X-Rated: “I’m surprised it’s taken this long for you guys come here.”

Camera Man: “Sorry to bother you, your wife let us in on her way out. Mr. Mason sent us over here to find out why you haven’t appeared on any ICWL Programming since Knockout.”

{X-Rated smiles, and walks inside, and slides the balcony door closed.}

X-Rated: “You want to know why I have been doing since Sunday?”

Camera Man: “Well, Mr. Mason would like to know. He said you haven’t been returning his calls.”

X-Rated: “You’re right, I haven’t been taking or returning his calls, I have been in seclusion all week, in fact I just got back home. I have been contemplating a lot of aspects of my life over the last 6 days. But the main thing I have been contemplating is my wrestling career.”

Camera Man: “Do you mean you are thinking about retiring?”

X-Rated: “I have been thinking about it. Every week I hear that I’m not the same man I was when I first arrived in the ICWL, that I’m not even the same man that I was when I returned to the ICWL. I hear that I’m only on the payroll because of my past, not my present. That I’m hanging on to the past, and not proving myself.”

Camera Man: “Do you think those people are right?”

X-Rated: “Why are you trying to psychoanalyze me? Listen, I understand that you are an under educated camera man, working for a bit more then minimum wage, but don’t you dare try putting words in my month! No, I’m not saying I think they are right, nor do I think they are even half right. I am where I am now because I have earned my strips. I have gone out to the ring, time and time again, week after week, month after month and laid it all on the line, in many time, stealing the damn show! Look at Hostile Takeover, I wasn’t scheduled in the Main Event, but Bane and I went out there and stole the show. People walked away remembering that match above all else, how about Vendetta, I was in a match against Marionette, and I went out there once again and stole the show. So do I think those people are right? No, I don’t think they are, I don’t even think they are in the same zip code of what is right. Am I the World Champion? No, have I even been in the running for the World Championship? No, but there is a reason for that! I am on the road enough as it is now, I have a family, and a young son at home that I would like to spend as much time with as possible, and as a Former World Champion, I know what the schedule is like, I know about the personal appearances, I know about the obligations that go along with the title of being World Champion, I have been there, I have done it, and let’s not forget I have done it longer then anyone else ever has in this company! Let’s think about this for a moment, since I finally removed Bane from the top of the pedestal look who we have had as World Champion, Arsenic, who I have a lot of respect for but, wasn’t ready for the World Championship. Anthrax, who frankly I still think isn’t really a Main Eventer. Judgement, the one week wonder, who I have said from the beginning is out of his league in the ICWL and is riding the coat tails of Bane. And finally that brings me to our current World Champion, Dean James, my opponent this week, the current World Heavyweight Champion and Hardcore Champion.”

Camera Man: “This is your first Hardcore Championship shot in the ICWL, and it’s against Dean James, who thus far has not been able to be stopped. What’s your mind set going into this match up?”

X-Rated: “My mindset is the same it always is, I’m going out there to do what I always do, and that’s get the job done. You are looking at the New Hardcore champion, even if I don’t have the Championship in my hands at this time. Dean James, hasn’t been able to be stopped before, but he hasn’t stepped in the right against the likes of me until now. Dean James is impressive against people like Judgement, sure, but how about against the True Talent. Dean James has never met a force like me since he arrived in the ICWL. He has faced under carders, and certain jerkers, and then for some reason he was thrown into the Main Event. If you ask me the World Championship was handed to him. And I’m about to tarnish his record, and this is only the beginning.”

Camera Man: “Yes, but you also have a lot on the line this week. Mr. Mason has said that if you, and the rest of Damage Inc for that matter would be fired if any of you lost your respective matches. How does that affect you going in?”

X-Rated: “Look around here, what do you see? Does it look like I really need the job? Do you think I really need Mason’s money? As I have said many times before, I have all the money I will ever need, in fact, I have enough money put away, invested, to take care of my Great Grandchildren. Mason’s empty threat doesn’t bother me, nor does it affect me going into my match up against Dean James. I am the True Talent, and when it comes down to pressure, no one performs better then me!! Dean James, is about to get his first taste of defeat in the ICWL, and I promise you this much, I’m only the beginning of his long trip back to the gutter where he came from!”

-= X-Rated takes the last mouthful of his brandy then walks back out onto the balcony, leaving the camera man inside, the camera watches X-Rated for a few moments, before fading to black. =-