be taking Alex away in a stretcher, it’d be a bloody body bag and that’s probably bad for business.
Greer: As it will be Cross and Reynolds, is there a fear that James will be using Payne to create an advantage?
Icon Corbin: No fear of that at all… Once everyone is aware of this card and people put Heatwave in the past, I’m sure the possible inclusion of Payne will be fully accounted for.
He tries to wink but Mickey comes over concerned.
Greer: Your eye…Do you want me to call someone?!
Icon Corbin: What? No?!
With Leon’s voice becoming raised, the nearby nurse is alerted once again. She storms over with a stern expression, hands on her hips.
Nurse: I thought I told you to stop working up my patients! I think you should leave! Right now!
Greer: What? This is a misunderstanding. I was just interviewing my colleague here and…
Nurse: Like you “interviewed” Maud?! Somebody get me security!!
Greer: No wait! That won’t be necessary, I’m going! Please! I could lose my job over this!!
Nurse: And so could I if my patients are getting worse in my care now go away!!
A brandishing of her finger is all it takes to send the reporter packing and hurrying off back up the ward with Leon chortling and grabbing his glass of water. She turns around once she’s certain Greer has disappeared, looking over her patient whose face suddenly and easily looks distressed.
Nurse: Are you alright?
Icon Corbin: I…He was upsetting me and…Could I have some tea? This water isn’t going to calm me down…
Immediately she spins on her heel to fetch the Icon a cup of tea to keep the peace on her ward. Tea when all he was getting was water? Winner! Leon fist pumps to himself then groans as he tears a stitch and turns to his side.
