.: Expulsion :.
We open up into a run down gym. Rain hammering against the high, wide a dingy single panes looking out to the drab backdrop of Salem, Mass. The sound of a lock slamming shut, followed by the footsteps getting louder, getting closer to the camera. When a shadow can finally be seen, the camera spins around to see just a silhouette due to the low light cast behind him. As he gets closer to the camera you can see it's none other than Aaron Asterisk and he doesn't look his cocky self. He looks more sombre, more serious. In ring gear he comes towards the camera further more before he stops and looks around him.
Welcome to where it all began. This... was my classroom. This was the one place where all of my emotions, all my problems and troubles were left at the door, and I could fully concentrate on truly becoming Top of the Class. This on my back door was where Aaron Aarnhold became A Star, Aaron Asterisk. I'm not any different now, than when I was making every single classmate look feeble to my efforts. I am still that very same guy. The talent is still there, as is the passion and the drive to succeed. But, there is something missing.
I haven't been on a good run as it stands in the ACW recently. I've had two runs on the main roster, and I have yet to pick up a win. There is a reason for this though. Every single superstar I have been put up against, I know how I can get past them, and show them that I am top of the class. My predicament, is that I can't get my mind set the way that it is when I walk through that door.... compared to my mind set when I walk through this door.
Asterisk points to the main door of the gym. As the camera points over there, the notice board by the door is put in focus, and indeed, most accolades were met with Aarons name plaque next to them. A sign that maybe all of his confidence he once showed isn't all bravado, and that his unfortunate run isn't a judgement of his ability.
When I go through that door, my confidence is justified. When I go through that door, my expectancy to do well in whatever I do is met with past experience of excelling and raising the bar to higher than anyone can raise it. When I go through the ACW curtain, my confidence is mocked by loss after loss, and my expectancy to do well is taking knock after knock. It's high time that I get my head in the game and change my fortunes. That's why I have come back here. I had a phone call after my last match and I was told, I was told, You performed under par against McHenry, you performed under par against Starr, and that they were getting sick and tired of handing me bones that I weren't interested in chewing their arm off for. So I have been given one final chance. This is not a pink slip match, I'm not fighting for my career here in ACW, but I have got to show an improvement in effort. If not, then I could be looking at expulsion from the ACW. And that's why I'm back here, because it is why I was brought here in the first place.
My first training school, they told me I had the talent to take me all the way. I had the skills to become a champion, but my report card had one flunking subject on it.... my effort. I used to feel it all came so easy for someone with the talent. But I got kicked out, my bursary stopped paying for me once they got ears of my lack of effort and I couldn't afford to keep the payments up. I was out, gone, not honing my skills to a professional level, a sixteen year old rookie that's only half finished, but with a heart set on nothing else. I needed a new break, but it wasn't coming. Weeks were turning into months and close to a year I was given one chance. An hour train from Boston to Salem every day and that same damn train back after a ten hour training session that I was paying myself. I done that for a full year. My report card was looking a lot better these days. Talent, Drive, Determination, Effort, Submission work, stamina.... all A Star. It's where I got my ring name from! This building, what it done for me, what the trainers, Marley, Jefferson, Hawkins, what they all done for me has made me who I am today. And during this hard time in my career, I have come back here, the same team, the same building, the same winning formula that has already got me so far.
Cory Allen, I watched your match last week, your quite the high-flyer and from what I could see, your quite the competitor, despite your loss last week. Abram Vance, I'll be one hundred percent honest.... I have no clue as to who you are. There's not a thing on our website about you, I have e-mailed talent relations and no reply, I can't find out who you are. But you know what, I don't think it matters. I have beaten your brawlers, your high flyers, your technical wrestlers, and your brute powerhouses in my time. I have a plan for whatever type of fighter you are. You don't get to Top of the Class without knowing how to take on all comers. It's your debut and a good start I can understand you want one. But I am fighting to stay in this company Abram, and I'm not going to let anyone take this away from me. Anyone.
I'm more than a superstar, contrary to what you have seen from me before. I'm more than A Superstar... I'm "A Star".
Asterisk turns away and starts to stretch as the camera fades away.
