“Downstairs Robert…now. You too Aaron dear… I think we need to have a family discussion and there’s no time like the present,” Barbara Pearson had said; her words carried so much weight in that moment that momentarily, her husband Robert had actually appeared frozen in place, unable to speak. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, flapping open and closed, it would have almost been funny if Aaron wasn’t as angry as he was at the time. And Scarlett; Aaron had never seen Scarlett so angry, even through a lot of the ongoing crap with Lexi Von Aaron, which had caused her to lose her cool on several occasions. Scarlett loved her father, even if she didn’t approve of how he made his money, and to see such an ugly expression on her face aimed at him, it was actually quite surreal for the teenager as he walked towards the guiding open arm of Barbara, allowing her to usher him from the room. Until the moment Mrs. Pearson had interjected, Aaron had been in the middle of an extremely heated argument with Scarlett’s father about the news he and Scarlett had broken not an hour earlier, announcing Scarlett’s pregnancy and Aaron had been under no illusions that it would probably not be welcome news to Robert Pearson of all people, but he hadn’t expected some of the bile that had come from his mouth during their supposedly private argument in the man’s study. He knew a lot of what Robert had said was true, that was what made it more than just a little bitter sweet; Scarlett was too good for him, she came from a good family – father notwithstanding – she was clever, beautiful, had probably been destined for great things… but she had fallen in love with him and Aaron with her, and despite knowing that Scarlett could have been better than he ever would be, the teenager and soon to be twenty one year old girlfriend were as happy as could be, which was exactly why Aaron had chosen to ask permission to propose to Scarlett despite knowing that the request wouldn’t go down well.
What Aaron hadn’t expected was the extend of Robert Pearson’s hatred for him would extend to…
Oh, Robert had been careful; the phrases he’d used, words he’d chosen, none of them explicitly said it, but he had left Aaron in no uncertainty over his view of the news that Scarlett was pregnant, talking about how he hoped Scar would one day wake up to realise what a mistake the pregnancy was, what a mistake she had made by falling in love with a loser from New Jersey… Aaron knew in his heart that Robert Pearson’s perfect scenario would be for Scarlett to simply have the baby taken care of while it was still in the early stages so she could move back home to Louisiana and do exactly as daddy wanted her to, something which Aaron knew she would rather die than acquiesce to. Even the rich and powerful sometimes had deluded dreams, it seemed.
The sad part was that despite the argument making Aaron angry more than anything else, it was also causing Aaron to question whether Scarlett was throwing her life away by falling in love with him. What was he, when all was said and done? He was a nineteen year old kid, an orphan who yes, had been adopted by two huge stars in the wrestling world, but that wasn’t exactly who he was, was it? He was a kid from Asbury Park, a kid who didn’t excel in the classroom, who wasn’t homecoming king, wasn’t on the sports team… he spent weekends hanging around with his loser friends, watching crap television. He wasn’t Scarlett, wasn’t intelligent, didn’t have a great future ahead of him; if he hadn’t been lucky enough to be adopted by David and Regan, he would have never made it in the wrestling business and without that stroke of luck, what would his career plans have looked like? Flipping burgers at McDonalds, stocking shelves at Walmart? He had no idea; he knew it wouldn’t have involved college, that was for sure. What foster or adoptive parents would have sprung for a college education for a kid they took in a year before highschool graduation? Hell, even if David and Regan had the best intentions in the world, they hadn’t planned to adopt Aaron, he only ended up with them because somebody fucked up in the office and his papers mistakenly said he was almost seven instead of almost seventeen. He had won the lottery without buying a ticket, but what if he hadn’t been that lucky? That was why Robert Pearson hated Aaron as much as he did, because he understood the teenagers true worth and didn’t want his only child, his beloved daughter, throwing her life away with a loser…
…and then Scarlett’s hand had intertwined in his own as they walked along the hallway to go back downstairs as Barbara had instructed, and every doubt that had bubbled to the surface melted away at the touch of her fingers locking with his, it all ceased to matter because he could feel the pressure from her squeeze and it reminded him how much he loved her and her him. Wasn’t that what was important, wasn’t loving parents as crucial as anything when raising a family? Maybe Aaron’s profession had been a stroke of luck, maybe he wasn’t the smartest guy on the planet, the richest, most educated… but he made good enough money to provide for Scarlett and their child and he loved Scarlett with everything he had; if it was a choice between a loving family who just about managed and an unloving one who had loads of cash, Aaron would happily sacrifice eating himself to ensure that Scarlett and their little peanut could eat, without question! Not that things would ever get to that point; he made good money for his age, Scarlett also brought her own paycheque in, they didn’t have rent to pay or bills really other than food and Aaron knew that David and Regan would never let them struggle either, not with the resources they both had to hand. He hoped they wouldn’t need that though, because they were surprisingly good financially; neither Aaron or Scarlett were the type to blow cash on dumb stuff they didn’t need, they weren’t your typical young adults in that sense and that was probably for the best because their lives were about to grow increasingly harder in a few months time when the little bambino came kicking and screaming into the world, that was for sure!
