The Empty Palace of the Past (Drake&Jones Games Promo)

(The screen starts off black but then it slowly lightens up and we are shown what appears to be an empty building somewhere before we are shown none other than Reno Dumont, dressed rather respectfully in a black suit with a dark gray dress shirt as he quietly walks through the empty arena)

Reno:
I asked a camera man to meet me here because I wanted to share a little bit of my history with not only the fans of Wrestleworld, but to also give both my partner Nobi and our opponents in the finals of the Drake and Jones Games in Violet and Stephanie some...finer points of understanding.

Reno spreads his arms out to encompass the entire arena.

Reno:
This place is the legendary Cow Palace, it was here back in the early half of nineteen ninety nine that I stepped through that entrance way with my first ever tag team partner in a man that would go onto be one of my closest friends in the whole world and the very namesake of my first born child in Chris Morton.

It was right here in this very historic arena that Chris and I stepped into our very first match as Dangerous Minds as apart of the Insane Wrestling Federation’s roster as part of a massive tag team hardcore battle royal to crown the very first world tag team champions for this brand spanking new promotion.

I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t nervous but I was, because this was my debut and I wanted to make the biggest impression that I could at nineteen years old and fresh out of my training, and sure as shit I busted my ass in that match with the end result being not only my debut being a win...but by also becoming a champion in my debut as well!

Reno lowers his arms and places his hands on his hips as he takes in the empty arena with a slight smile.

Reno:
I didn’t know that the promotion would close a mere six months later because the vice president of the promotion was using Russian mob money to fund the IWF nor did I really care because for five full months, I was one half of the IWF World Tag Team champions and I fought like a devil to prove myself week after week.

You see, I wasn’t like some of these kids who loved to talk about the past of their careers and say that everything came so naturally to them… fuck that noise, I was in the best position that any rookie could find themselves in and that was I was riding alongside Chris Morton, one of the greatest tag team wrestlers of his era, and as such I kept my fucking trap shut and learned from him and that experience allowed me to meet more veterans and I learned from them as well.

I took whatever experiences that they could pass down onto me and I added it to my own personal experiences and it made me a much better wrestler because of it.

And that is what this whole match at Violent Ends, the finals of the Drake and Jones’ little “games”...who has the most experience at this kind of match.

Now if it was based solely on pure, unbridled experience then myself and Nobi would be set for life but as anyone can point out that even though Nobi and I are on the same page team wise, we’re still as new as spring chickens…. Just like the two of you are, Stephanie and Violet.

Now I’ve mentioned in the past, Stephanie, that I know a former student of yours in Jacob Striker and he has heaped a hell of a lot of praise onto you and now after being in the ring with you as much as I have been recently, I can tell you without any kind of hesitation that if some promotion doesn’t offer you the big gold belt sometime in the near future then it is their fucking loss because you have a rare talent.

My own wife Cassie says that the two of us are almost alike because we have similar wrestling styles up to a point and we both are two of the hardest workers in any match that we are in.

But by that same token that is also where our similar natures cease to exist because while you are in the heyday of your career, I have already gone past the point where you are now and surpassed it, taken any glory from it, and made it my own and that’s not arrogance that you heard in my voice, young Miss Matsuda;

But the inevitable march of progress upon which has now treaded down upon you.

Yes, you are walking into this match with some incredibly mad skills but what are those going to do against everything that I’ve learned in twenty years of this sport and have slowly been passing down to Nobi as we have gone or did you not see how he was able to hold his own against that “Queen of the Lushes” in Claudia Michaels this past chapter here on Wrestleworld?

Because that is another aspect that will separate Nobi and myself from you and Violet, Stephanie, in that not only do I believe in Nobi but I also trust in him to be able to get the job done and as anyone who has any real experience in tag team wrestling will tell you that trust in your partner is a major factor.

You see, Nobi and I haven’t really shown all of you here in Wrestleworld exactly what we’ve been preparing for because our two teams have always had a third or a fourth to deal with these past two weeks, but now that the excess fat has been cut from our match-you can be rest assured that at Violent Ends you and Violet will be wondering where the hell that this Nobi has been for the past couple of years and *THEN* everyone will stop mocking him or doubting his ability to wrestle because when everything is said and done, you all are going to see what happens when the true wild cards are dealt and the end result will be a victory for Nobi and myself.

Now… onto you, Crazy Violet.

Reno tilts his head a little bit to the right, his expression firm as he looks into the camera, no smile upon his face this time.

Reno:
Tell me Violet, and please be completely honest here, but are you all in agreement that you all can hold your combined shits together in order to get the victory for your team with Stephanie against myself and Nobi, and yes I know that I’ve asked this the other times in other promos leading up to this particular match… but can you really fault me for it?

I mean, let’s be honest here shall we, is that you are one hell of a mess.

Don’t get me wrong, when you’re in the right state and you can really string some killer moves together to end a match in such a quick manner that I know several wrestlers who are actually envious of you for that and that includes a couple of industry vets.

Reno then makes a slight clicking sound as he shakes his head.

Reno:
However by that same token, my only question is will you still be able to keep your shit together when you the very core person inside that head of yours realizes that you are at the cusp of the biggest moment of your career to date, that sudden and brutal realization that by winning this match might be the very thing that propels you to your first championship!!

Can you honestly look yourself in the eyes, Violet, and not be more than just a little bit concerned that perhaps at the most critical of moments when you start the moment for your little Tantrum move that something inside of you will snap and someone else will take the driver’s wheel from you and botch everything?

Can you really tell yourself that you WON’T do that?

I don’t see it happening.

I can see you horribly crashing and burning before you even know what’s hitting you and in the end, you’ll see what your final destination will look like and the War Queen won’t be able to save you from eating that pin.

Then you can go back to being the good little helper of the Red Wine Queen like she wants because Claudia doesn’t really care about you either, little Violet.

If it was any other team in any other promotion on any other night, the two of you might just have the victory of your careers as you would go onto face off against those two catty boys in Drake and Jones.

But no, you pulled the worst hand that you ever could because you two have found yourselves before perhaps the two men that will become the most dominant tag team in this entire promotion’s future, because the moment that I step into the ring for a tag team match-that fucking bar that the champions claim to be, I reset that bitch and put it higher out of THEIR reach.

I’m not the gold standard of tag team specialists, I’m the fucking PLATNIUM STANDARD and when everything is said and done, Nobi will be that level of excellence too because that is the kind of man Nobi truly is, but nobody had really believed in him until now.

So come to Violent Ends, Stephanie Matsuda and Crazy Violet, come and witness the future Campeonatos de Parejas of Wrestleworld.

(The screen fades to black as Reno walks deeper into the deep silence of the Cow Palace…)