I. The Beginning Of The End

Two matches.  That's all Reject had left in him, according to Clancy McClean.  McClean and the pull he seemed to have with anyone and everyone amazed Reject.  It'd want to, considering it was that which brought him around in agreeing to let McClean manage him for those miserable months.  But that was behind Reject.  His ties with McClean had done gotten him a little bit of good, that being the Extreme Heavyweight Championship, and an overload of bad.  Clancy McClean was the lethal injection in luxury gift wrapping.  He was temptation personified.

And the prospect of Reject's GZW2K1 match was enough to tempt them all.  Jay Jameson bought it because he saw it as a one-way ticket to Oversville.  The fans bought it because they just love to see Reject hospitalise any and all comers.  And the booking committee bought it because the fans were already waiting in line for it.

Reject didn't buy it, though.  He let the hype drift right by and he saw the Last Man Standing match for what it was - an indirect but better-than-nothing route to Clancy McClean.  Tearing Jay Jameson limb from limb in the process wouldn't do him any harm, either.  This was no graceful bow out.  This was no swansong.  It was simply the end of the road he'd allow the Command Suite lay down for him.  The beginning of the end would come at Sunday Storm's "Destiny Awaits".

The preparation for Reject's own contractual apocalypse consist brought him on that particular evening to the low-brow 'Headquarters' of a pirate radio station, quite colourfully named Bluebeard FM, in downtown Atlanta.  He was in mid-conversation with Ritchie King on the late night King's Quarters discussion show.  Reject generally wasn't a radio person, but seeing the typical anti-establishment furnishings of the Bluebeard FM establishment reassured him that he'd made the right decision.  Besides, it was the one vaguely wrestling-related station in the city not a part of Clancy McClean's new media operation.  In fact, that's what the two happened to be discussing.

"It's pretty bad, then?"

"Bad, Ritchie?  Bad?  You can't turn on a TV today without seeing that smug bastard's face...  A taped promo doesn't pass without a whole new chapter of Clancy McClean's propaganda."

"You mentioned that earlier.  Explain."

"The man literally has a stranglehold on every piece of multimedia that appears on GZW2K1 TV and radio, in magazines, on the internet...  With his enflamed bias, nothing he touches isn't propaganda!!!  It took him what, five minutes, on Crimson's 'Love Hurts' to shut Jay Jameson up and rope him into a match far more dangerous than that airhead will ever possibly imagine.  He turned Jameson around in a matter of minutes, Ritchie.  He can do it to anyone...  Having a free run with Just Business was bad enough, but being appointed as Director of New Media?!  It's nonsensical.  The company administration clearly don't realise the grave mistake they've made by putting the responsibility of all media output right in his pocket.  This whole arrangement has a limited shelf life, believe me."

"Not that I don't believe you, but why?  Sure, the guy's a pig, but he's a good businessman, right?"

"Arguably."

"Well then, from an objective standpoint, if he's good for business, he's got nothing to worry about in terms of job security..."

"Even I know that there's a world of difference between being a good businessman and being good for business.  McClean is good for himself...  To be frank, he's a selfish fuck.  Take a look at what he's trying to do to me at the moment.  There's no love lost between us, and he can't have that, so he's trying to run me out of the company..."

"...Legally, right?"

"Legally.  He's not man enough to do it himself, and, rightly so, he hasn't got the faith in Jay Jameson to genuinely get the job done at Destiny Fulfilled.  In fact, he knows that Jameson doesn't stand a chance in a Last Man Standing match with a man that's held seven Hardcore Championships in five years.  So he's going behind the scenes and lobbying for me to be released of my contract.  Better yet, he's dragged that stupid fucking kid's family back into all of this in some petty little effort to justify his request."

"How do you feel about all of that, man?  Do you honestly think that he'll be successful in ridding you from the company, whether it be through the administration or through Jay Jameson at the upcoming Pay-Per-View?"

"Successful?  Who knows?  If he fails this time, he's just going to keep at it...  I know that he won't give up until I'm gone from the company.  Whether that takes Jay Jameson crippling me in this Last Man Standing match, that kid's family pressing full charges or some petty, desperate, underhanded little tactic as of yet unpredictable, I know he won't stop.  To answer your question, I would say eventually, yes.  It's the clichéd beginning of the end, Ritchie, and I'm not too thick-skulled to realise it.  McClean has told the world that I've got two matches left and that's it...  If all goes according to his plan, then it'll be that simple.  I know my days are numbered, comrade.  For once, though, I'm going to milk that fact for all it's worth...  I'm not going to make it easy for Clancy McClean, Jay Jameson or this Kellar."

"Good, you mentioned this Kellar.  You been following his stuff on GZW TV?"

"What do you think, Ritchie?  As I said earlier, GZW TV has become a no-go zone for me."

"Of the burst of new wrestlers, Kellar has been by far the most vocal.  He made his debut at Crimson's "Love Hurts", making short work of 'Mr. Big' Nathan W..."

"That's wonderful, but it'll take more than that to convince me to sift through the poisonous filth clogging every GZW2K1 media output and actual take notice of him.  What's this, his second match with the company?  His first actual match?  Well it's pure bad luck for him that he's drawn the shortest straw for Sunday Storm.  Whilst everyone and his whore of a mother has a warm-up opponent or simply a night off, the new guy gets pit against Reject."