“In here,” Barbara said as she pointed towards the kitchen and Aaron and Scarlett followed hand in hand as the matriarch of the Pearson home marched towards the kitchen table and drew out a chair for her daughter. Aaron was actually impressed with Barbara’s ability to be so furious with her husband; not because it was clearly a more traditional marriage and that Robert was the head of the household, the breadwinner, but because Barbara had never come across as the angry type, in fact Aaron hadn’t even seen her more than slightly annoyed by anything since the day he had first met Scarlett’s parents! But she was livid now, that much was obvious and the way she spoke to her husband when he trailed after them and stepped into the room only compounded his view on that. “Sit!” she barked, almost as if she was scolding a naughty dog while pointing to an empty chair at the kitchen table. “Don’t bother to argue Robert, just sit your ass down in that chair right this second,” she added, not giving her husband a chance to argue.
“How could you, daddy?” Scarlett asked, her hand still entwined in Aaron’s underneath the table and he could feel her shaking slightly, whether in anger or sorrow he didn’t know but he sqeazed her hand supportively in an effort to help keep her calm. “How could you say those things; it’s your grandchild I’m carrying, doesn’t that mean a thing to you?!” she demanded of her father, who clearly was regretting his outburst because none of it had been intended for Scarlett’s or his wife’s ears, just Aaron. That was the kind of man Robert Pearson was; he was a businessman, he was astute at hiding his true feelings in order to deal with people on a face to face basis… but he looked horror struck now; he wasn’t used to his daughter questioning him so blatantly, he wasn’t used to the disappointment that registered on her face, disappointment in him to be precise. It clearly hurt him. “Daddy, I expected you to be happy for us, at least for me! I know mom has always been happier about my choices than you, but I’m your little girl and I just told you that I’m going to have a little boy or girl of my own… you should be overjoyed right now!” she said, but apparently Robert had had enough, because a scoff flew out of his throat before he could stop it, cutting Scarlett off before she could go any further.
He threw his arms up in astonishment, still standing by the doorway rather than sat at the chair that his wife had instructed him to take when she barked her orders a few seconds earlier. “What do you want me to say sweetheart?” Robert asked his daughter, his patience evidently worn thin by this point. “Am I supposed to be happy about the fact that it feels like my daughter is throwing her life away revelation by crushing revelation?”
“Robert!” Barbara said but this time the husband rounded on her and stuck up for himself
“What?!” he asked impatiently, his frustration spilling over as he glared at Barbara. “You know it as well as I do that this wasn’t the future I imagined for our only child; she’s wasting her life with this kid, how can you not see that?!” he fumed, not even flinching at how out of order he was now acting. Aaron’s own temper was rising and in truth if Scarlett didn’t have his hand in a vice-like grip, he may have jumped up and swung for him.
