To be accused of playing 'like a pawn' by a rookie 'rook' is about as preposterous as being spit in the face by a particularly dehydrated cactus - It blatantly defies logic.  From the point of view of somebody who actually does know 'the score', it would seem as though Gabriel is buying into Sincere's suicide mission without question, just as Mikey Mell did.  Just as "SiDeShOw" SeAn did.  Who knows who else will hop on board before the big climax?  Eventually, it won't matter.  It won't make a difference if it's Bane, Lord Deacon Kane or Jesus Christ Himself.  In the end, they're all mere hosts.  Pawns with fancy titles, supporting a losing battle.

Sincere can call Gabriel his rook, his enforcer, his Merciless Archangel or his Usher of Destruction...  Sooner or later they'll all fade like the unilateral buzz words they are.  That's when Gabriel will realise that his task, his side of the deal with the Jade Dragon is not to destroy the Lone Gunman.  Not at all.  In fact, it's a lot lower key than that.  Gabriel is there to get the numbers up - Gabriel, the Chaos Juniors, whoever else is picked up along the way...  Their purpose is to build up the early material advantage, a key to a game of 'losing chess'.  No, Sincere won't tell you that.  He will, and probably has, told you that you're all steps ahead.  Miles ahead.  That I'm the mere 'kink in the road'...  

Thus is the reason they call him the Mastermind of Mindgames, Gabriel.  Not everything is as linear and predictable as the hype and build-up would have you believe.  There is no rule stating that a mind game is simply an overly psychological assault on an opponent...

You don't see it.  You won't for a while.  If you do, you'll deny it.  You'll say that I'm failing to see the bigger picture.  You'll say that it's too late for me, that everything is set in stone.  Need I spell it out for you or let you figure it out on your own?  Or should I let Sincere 'figure it out' for you?  He'll make it all right again, won't he?  He'll tell you what you want to hear.  He'll tell you that no, there isn't a locker room full of veterans bitter that a newcomer was handpicked by a former World Heavyweight Champion to play a high-profile game of wits with the former World Heavyweight Champion.  He'll tell you you earned it.  He'll tell you that you're the logical choice.

He'll assure you that he had no ulterior motive in selecting you over a more established or superstar-in-the-making big man...  'Rooks aren't expendable...'  Why is it that Sincere chose you, Gabriel, out of thirty-something other competitors?  Talent?  Intimidation?  Short-term shock value?  It's all possible.  HOWEVER...

Did the thought even cross your mind that possibly, just possibly, Sincere is lying to you?  That you really aren't as important as he's having you believe?  That you were chosen not because of your talent or power, but because he needed a relative nobody to carry out nothing more than a glorified suicide mission?  Is the possibility that 'the kink in the road' was orchestrated by Sincere himself, well, possible?  Do you not honestly think if Sincere wanted 'the job' done and done well, he would've acquired an usher with a proven track record?  Would his own flesh and blood or a high profile CCW animal not have been a more logical choice, do you think?

Sure, it's a business deal.  But when it's the Devil's neck on the line, would he not have been better off with somebody he knew wouldn't stumble, choke or mess up?  Bane, for example, holds a pinfall victory over me and is a hot property at the moment.  Does it not arouse even the slightest suspicion within you that Sincere, a man renowned as being one of the most intelligent and calculating in GZW2K1 history, picked you?

In a serene garden somewhere not particularly important, two old men sit over a chess board on a styled slab of rock, across from one another.  One is notably bald while the other is notably fat.  They share a deep level of concentration, however, and neither man bats an eyelid as the bald one makes a move.  A rather impractically placed garden heating blocks the board from view, rendering the move unclear to the camera.  The feint beginnings of a grin begin to escape the left hand side of the fat man's mouth, but he quickly hides this with a thick cough.  He takes a sip of a short glass of whiskey on his side before making his next move.  Upon seeing this, the bald man lets out a disappointed sigh before sweeping the board clean.

"Enjoy your victory, old friend...?"  Asks the fat man, slowly, his voice gravely but satisfied.  Now he allows his entire face be overtaken by the previously hidden grin.

"Sometimes I don't know how you do it" confesses the bald man as he now takes a sip of his own whiskey.

"Material advantage, friend.  You fell for it once again."

"You make it sound a lot simpler than it is."

"It's not simple" the fat one reassures as he surveys the fallen army of chess pieces strewn mercilessly across the freshly trimmed grass beside them.  "You have to get out of the mould that to play a game of chess with the intent of losing is any less of a strategic affair than playing to win.  The object is not to simply give away your pieces, as you were doing, but to give your opponent no other choice but to take them."

"Zugzwang."

"Precisely.  The amount more pieces you have than he does, the more relaxed your opponent becomes.  He lets his guard down and before he knows it, he's surrounded and restricted of his safe moves, with no option but to start taking your pieces.  And that's not even touching on mobility and space-"

"Just hold your horses for the moment...  We'll play again.  Don't want to overheat my little old brain on my first lesson...  Alright?"

