ALEX KINCAID vs. LELAND MORGAN [Dark Match]

“Everybody hates a gym promo, huh?”

Alex Kincaid grins as the cameras find him packing up for the trip to Toronto. Yeah, you could call The Barn a gym if you wanted to. You could call a pile of thumbtacks a bed if you wanted to, but everyone around you would probably have a hunch you weren't quite getting the idea right. The place is falling apart. It's a converted horse barn with an ancient, dusty wrestling ring sitting in the middle of it. In the corner, a bench and a pile of free weights sit beside a well used salmon ladder. He catches the camera turning towards his weight setup and chuckles.

“I want you to understand: The bright lights, the big city, all of that? As much as I love it? It exhausts me. It beats the hell out of me. Sometimes, that's why I need to take some time away. And...yeah, honestly every time I walk away I swear that it's going to be the last time. I swear that I'm finished with it. But I've got the itch and nothing in the world can scratch it. There's something special to this thing. Something that I think my opponent for this show probably understands too. He probably gets that this is more than just the two of us, across from the ring looking to take each others head off. There's an art here. There's a magic to it. And the closer I get to stepping back into the ring, the harder my heart beats. The more energy I have racing through my veins. I can't wait to get there and entertain.

And yet...”

His expression darkens for a second and he goes quiet. He unzips his gym bag and starts tucking his gear into his bag. In this dank and dusty environment, the gleaming silver and gold of his gear is a another reminder that he becomes something else entirely out in the ring. He zips it shut and looks up at the camera, trying to stop himself from scowling. He fails.

”Sometimes you feel something and you KNOW it's stupid. You KNOW it's selfish. But it is what it is. You can't stop yourself. And me, that feeling was when I got my match listing for next week and at the top of the card is 'Dark Matches: Alex Kincaid vs Leland Morgan'. Now look, I get it. I just got here. My reputation, well, got a couple of holes in it lord knows right? Maybe this company is a little reluctant to put me out there on the main show because I just got here. But you know, I just can't get it out of my head how damn insulted I feel. How much the notion of making me...I don't know...prove myself or whatever doesn't sit right with me.

Guess that's why I decided to talk to you here. In my gym. Because it's something you've seen a thousand people do before, something that you're used to. My story isn't that different from a ton of other wrestlers: I travelled the world. Wrestling raised me. I left a family that, you know, didn't really get me. Didn't understand me. And I grew up getting my face ground into a mat in Calgary, Alberta. When I was old enough, I hit Mexico. After that, Japan. You guys have heard that speech right? You guys have heard the 'I scratched and clawed, I travelled the world' garbage a thousand and one times. Because – as I remind myself standing in front of this camera – my story is nothing special.”

Alex cracks a grin.

”But that doesn't mean I'm not. Yeah, maybe I've got a bit of an ego and maybe I get a little mad at the notion of 'proving myself' or whatever but that doesn't mean I'm not going to do this thing right. Dark match? Before those cameras start rolling? Trust me, if you're a fan in Toronto and you don't have tickets to Chapter III you'd better go out and grab some. Make sure you're sitting in the front row. Yeah, I'm going to beat Leland. But I don't just plan on winning. I'm planning on making sure that next time, my match is the most anticipated thing on the show. I'm going to win this sucker in style.

I told you when I introduced myself I wanted to make some magic. And that's still true. And now, maybe there's a few people who make the matches around here who forget exactly what I can do when my back is against the wall. I hope they're watching. That lack of faith in me is going to blow up in their faces. Chapter III is Chapter I for the new Alex Kincaid. I hope everyone watches, because I'm putting on the show of a lifetime.”

He winks at the camera and it pulls back. It turns toward his training ring and then slowly fades away...