“You knew before I met Aaron that I wanted nothing to do with your idea for my future,” Scarlett said, and Aaron was astounded that aside from tears in her eyes, she was holding it together much better than he expected; her voice was even, calm, she wasn’t looking about to break under the pressure and if she could keep her cool during this then he knew he had to do so too.
“And I accepted that,” Robert replied, slightly calmer than he had been previously; Aaron wondered if it was because he was conscious of the fact that his daughter was indeed pregnant and he didn’t want to upset her any more than necessary. “I accepted that you wouldn’t follow me into the family firm, but that’s not what I’m talking about Scarlett; I’m talking about school! You blew a spot at Harvard Business, Scarlett, one of if not the best business school’s in the country… for him!” he said, pointing at Aaron and the teenager felt another flash of anger pass through him but he swallowed it.
“And that’s supposed to be on me, right?!” he snapped back bitterly; it takes two to tango, that’s the saying. It wasn’t as if he begged Scarlett not to leave, and sure he would have been majorly upset if she had gone home again after the summer they spent together but if she had been dead-set on actually going to college then he would have understood.
“Too right it is!” Robert shot back at the teen, his anger rising again now that it wasn’t his beautiful - and more importantly, pregnant – daughter that was the target. “You may not have laid on the pressure, you may not have actually begged her not to go but you sure as hell played a part! Tell me boy, if Scarlett hadn’t met you, do you really think she’d have decided to stay in California?!” he asked, though it wasn’t exactly a question he was wanting answered. “Do you think my daughter, a good honest Louisiana girl, would have fallen for the septic cesspit of Los Angeles if she didn’t meet a good for nothing waste of space like you?! I don’t think so!”
“Way to insult your own fucking family Robert!” Aaron spat back in Scarlett’s face. “Way to insult your own brother, your niece. It was Kathryn that Scar went to stay with, and why did she do that huh? To get away from you because you were trying to force her to go in a direction that she didn’t want to go in!” he added, Scarlett’s nails starting to dig into the skin on the back of his hand she was squeezing so tight. “Okay, maybe she stayed there because of me, but you should be asking yourself why the fuck she left here in the first place, because it sure as hell wasn’t for a holiday!”
Robert Pearson’s eyes were widened with rage, his nostrils flared with each intake of breath; he was enraged, more than that, he was livid; who was this little boy to speak to him like that?! He had worked his ass off over his lifetime to give his family everything they could ever need and now this little brat was in his house, lecturing him on the importance of family? On how to raise his own child?! “I don’t know who you think you are--” Robert started to say, but to everybody’s surprise, Scarlett let go of Aaron’s hand and stood up in one fell swoop, taking two steps towards her father.
Pointing at her dad with one hand, she folded her other arm protectively across her stomach as she spoke clearly and with an edge to her voice that suggested she wasn’t playing around. “I’ll tell you who he is,” she said, her arm wrapped tightly around herself as she continued to point at her father with the other. “He’s the father of my child, daddy! He’s the man who will be involved in my child’s life regardless of whether we’re still together or whether your sick and twisted wishes come true and we break up. He will be responsible for helping to raise this baby and there is nothing you can do to change that! I love him, and you stand there and talk to him like I’m about to be sentenced to life in prison and he’s to blame!”
