Breakout

[Keith]

Darkness. The scene opens encased in total darkness, before our view zooms out to reveal a slightly illuminated, stocky figure. Dean Malenko sits on a seat, seemingly in an arena, in wrestling trunks and a t shirt, with his right fist cupped in his left hand, his head slouched slightly, an intense look on his face as he begins to speak.

*The Stoic Shooter* Dean Malenko: Wrestlemania. It is an event, a concept so celebrated it's very name has become associated with cliche's. Most superlatives have been exhausted. Quite simply, in the wrestling universe, Wrestlemania is the plenum. Until you've had a Wrestlemania moment, you will never be truly immortalised in this business.

Malenko raises his head back and breathes deeply.

*The Stoic Shooter* Dean Malenko: I know better than anyone what it's like to yearn for that moment. I have been on the cusp of real success many times. Recently, I have been the on the other end of the spectrum. Wrestling wilderness. It's not a pleasant place to be - watching less talented men than oneself competing at what you are passionate, at what you live for... seeing the lack of passion they display, at times contemptuous. Seeing their lack of real talent. Watching the best in the business... and knowing you're better. That kind of resentment, the anger that I fostered, was a blessing. Accompanying it was a hunger, the likes of which I had not experienced since I started out. I forgot how much this all meant to me until I lost it all.

Malenko sits back into the seat and rubs his nose.

*The Stoic Shooter* Dean Malenko: It is only when we have lost everything, that we are truly free to achieve our full potential. But why does it all matter? Why is that Wrestlemania moment so ought after, so idealised? But then, what's the point of any of this?

The camera pans out to reveal Malenko is sitting in one seat in a much larger row, high in the Levi stadium, being prepared by many anonymous EBWF personnel for Wrestlemania. The gaze is focused on the ring, which Malenko stares down at intently.

*The Stoic Shooter* Dean Malenko: Wrestlemania is undoubtedly the grandest stage of them all. For what? Pro wrestling. Some call it a sport. Some call it entertainment. Some say it's both. As far as I'm concerned, this is the purest art form in the world. We are the painters, that ring is our canvas. And Wrestlemania, Wrestlemania is the grandest exhibition of our work. The thing about Wrestlemania, and all great art, is that it is timeless. It suspends our temporal divisions and suspends us from our passing struggles, it elevates it's viewer. The person who witnesses a great piece of art born of a great artist, whether it's Rembrandt or Dean Malenko, is suspended from their miserable existence, they touch the eternal, they become a subject of pure knowing, suspended from spatio temporal relations, they become the eye the universe uses to look at itself, and for one moment, individuals around the world share in this moment, they go beyond... and that, that is a Wrestlemania moment.

Malenko turns his gaze directly toward the camera for a moment.

*The Stoic Shooter* Dean Malenko: THAT is what this business means to me Cody. This is not just a hobby, a passion, a living, a career. This is MY art form. And Wrestlemania? This is my connection with something larger. My taste of the eternal. When I go into that ring and wrestle you, it will be a thing of pure beauty. It may be lost on the majority who watch, but they don't matter. What matters is those who go beyond the mundane, break down barriers of achievement, what matters is the higher men of the world, the Dean Malenko's. And Cody Rhodes... Stardust? You most definitely are not one of those. You most definitely are a talented young man, a second generation wrestler, like myself. The difference between us though, is I far surpassed anything my father achieved in the business, while you have crumbled under the realisation that you are not good enough to follow in the footsteps of your father... or even your brother.

Malenko smirks slightly before returning to his very stoic expression.

*The Stoic Shooter* Dean Malenko: So shattering has this realisation been to you that you have retreated from reality, escaped into an alternate universe seemingly contained within your own consciousness in which you are everything you dreamed of being... namely, a star.

Malneko begins to look around the arena as he continues talking.

*The Stoic Shooter* Dean Malenko: I have no interest in stardom. I never did. No true great ever entered this business as a means to become famous, or as a means for anything. For all the greats, this, THIS, Wrestlemania was the end in itself. That is what separates you and I. You mock me for not conforming to passing and fickle social trends, you say I am not quirky or interesting enough to generate interest in today's world of mass attention deficit. Quite frankly, it's a world I want no part in. I've never claimed to be entertaining. I've never came to an arena with the intention to entertain, or to make a spectacle of myself. The spectacle is my talent, the entertainment is spectating it despite it's rarity. Perhaps few can appreciate it. Perhaps it is difficult to see it in all it's beauty, but all things worthwhile are as difficult as they are rare. Stardust, you will never reach this level. You will never face and conquer the difficulty that is necessary to reach MY level.

Malenko pauses and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, then regaining focus on the camera.

*The Stoic Shooter* Dean Malenko: Stardust, for five long months you have held the Breakout championship and for five long months I have sat watching, knowing that I am better, knowing that if I ever got an opportunity to face you for that title there could only be one outcome. Now I have that opportunity, on the grandest stage of them all. Do you think for one second I would squander it? Do you think for one second I would let all my tribulations have been in vain? Your reign has undoubtedly been impressive, you've proved many doubters wrong. But the fact is, if I had signed with the EBWF a few months earlier it would never have happened. You've been holding that championship on borrowed time, but at Wrestlemania your luck runs out. I have sized up every possible scenario for our match at Wrestlemania. You know me Cody, I'm an honest, rationally thinking person, every scenario ends with one result. You tapping out in the middle of that ring. Quite simply Cody, I will win, because it can't be any other way. I can't lose. I MUST win. To you, this is all a game, a running joke. The ring is your playground. To me, this is the be all, end all. This is everything, and the ring is my stage, on it I will showcase what I have known for years now, that I am the best wrestler in the world. Wrestlemania will be... my breakout. Mark my words Cody, mark my words.

Malenko bends his head, exhaling and seeming more focused than ever as the camera again focuses on the Wrestlemania ring before fading to black.