"Suck on my words for a while, choke on the truth of a million dead
There is no prestige in your title, we are after your head.
The destruction of everything is the beginning of something new
Your new world is on fire and soon you will be...Sabotage will set us free
Throw a rock in the machine. Sabotage will set us free.
Throw a rock in the machine, Throw a rock in the machine..."
Refused, "The Apollo Programme Was A Hoax"

John Taylor's unofficial vow of silence had worked.  He had taken a step back from the spotlight and the upper card had reached a standstill.  For every word to the contrary, the fact was that John Taylor was still at the very core of Ground Zero Wrestling 2K1.  Without the Lone Gunman as the central attraction, there was nobody to hate.  Nobody to respect.  Nobody to admire.  Nobody to emulate.  Without John Taylor, the GZW was a desperate, desolate place.  And some had the audacity to say that he was what was wrong with the company...

"Those of you wanting to swallow your pride now, please form an orderly queue here..."

Taylor spoke slowly and calmly into the Dictaphone resting on his table.

"Has the sheer dullness and monotony of the past week been proof enough that the GZW simply doesn't work without John Taylor?  Have you enjoyed the lukewarm verbal exchanges?  The forced, heatless feuds?  Try to discredit me all you like, tell yourselves that I'm bad for business...  But it's all bull.  At the end of the day, this company needs me.  Ground Zero Wrestling depends on me.  Just look at the strikingly quiet card for tonight's Sunday Storm for a perfect example.  The booking committee looks not to its new World Heavyweight Champion to headline the card, no...  Surely it was simply out of the question for Pimp Bizkit to wrestle at all, let alone defend his new belt on the first show of the year.  And even still, it's only a Storm, right?  Wrong.  Sincere tells you John Taylor is a spoiled brat.  John Taylor is a disease spreading across the company...  He has the audacity to say this to me and align himself, if only temporarily, with the Personification of Incompetence himself, Pimp Bizkit.  Pimp Bizkit, this heavily touted legend about whom Sincere barked at my semi-conscious fallen body in the closing moments of Aftermath, doesn't even feel it necessary to get himself booked at Storm.  And, regardless of what he says, his stroke with the booking committee is far-reaching.  If he had any sort of confidence in himself, he'd have a title defence booked for himself right off the bat.  I did the exact same thing at the Sunday Storm directly following Fallout: Collision Course.  My first act as champion was to put the belt on the line right away.  That's right, it was Sunday Storm.  The B-Show.  John Taylor versus Kid Kaos for the World Heavyweight Championship, and we put on a superb technical wrestling affair.  I take the fact that Pimp Bizkit hasn't gone out of his way to get himself a match for tonight's show as a confession of weakness.  I take it as Pimp admitting to the world that he doesn't have high hopes for his second title reign at all...  A true legend trying to overtake John Taylor's place would push himself further.  He would go that extra mile and more to outdo everything that I ever did.  I defend my title the first show back, he should defend it twice in the first show back.  I become CCW Unified Heavyweight Champion, he should do what it takes to become CCW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion.  I became Wrestler Of The Year, he should suck it up and become Wrestler Of The Decade.  You get the picture, Pimp?   That's the natural progression.  That just shows how far the GZW has come over the years..."

He paused the Dictaphone for a moment and stopped recording.  He rewound back a few seconds, took a breath and began recording over his last sentence, re-recording it.

"That just goes to show how far Ground Zero Wrestling has come since the comparatively primitive days of the Extreme Wrestling Order..."

Satisfied, he continued.