“Our daughter just told you that you’re going to be a grandfather and this is how you’re behaving?” Barbara added from the other side of the kitchen table, looking at her husband with bitter disappointment on her face. “Christ Robert, I know you’re getting grumpy in your old age but this is ridi--”
“Ridiculous?” Robert asked his wife, glaring at her. “You think so?! Because I think you being happy about this is what’s ridiculous! Do you know what started that damn argument in the first place?” he asked again, actually smirking at his wife though it probably wasn’t because he found it funny as such, more laughable than anything. “We started arguing because he asked permission to propose to our daughter… like he hasn’t done enough damage already!” he spat, turning to glare at Aaron before clearly deciding that he couldn’t even look at him. Walking toward the kitchen cupboard Robert pulled the door open and removed a bottle of scotch and a tumbler, pouring himself a generous amount before pointing at Aaron at the table. “From the moment Scarlett brought this scruffy boy here, I knew he’d be no good for her… look how it turned out; almost twenty one, pregnant, educated no further than a high school diploma… where did we go wrong huh Barb? Where did we go so wrong that our daughter thinks her current existence is anything short of troubling? I despair Barb, I really fucking do,” he said before draining the scotch in one and pouring himself another as Scarlett glared at him. If looks could kill though, Aaron would have been the one to fire the fatal blow; he wanted to wrap the scotch bottle around Robert’s head, to shove the tumbler down his throat, he wanted to beat the crap out of him… and yet he knew that would only support the theory that Robert believed he was no good for his daughter…
“What have I ever done to offend you, Robert?” Aaron asked, almost like he was trying to understand what he did wrong. There was nothing to understand, it wasn’t a rational thing, Robert Pearson simple thought of him as no good but Aaron appeared to be desperate to understand just what the fuck he’d done to sour her father against him from the day they had first met none the less. “Is it the fact that I don’t come from a rich family? Is that was this all boils down to, that I’m an orphan who only made something of himself once he started fighting for a living or is there more to it than that? Because you’re acting like a complete fucking asshole right now and if that’s all you’re basing your anger on is that I wouldn’t be someone you could introduce to your friends at the country club then you need to pull your damn head out of your ass and wake up to the fact that there are millions of people across this country that didn’t have an easy hand up from day one!”
“How dare you talk to me like that in my own home?!” Robert snapped, lowering the tumbler that he was about to drink from as his nostrils flared in anger again. “I’ve tolerated enough; go! Get out of this house, now!” he yelled but before Aaron could even react, Scarlett and Barbara both shouted “no” at Robert and the patriarch recoiled slightly at the forcible objection from combination of mother and daughter.
“If he goes, so do I!” Scarlett said forcibly.
“And last I checked, you do not rule this house with an iron fist either!” Barbara added with the same vitriol towards her husband that for a moment he floundered before his body stiffened defensively.
Slamming the tumbler down on the kitchen counter so hard that it was any wonder the damn thing didn’t break, Robert glared at his daughter then his wife in turn, his face set in stone. “Fine,” he declared, sounding like a stroppy teenager. “Then I’ll leave; I don’t have to stand here and listen to this in my own home, I’m going into the office,” he said as he started to walk towards the door before Barbara stopped him in his tracks.
“If you walk out then so help me Robert, I’ll have divorce papers drawn up by the end of the day and I will take you to the fucking cleaners!” she declared so matter of factly that Robert once again seemed unable to comprehend the words that had come from his wife’s mouth. “You will not walk away from another problem because you don’t want to deal with it, you will walk back into the kitchen and we are going to work through this!” she ordered, giving her husband no doubts over how little say he had in the matter…
“No, if he wants me to go then it’d be my pleasure,” Aaron said flatly as he stood up, but this time it was Scarlett’s turn to give the orders.
“No you won’t,” she said, not quite as forcibly as her mother’s instruction but it left Aaron in the same boat as Robert, no illusions over how little choice he had on the matter either. “You’re going to sit down, because I think it’s time Daddy heard a few things and I want you to hear me tell him…” she said, eventually smiling kindly at him before turning back to her father, the smile gone by the time she’d turned towards him. “Are you going to do as mom asked?” she enquired of her father and he grudgingly started to make his way back to his original position on the other side of the kitchen island where he picked his tumbler up again, another scowl on his face as Scarlett continued to speak. “You know daddy, you’ve always had the same problem… you assume I don’t have the ability to make my own decisions because I’m your little girl. And while I know I’ll always be your little girl in your eyes, do you know what message that also sends out? It says you don’t trust me to make my own decisions, and I can only assume that’s the case because I’m a girl,” she said to her father, holding up a hand to silence him before he could interject. “No daddy, I want you to listen to me now, something which I wished you’d done a long time ago because things would never have got to this point if you’d done that earlier… see, I never wanted to go to business school, and I know you thought I was just frightened of going away to school but it wasn’t anything to do with that, I simply didn’t want to go down that path. If I was afraid to leave New Orleans, I would never have stayed in California, would I? I wanted to follow my own path and you wouldn’t let me do that because, just like every other time you said no, you believed you knew what was best for me…”
“Scarlett, darling, I never intended--” Robert began, trying to perhaps defend himself or explain his positon even, but Scarlett once again cut him off by raising a finger and shaking her head.
