"What's the hold-up, GZW2K1?" asked the number one contender to the Heavyweight Champion of the World, rhetorically.

"Has "The Cat" got each and every one of your tongues?" he pondered as 'the scene' began to materialise.  He sat - as clichéd as it was - on a large rock overlooking the Caribbean beach of Cancun, Mexico.  This was to be the setting for Fallout: Against The Odds, and as usual, Taylor had arrived just a little early.  The camera crew were stationed somewhere behind him - he cared not to know their exact location - as they had been for the last three hours.

It was approaching 8AM, and only just then did Taylor feel like vocalizing his thoughts on the previous week.  The camera crew hadn't complained, not that they had the right to.  Their long, drawn-out wait for The Lord to finally speak was nothing but a convenient photo opportunity.  Lord John Taylor, alone with his thoughts on some remote cliff in front of the rising Mexican sun - He could just see the Hotwire front-page now.

He cleared his throat.

"It was less than a year ago that I was in this very situation...  The company - unofficially, of course - on my shoulders.  When something good happens, our perpetual title-holder, Pimp Bizkit, gets the credit.  When things fall quiet, however, he wants nothing to do with it.  That's one of his many weaknesses, and a key one at that.  How can a man be at the core of the company yet turn a blind eye to what might as well be a WEEK of silence and inactivity leading up to a Pay-Per-View?!"

"He can't.  That's all there is to it."

"Was it that my words of last week were far too real for him?  Has he come to the realisation that his time is rapidly coming to an end and prematurely packed what he still has in?  Pimp, I've been waiting for a response for far too long now.  At least try to keep up the facade that you belong at the top, eh?"

"With that said, Pimp isn't all to blame.  He's the most convenient to pin it all on, but at this level, it'd be a crime not to look a little deeper.  This whole situation with the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship is a prime example.  What, to me, is nothing more than a quick detour on my road to regaining my spot at the top should be what every other participant involved strives to achieve.  Any one of those involved should consider themselves lucky to be anywhere near such a title, but the veritable radio silence in recent days doesn't do all that much to attest to such a claim..."

"Some have it easier than others, in the short-term at least.  Guys like Quake, The Root and Jonny Odel have the early advantage in that they'll be nowhere near the Lone Gunman until at least after the Battle Royale.  Other 'hot' talent in the vein of Jay Jameson and Vernon Vanderbilt don't have it quite so good.  There is not a single man involved in the hunt for the Intercontinental strap that poses the threat of walking away from Against The Odds with a victory over me.  I guarantee that one hundred fucking percent..."

"Some of those involved in my Battle Royale have remained silent.  Perhaps out of respect, perhaps out of unspeakable fear.  From the way things are going now, I won't know what Jay Jameson, Kid Kaos or "SiDeShOw" SeAn have 'in store' for me until the bell sounds.  That's a disappointment for me...  I would've expected better.  Those that have dared to speak up, however, are no less impressive."  

"The spokesman for the vacuum industry, Seven, has picked up a new notion - He'll be the first consecutive holder of the W.C.E.K. Television Championship and the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship.  It amuses me to say that it was that point, regurgitated and swallowed again and again in the space of about two minutes, that made up his 'effort'...  Not to mention his listing of just about every inactive GZW competitor - That'll take up some time, right?  Flesh out a dire promo just that little bit more?  For fuck's sake, you think you would've learned a new trick or two in the months I've been blissfully ignoring you.  Alas, you didn't.  It's the same old you.  That same old you that I've already beaten, TWICE, and that I won't hesitate to beat you for a third time, should you last long enough for the need to arise, of course..."

"What did amuse me, Seven, were the early signs of cockiness showing.  You think you'll be the first man to hold the W.C.E.K. TV and Intercontinental Heavyweight titles consecutively?  Well, you won't - But even if you did...  Wake-up call:  It's not that big a deal.  Tonya Glory has you beat already, holding your 'second rate' belt and the World Heavyweight title consecutively.  I have her beat with two consecutive World Heavyweight Championship - The CCW Unified Heavyweight Championship...  You've still got a long way to go, Dark Angel, don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise..."