"Legends the likes of Sincere, Pimp Bizkit, Nathaniel Davis and company built a very different company than the GZW of today.  Don't get me wrong, their work and effort does not go without appreciation, but a line must be drawn somewhere.  Building a company is one thing, and the foundations they laid were as sturdy as they could be...  But times have changed.  Times have had to change.  Building a company on these legends is one thing, but you can't maintain a company on history and inactive legends alone.  When the legends of the past have served their purpose and given their contribution to the industry, does Sincere honestly believe that everything stops there?  Does he believe that, in order to maintain the company and keep building towards the future, that the new breed should make names for themselves by kissing ass?  That during my Wrestler Of The Year ceremony, I should have told the world how great things used to be...  That I should have given credit to the aging, retired wrestler that once won a match only because of a prior situation with the referee that left him with no choice but to make the unfair three count?  I should say all of this and just forget to mention exactly why I became Wrestler Of The Year?  I seemed to strike a nerve in what I said at Aftermath, Sincere...  But, as audacious as you think they were, can you sincerely claim for a second that what I said about myself was a lie?  Can you dispute that there hasn't been a better wrestler in Ground Zero Wrestling than John Taylor in the last twelve months?"

Taylor slowed down and fell completely silent, as if genuinely anticipating a response.

"Sincere, when you feel like making your crusade as something more of a priority, I'd love to hear what you have to say for yourself.  Just like the founding stages of the EWO, you started something at Aftermath.  You started something with me, Jade Dragon.  You came onto what is now my turf and tried to undermine me after I'd just come out of what was practically a handicap match.  You got in the last word in an effort to knock me down a few notches.  Did it work?  That depends on your definition of the word.  If you call a quiet week on GZW TV and a less than impressive Sunday Storm card being headlined by two people that weren't with the company three months ago a success, then congratulations.  I don't, however.  If you're truly backing Pimp Bizkit, then you've done your boy's career more harm than ever before.  He's exposed at the top...  He's got no direction.  Nobody to turn to.  Nobody to lean on.  If Fallout: Return To Glory raised questions concerning Pimp's ability to legitimately win a title match on his own, then Aftermath sealed it.  He's no champion.  He's just a man with a belt.  Thanks to the changes you instigated on New Year's Eve, that's now clear for all to see.  He won't last too long now.  I'm here to throw a rock in the proverbial machine...  To catch him off guard.  He thinks his 'win' at Aftermath was a picturesque, smooth-sailing-from-here-on-out affair?  He's mistaken.  You people want to play guerrilla games with me?  That's fine, I have no hesitation in getting down in the mud.  Of course, it won't be as linear as you might think, but you'll see it.  If I'm pitted in a waste-of-time match with Seven this upcoming Crimson, then so be it.  It'll be nothing more than a gas stop on the long-term road.  I'll simply take Seven three for zero and shut him up for another couple of weeks."

He paused the Dictaphone once again and sat back in the uncomfortable kitchen chair.  He sat in silence for a number of moments, thinking, before pressing pause once again and continuing to record.

"I picked up where you, Lord Deacon Kane, Billy Bond and your ilk left off, Sincere.  I used the foundations you laid to build higher and higher.  Whether you see that or not, it's true.  It can't be disputed.  I've taken this company to greater heights than ever before.  Of course, it started with the openings and opportunities that you gave me, back in the days of Bad Company and the HKWF alliance...  'Taylor, take out Pitfighter for us'...  'Jonathan, busy yourself wasting time with Jason Makavelli and the Little Show so that Len DuBrey can get an Intercontinental Title shot'...  'Gunman, settle for the Light Heavyweight Championship as the best you'll ever get'...  Gee, I don't know why I never thanked you and your crew before!  That aside, I can't stand for what you did at Aftermath.  As Lord Of The Coliseum, I simply won't stand for it.  Do you think Lord Deacon would've stood for it?  No, not for a second.  And as I said earlier, to truly establish oneself as a legend, one must build on and outdo everything that has ever been done before him.  Therefore, your actions will not go without retaliation.  You wanted to cast the first stone, Jung-Lei, then prepare to feel the brunt of the backlash of a thousand stones.  It turns out that there may actually be something that the new breed can do about it, after all..."

Taylor allowed the Dictaphone to continue recording for a few seconds further before stopping it altogether.