To Aaron’s surprise, Robert actually fell silent again to allow Scarlett to speak. “No daddy, you never intend to do anything, but you don’t realise that you don’t seem to be able to differentiate between businessman and father,” she said quietly, almost as if she was sad to be having to say these things. “You can say what you want about Aaron and whether he’s good enough for me dad, but… well, truthfully, we’ve already talked about marriage plenty of times, and you’re not going to like this, but I told him I didn’t think he should go through with the outdated tradition of asking you for permission before he proposed… he was the one who wanted to do that because he does believe in tradition. I may be a sweet little Louisiana girl dad, but it was Aaron who wanted to do things the right way by asking you first, rather than just showing you a ring on my fingers and telling you it happened… in fact, he wanted to ask before we discovered I was pregnant, so it isn’t just the fact that I’m ‘knocked up’ that’s caused it, this is something we both know we want…”
Robert simply stood there staring and Aaron, his eyes had fallen to his feet, not really sure what to say. “Is this true?” Barbara asked, breaking the silence that fell when Scarlett finished speaking. “Aaron?” she asked and the teenager looked up from the floor and into her eyes before nodding.
“It is,” he confirmed, though he wasn’t sure why he was bothering; he knew full well that Robert and Barbara believed anything that came out of their daughters mouth, she was that honest a person. “I believe in doing things the right way, and… well, my dad used to tell me the story of how he asked my mom’s pop for permission, saying that a true gentleman who intends to care for his wife forever will first seek permission from her father because the father has to know that he means what he says he intends to do…”
Barbara was welling up slightly as Aaron dropped back down into his seat and Robert eyed him sceptically before finally turning his attention back to Scarlett. “You see daddy?” she asked, actually managing a smile. “You think I don’t know what I want or that I can’t make the right decisions for myself but I’ve already decided what I want my future to be and it’s him,” she said, pointing at Aaron before turning look at her boyfriend and he smiled weakly at her in response. “So if you’re not going to give him permission to ask me dad, then I will,” she added, looking at Aaron rather than her father as she walked over to the teenager and dropped down onto one knee in front of him. “Aaron, I’m not going to completely dispense of tradition because I know how important that is to you,” she said as she grabbed his hand in hers and looked into his eyes; Aaron was so confused, wondering what the hell was going on as she just smiled and continued to speak. “But unlike my father, I see everything that’s good inside of you, how caring you are and how well you look after me… so this isn’t a proposal but… well, I guess what I’m asking is if you would do me the honour of asking me to do you the honour of marrying you,” she finished with a nervous laugh before biting her lower lip, suddenly unsure of herself. On the far side of the kitchen, Robert Pearson seethed with anger but his wife had welled up… not that Aaron was aware of any of this as he dropped onto the floor on his knees and looked Scarlett in the eyes.