"As long as you clean up your mess down here, it's fine by me."  The fat man says with a thick, hearty laugh.

Any the wiser yet, Gabe?  At the end of the day, chess is a two-player game.  Each piece has as much power and motivation as it's player allows it.  In this case, the two players are myself and Sincere.  Call us kings, players, whatever.  Call me a pawn if you truly need to in order to confirm your position in the game to yourself, but it's a lie.  If I'm the pawn, Gabriel, who is my king?  Who is my handler?

Gabriel, single out one person in GroundZero Wrestling 2K1 that ranks high enough to be my superior on my own side.  Just one person.  You'll notice there's nobody.  Another quick look will show you that there's nobody 'under' me either...  It's almost as if I'm not falling into Sincere's trap and that I'm going about this my way.  You'll notice I didn't pick up any drifters...  Any developmental wrestlers...  Any rookies...  Yes, I'm that confident in my own ability that total independence will see me through to the impending conclusion.  Your words of warning concerning this independence really go a long way to show exactly who it is that's thinking like the pawn and who is thinking smart.  You honestly think it's me being 'marched out to slaughter'...?

Look at yourself, Gabriel.

Who's the one taking the orders and who's the one that knows better than to give it all in for the sake of somebody else's perception on how to 'play the game'?

Who's the one fighting for another man's beliefs and who's the one fighting for his own?

Most important of all, though, is the defining question - Which one of us is expendable one?

Three simple questions, but it could've just as easily been ten.  Twenty.  Again I stress that this entire affair is nowhere near as linear as you would imagine.  It could all end tomorrow for all you know.  It might take another year.  But just think to yourself, what is your true purpose as Sincere's enforcer but to fail?  There is no King or Lord higher than John Taylor, Gabriel.  Sincere knows that.  Whatever he might tell you, he's not interested in taking over the world...  He wants his outlandish claims of last New Year's Eve that he made me to have some sort of merit.  How'll he do that?  Lining up his Chaos Theory before me just so I can dissect it, piece by piece, until he's the only one left.  That is when the true Taylor/Sincere showdown will take place.  The world saw at Destiny Fulfilled that I had Sincere beaten when you showed up, Gabe.  Sincere knew it, but that's not why he picked that moment for you to show yourself...

From the very get-go, he knew I could beat him.  That's the whole thing.  He, as for all intents and purposes, the personification of GZW2K1 ancestry, has it in him to 'put me over' and have me recognised, without a doubt, as the greatest competitor in GZW2K1 history.  Look at the influence he has now.  He says jump and the watered-down Chaos Theory bicker amongst themselves in order to be the first to ask 'how high?'  What if he were to say that he respects John Taylor as his superior?  All of this would stop in an instant.  Your claim to fame would be obsolete.  Mell and SeAn would be reduced to nothing. 

You say you're a firm believer in fate and predestination, so this shouldn't be too difficult for you to comprehend.  The second I signed the dotted line with GZW2K1 last year, it was signed, sealed and delivered that I would become the biggest thing CCW has ever seen.  I would outdo everything that'd been done before me and ensure that the new glass ceiling I leave in my wake is too high to ever be reached.  That's what fate has lined up for me, Gabriel.  It is already decided that I will, in some circumstance and sooner or later, will face Sincere in pure singles competition, defeat him and inherit the 'old guard' legacy.  Sincere is the host body...  In him is the power to wipe out all doubt of John Taylor for ever.  But, as we know, he's a selfish old man, and he's taken such measures as to slow the whole thing down and make it seem a lot harder than it actually will be.  He's trying to save face up until his final move, Gabriel.  Somewhere between now and then, you, as the gatekeeper, the enforcer or the rook will fall by the wayside.

His final move in this game of losing chess, is what he came back for.  It is one not done on the chessboard but rather on the microphone.  I will have captured all of his pieces and, in a traditional sense, 'won'...  All except for Sincere himself, however, "The Infinite King", leading to the grand finale on whatever stage.  Whether that's Crimson in two weeks or Aftermath 2K5, it won't make a difference - the outcome will be the same.  John Taylor will beat Sincere in a clean, singles match.  It's going to happen, Gabriel.  You'd be lucky if you were still under contract with the company when it does... 

...But that's not the whole thing.

If I simply beat Sincere and inherit the legacy, what's in it for him?  His months of planning and preparation would have been in vein.  It's called 'losing chess', but make know mistake - the loser wins.  The final move for the Jade Dragon will be the ultimate zugzwang, when a victorious John Taylor is left with no choice but acknowledging Sincere as his founding father, shaking his hand and thanking him.  When I utter the words "You were right...  You paved the way for me.  You made John Taylor" is when the game truly ends and Sincere collects his final prize.

It's a good thing that only I know when that'll be...