"He may be new, but he's booked against Electric Sharpe at Fallout: Destiny Fulfilled for a shot at the Extreme Heavyweight title - your old belt."

"So fucking what?  The Extreme title is nothing anymore.  There was a time when it was more important than even the World Heavyweight strap, and now look at it!  Electric Sharpe, the most marketable of the big three extremists, has the strap.  Congratulations...  Note the absence of both Reject and Mr. Klown, you little brat.  Have the title.  Enjoy defending against debutants that don't know the meaning of the word extreme.  Enjoy the second depression of hardcore wrestling within GroundZero Wrestling 2K1.  And don't even try to play the loyalty to the belt card.  You and I both know you'd drop it without thinking if you could get anywhere near that World Heavyweight belt."

"OK, dude.  Tell me more about this 'bad luck' you see Kellar as having..."

"What's to tell?  He's been thrown to the lions right off the bat."

"What do you think is the reasoning behind it?"

"Since when were the GZW2K1 administration reasonable, Ritchie?"

"Well..."

"Forget it.  Either they want to stop this Kellar before he even gets a foot in the door, or they're trying to get two for the price of one and cash in on my apparent 'retirement'."

"Which of the two is it, 'Ject?"

"Something tells me it'll be the latter.  If there's one thing I've got, it's a reputation.  A reputation as the toughest of the tough to come out of HKWF...  The most extreme Combined Champion Wrestling has to offer.  Everyone's seen my matches.  Granted, I'm no John Taylor or Justin Sharp in the ring, but I can certainly fend for myself in any surrounding.  A Reject match is not so much a traditional wrestling match as it is a display of superhuman, as-near-as-you'll-get to supernatural toughness and endurance of both body and spirit.  Because of that, I could be a next-generation "CareerMaker" Nathaniel Davis...  But I'm not.  I don't put people over.  I don't hand out respect.  Any man that has ever bested me has had to do it all by himself and subsequently had to be prepared to withstand the inevitable retaliation and backlash."

"Go on..."

  "It just so happens that I'm a sore loser, Ritchie.  Mr. Klown and Electric Sharpe thought they'd got the better of me...  Technically, they had.  But the payback was merciless.  The fall from the Aftermath 2K4 stage structure proved to them, and a whole generation of GZW competitors, that you simply don't get the better of Reject.  Go ahead, pin me...  Make me tap out.  You'll pay for it ten fold afterwards.  I've always had that as a personal motto...  And up until now, my peers have acknowledged it and steered well clear.  With Jay Jameson and, assumedly, this Kellar, I'm dealing with a whole new breed.  They don't get it.  They don't see what's going on around them and they don't understand how things work around here.  Reject doesn't get involved in pre-match 'banter' on GZW TV.  Kellar wants to fatten Clancy McClean's wallet, then let him knock himself out.  The only thing that matters for him will be the Extreme Match at Storm.  I'll show him what an extreme match should be like...  I'll take him through hell and back and leave his rotting carcass in the centre of the ring.  Then I'll be on my way in preparation to do likewise to Jay Jameson at Destiny Fulfilled.  That is, of course, provided Kellar proves himself as anything worthwhile."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that.  If Kellar thinks he's going into Storm to make a name for himself, he's just mistaken.  Similarly, if he even dares to play the 'disrespect' card that McClean has instilled into Jameson, then I swear to whatever God you like that I'll paralyse him.  I'll make short work of him and I'll show him that you don't disregard Reject...  Quick, two minute job that'll do his career more bad than he could even comprehend.  I'll prove to him that I don't get distracted or put off by outside issues.  Of course, he'll find all of that out this Sunday."

"So shall we all.  Are you at all concerned by the recent emergence of Quake at Jay Jameson's side?  He's a big, rugged athlete and a very accomplished competitor..."

"...and he personifies what you and I as well as every listener of this station despises.  He is a living, breathing application of the money machine, and he will be dealt with.  Whether that's by me or by a fellow DisOrder member is unclear, but it'll happen.  Am I concerned?  No.  If he wants to waltz on down to the ring and get involved in the Last Man Standing match, I've got no problem with it.  He'll be an added bonus on top of the absolute decimation of Jameson and the liquidation of Clancy McClean..."

"Interesting..."

"Basically, Ritchie: If I'm on my way out, I'm not leaving without a fuss.  And I'm certainly not leaving without the rotting bodies of McClean and Jameson dragging behind me...  Kellar and Quake are bonuses."

"Well we'll all be watching Storm this Sunday and Fallout: Destiny Fulfilled on the twenty-seventh here at Bluebeard FM.  You've been listening to GZW2K1 competitor Reject live with me, Ritchie King on The King's Quarters...  In the past hour you've heard about the DisOrder, HKWF and how watered down it has become as well as Reject's current situation involving Jay Jameson and Jon Kellar as well as everyone's favourite 'Capitalist Cunt', Clancy McClean.  Stick with us, Atlanta...  In the next hour we've got music from Norma Jean, Give Up The Ghost and The Chariot.  Right now, here's Nine Inch Nails' "Eraser" to play Reject out.  Good luck next week, 'Ject."

The sound at that point had cut out and switched to Reject's entrance music.  If this was indeed the beginning of the end for the one called Reject, he was ready for it.