It wasn’t as if he had planned to propose there and then on the spot had Robert given his permission anyway, he had to buy a ring and they had so many other things to buy ready for when baby arrived that he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to get one, but Scarlett forcing the issue despite her father’s anger at the idea had at least proven to Aaron that marriage really was the right thing for them. “You don’t even have to ask,” Aaron said, smiling before he pulled Scarlett in for a hug, careful to avoid putting any pressure on her stomach what so ever as he did so. Barbara finally burst into tears of joy as she watched Aaron kiss her daughter, but it was obvious that Robert still hadn’t changed his mind one bit; it took a maximum of three strides before he was out of the kitchen and if the young couple hadn’t been busy laughing with happiness together they may have heard the front door slam, but in that moment the only thing that was important was them. Lost in their own world, just Scarlett and Aaron together… in many ways nothing had changed from the way they’d been that morning, but at the same time it felt like everything had changed too. And in that moment, Aaron truly understood that that day really was the first day of the rest of their lives together. The first of many together, one more day as boyfriend and girlfriend but someday in the future, they would begin their journey as husband and wife too. And he was scared, scared about so much that was to come for them anyway, but he was also excited because this… this was what felt right, this was what made him feel like he knew what direction his life was going in for the first time in a long time and he was happy. So insanely happy…
[Rec]
AJ Helms: “You know, I’m starting to get sick of the shit surrounding the tag titles now, I really fucking am…”
AJ sighs in frustration, shaking his head.
AJ Helms: “Last I checked guys, and I know a lot of you don’t understand why I’m still trying to stand by Shaun but there’s only so many times I can explain the same thing over and over so I’m not going there again, but the last time I checked it was Honour Code that won those belts for a second time against The Sisterhood, and yet when they stripped Shaun of his belt, they let me keep mine… and on the one hand, I was happy because yeah, it would have sucked ass if I lost the title because Shaun made a mistake – a whopper of one, don’t get me wrong, but it was a mistake and those things happen – but right now I’m lost in fucking limbo because while I tried to accept the fact that what happened as happened, D is fucking with things further because he won’t let me pick with the only true natural choice as a replacement partner for Shaun because he wants a fucking apology from her! So on the one hand, he’s stripped a guy of a title for the good of the company despite how many times he’s apologised, despite everything he’s done to try and get help, speaking to a counsellor and shit… and then in the next breath he won’t give Regan the belt so I can actually be part of a team as a tag champion until she apologises! Meanwhile, I’ve got people offering to team with me left right and centre because they want the belt that me and Shaun won, want to direct me back onto the right path or a whole host of reasons that basically just stink of wanting a free title, including my own fucking uncle at this point despite the fact that he’s already causing shit with people that I actually like and right now I’m just in this whole headspace that’s a complete and utter fucking mess! And all this with the biggest show of the year right around the corner and I still don’t know if the belts will be defended or not and if they are, who the fuck I’ll be defending them with!”
Another sigh escapes AJ’s mouth as he looks up into the ceiling for a moment in contemplation before lowering his head and shaking it at the camera.
AJ Helms: “I’m damn proud of the fact that I’m a two time tag team champion guys, but there’s just something impossible about this entire situation because right now I’m a tag team of one, and there’s people either trying to convince me to pick them as my partner because they want the title or there’s teams circling like fucking sharks because they see me as weak right now, they realise I’m at a disadvantage because there’s only me and that should make me easy prey or some shit… the fuck do I even do to begin processing that shit, huh?! And I get it, you know? I mean, I completely get why the board decided to strip Shaun of his belt, so does he… it’s about damage control and what Shaun did created a public relations nightmare for the company, it brought them so much fucking heat despite everything that’s happened in this company over the years, and it was easier for them to take a stand and act the way they did than deal with the fallout of letting him keep the belts, but if they’re not going to give it him back despite all the steps he’s taken then at least let me pick the most obvious fucking choice for a new partner that I can think of! What’s more important to Mr. D, the sanctity of one of his company’s championships or his fucking ego, you know? But no, now even my old man’s potential spot in the Hall of fucking Fame is at risk because he’s throwing his weight around like he’s apparently done plenty of times over the years and now I’m standing here, ready to go into a match against someone who recently had a damn world title shot, who’s riding an express train of infamy into our match on breakdown and my left hand doesn’t know what the fuck the right one is doing!”