"Vernon Vanderbilt makes his presence known, at least...  He should be one to watch out for in the Battle Royale - If I allow it, that is.  I might feel the need to simply throw him out on his ass two seconds into the thing.  He's trying to justify simply analysing me in passing conversation with his manager?  Then I'll return the fucking favour.  Vernon, unless you straighten up and realise exactly who I am, don't expect to last very long at all in this thing...  You want to move up the ladder here?  Then it'd be in your best interests to get it together and acquaint yourself with the fact that this you're not in the BMWF...  You're a newcomer and a rookie in the eyes of 90% of your peers.  You're an outsider to them, and they don't like that."

"My eyes are open a lot wider than that, though.  I've seen what you've done and can do, but make no bones about my absolute superiority over anybody you've ever come across in nearly a decade in 'the business'...  I'm not saying this for kicks or to simply get myself 'over' that little bit more, no - It's true.  If you strut into Against The Odds with the rose-tined glass that I'm simply you 'without the style', then I wish you the best of luck opening card after card until you finally just can't take it and throw in the towel yourself.  If you're 'truly important', then that must make me 'absolutely fucking ESSENTIAL'.  I'll make this very easy for you - You simply brush me over, I'll have you out of that Battle Royale before you get the chance to try to begin to make that all-important 'impact'.  Remember that..."

"The infinitely silent Phillip Tytan and Kid Kaos don't appear to have anything worth bringing to the 'table', either...  The fact that I've beaten both men before - Tytan as recently as two weeks ago - will surely still be stuck to their minds.  Perhaps even the pure association with me will be enough for them to fill their 'exposure' quota.  Until either of those men present to me an argument worth arguing, I'll leave them with the reminders of my pinfall victories over both of them.  That's good enough for them as far as I'm concerned."

"What of the possible dark-horse in the Royale, then - "SiDeShOw" SeAn?  This is the man who, along with Sincere and Mikey Mell, beat Seven for me.  It was this joke that started the terminal disease that is Seven's Killing Of Gzw's Greatest Production, and as such I have no other choice but to make short work of him...  I wonder if he still remembers the pint glass to the face, actually?"

"Will the still-quiet Jay Jameson be the man to overcome this obstacle?  Can the Jayster outlast me in a battle of stamina and luck?  Frankly, no.  However, he's probably got the best chances of putting on a good showing for himself, given his genuinely admirable performance against CCW phenomenon Reject at Destiny Fulfilled.  Since his 'big win', however, we've seen him slip ever so slightly.  Sure, he got his World Heavyweight Title match, and gave Pimp Bizkit his first clean title defence EVER...  That truly says something about where this man is in terms of GZW2K1 hierarchy.  He's got the potential to be something great, but if he's going to half-ass that, I don't see him causing any trouble for me.  Jay, show me you want to make it, and you'll get first dibs at either - or both - of the two titles I'll easily fly back to the States with...  Continue down this almost Pimp Bizkit-esque road of sloth, inactivity and silence, however, and you'll be doomed forever to the bowels of the W.C.E.K. Television division.  I can see to that, James...  You should make it your business to see to it that I don't."

"What you people are failing to realise is that whilst I'm the biggest name involved in the entire thing, and as such every man worth his boots is going to be gunning for me, that gives me no less of an advantage.  Perhaps even more prestigious than the Intercontinental belt itself would undoubtedly be the bragging rights of whoever - theoretically, of course - managed to eliminate the Lord Of The Coliseum.  That'd be a main event-inducing achievement.  However, not one of you is selfless enough to share the glory...  Seven tries to eliminate Lord John Taylor, he can bet that before he gets the chance, he'll have Jay Jameson and Phillip Tytan intervening - indirectly - in MY favour.  After all, "The Man That Eliminated The Lone Gunman" sounds a little more impressive than "The Six Men It Took To Eliminate The Lone Gunman"...  Whether they can see it or not, every single participant will be giving me that extra level of security and insurance in there..."

"And as I said, no single man involved has it in them to eliminate me.  You talk about a Catch 22 situation..." he held onto the last few words for a few moments as if to prolong their poignancy.  He'd said all he'd had to say, but he wasn't going anywhere.  It was a beautiful morning and he had the best possible vantage point to see it all.  If the camera crews didn't realise he was finished, that was their problem...