AJ Helms: “Maybe I should just surrender my half of the titles too, that may be the easier option… I mean, I know you guys will probably lose faith on me if I do do that, but it’s not like I have a whole host of options right now that are more attractive than that, is it? I love the tag titles, I’m proud as fuck to hold them, but… well, I can’t help but think I’m being backed into a corner with this shit and honestly, I’ve got to think of my own damn sanity as well as everything else and right now this shit is driving me mad it really is! And I bet my opponent this week fucking loves that too, given the chaos that she’s been helping to cause over the last few months… seriously, Bree Lancaster and Blake Mason went from naught to sixty in about half a second it seems, given what they’ve been getting up to so far this year, and I bet Bree would just fucking love the B and B Experience to grab themselves a tag title shot given the history… guess it would be kind of poetic even, given how they lost the titles to us when Shaun and me won them for the very first time. I still get annoyed by that, not just because the reign’s legitimacy could be questioned given we faced just her, but over the whole shenanigans they pulled that night too, trying to avoid facing us in an official title defence… I mean, my ‘classy’ opponent had to literally be dragged to the god damn ring in order to do something that she was contractually obliged to do, which says it all about the two of them if you ask me! Think about it guys, imagine you went in to work tomorrow and just refused to do anything and said you were going to sit in the staff locker room all day instead… how quickly would your asses be dumped onto the end of the unemployment line, huh?”
AJ shakes his head in amused disbelief, actually chuckling at the insanity of it before turning back to look at the camera.
AJ Helms: “I’m willing to bet a hundred dollars that Bree makes some mention of how beating me on Breakdown – if that happens – should put her and Blake Mason into pole position for a tag title shot. I’m fucking convinced she’ll say it, just like the Fuck Up’s keep saying it whenever one of them wins a match, they demand a title shot at Rise to Greatness, just as Bree probably will hint at when her promo airs… because you get title shots by being insufferable cunts these days, it seems. Cry and scream and complain and you get handed a title match. Maybe I should just bitch about the standard of food in catering, I’ll be a world champion by Christmas! Thing is, maybe she has a point. Or maybe she’ll have a point at any rate, I don’t actually know if she has said anything about it, despite assuming she will. Truth is, Blake and Bree probably do deserve another shake at the titles, even if they were given a rematch for them after we won them and chose to go and get themselves disqualified when Blake added a little something extra to his punching power in order to try and cheat their way back to the belts! And if you guys don’t remember what happened right before that point, I’ll refresh your memories for you, because I sure as fuck do; a Wake-Up Call, and a mighty big Greetings From Asbury Park, that’s what! I’m sure Bree remembers it, because it was her who ate both of those moves, and that was coming off of the back of me competing once at the head of the show, which has to be a bitter pill for Breezy to swallow, doesn’t it? Thing is, at this point, I’m done trying to ensure I don’t say the wrong thing because the respect that I ever had for those two as competitors has long since been overshadowed by the hatred I have for them as human beings and I’m pretty sure that each and every single one of you watching at home think exactly the damn same by this point, am I right?!”
AJ almost appears to be waiting for an answer from the fans at home, pausing momentarily before continuing to speak.
AJ Helms: “And I’m guessing that Ms. Classy Pants will have the same old answer that she’s harped on about for weeks now, that she’s not the one who’s done these things, that she’s only guilty of one thing and that’s supporting her boyfriend despite the shocking actions he’s committed… tell me SCW, where the fuck are his sanctions though, huh? Shaun was stripped of a tag title for what he did, but Blake Mason can pay off a hacker to hack a dead man’s twitter account and troll people, he can attack a child on another companies programming, and what…? Okay, he was suspended recently; that wasn’t for anything to do with Orlando Cruze’s twitter account or the attack on Orlando’s son Owen, it was because he did a move that’s now banned in this company! So that’s the precedent we’re setting here now, huh? Go to another company and nearly cripple a kid and it’s fine, but attempt the same move in this company and you go on the naughty step for thirty days? Give me a fucking break… you know, I caught Blake’s promo for his match and is that fucking asshole for real? He’s enjoying the change of pace?! He’s excited about a match not built on a revenge vendetta?! Don’t act like a fucking asshole and people won’t try and kill you! And Bree, she knows exactly what her actions mean, she knows exactly what she’s done by supporting Blake despite how much of a douche bag he becomes, because it isn’t just causing her the ire of the roster, it’s causing her her family! Everyone has seen the reactions from the likes of Amy, Wyatt, Kara and Shane… I even heard that Wyatt clocked Blake backstage not long ago, you know how gossip goes around. I hope it was fucking worth it for her though, I really do; going all in is all fine and well, but what happens when the dealer turns the next card and you go bust? Then what the fuck happens, huh? Blake doesn’t have the greatest track record; I’d say it’s odds on favourite for him fucking up another relationship and when that happens, when he kicks her out of her house and she has nowhere to go because everybody else has turned their back on her for her bullshit antics, then what the fuck happens, huh?!”
AJ Helms: “You reap what you sew in this life… ask Shaun, he’s currently learning that one, isn’t he? And Breezy, she was all for his condemnation after that video was broadcast, her and Blake were, Blake quite fucking vocal about how he believed Shaun should be sanctioned… think he knows how to spell the word hypocrite, or does he have some sort of monkey butler that just offers up a dictionary at the click of a finger? Truthfully though, none of that b.s is any of my fucking concern; I’ve already made it known how much I dislike Blake Mason based off of stuff that happened more than a year ago, and if Ms. Classy Pants wants to defend him to the hilt, then she can go on the same shit list as her Was-Gonna-Be-But-Not-Anymore-Husband and they can both rot in hell for all I care! Right now, I’m concentrating on my career, my future, and my championship… because Rise to Greatness is on the horizon, and whether I’m on the pre-show or main – yes, Pre-show not Bree-show – whether I’m in a singles match, a tag match, titles defended or not, I am not going to waste my time on someone else’s drama anymore… I’ve condemned them, and given the chance I’ll show them how badly they fucked up; I’m expecting Shaun to kick Blake’s ass on July thirtieth, a small modicum of revenge for everything the Cruze family has gone through at the hands of that douche bag… but right now, my focus is on ensuring that Bree suffers the same fate this week on Breakdown! I’m not going to let whatever bitchy comments Lancaster makes about me get under my skin, I’m not going to let her twisting of reality change anything, because we all know she’s going to spin some sort of yarn that shows how she’s not done anything wrong what so ever, it’s what she does. Instead, I’m walking out there with one goal and one goal only; to beat her cleanly in the middle of that ring and put an end to the idea of the B and B experience challenge for the belts. I’m not on a mission to civilise, I’m not on a quest to remove the evil from this company… I’m just going to do everything I can to stop them from winning! Because Blake and by proxy Bree, they have to think they’re winning right now, given the infamy they have… but the only way to show them they’re not is to actually ensure they lose. Hopefully Marie Jones does exactly that with Blake and me? Well, I already made myself clear enough I think…”
AJ nods his head slowly for a moment before finishing up the video by speaking for the final time.
AJ Helms: “Anybody can play the victim in this business guys, anybody can twist facts and skew figures, come up with a logic that defies logic… but what happens in that ring, that starts and ends with victory or loss. My views are clear, but they’re only my views at the end of the day… it’s actions that matter, and if I want to hammer that point home on Wednesday I can’t walk away with anything less than victory. And then? Who knows. Maybe I’ll figure out who the fuck I’m going to actually name as my partner and worry about the next title defence, but for now? It’s Ms. Classy Pants versus the New Jersey Legacy… Bree Lancaster from the house of sin, versus AJ Helms from the Helms Dynasty… and I’ll leave you with this. Bree? Fucking bring it sweetheart, because I’m looking forward to wiping the floor with your classy ass! BANG!”
[/Rec]
