Post by valero on Jul 28, 2017 2:21:54 GMT
The feed kicks to life through static picture and a gentle evening breeze. The screen is soon filled by the face of one Ricky Valero. He appears before us surrounded only by empty parking spaces and the Tokyo skyline, sitting on the hood of a rental Toyota Camry on the top level of a parking garage somewhere in the city.
RICKY VALERO: Complacency is the worst thing that can happen to a competitor. Everything that drives you, everything that made you who you are..it just disappears.
Valero’s eyes wander to the concrete beneath him with a harrowing glare.
RICKY VALERO: May God have mercy on my soul should that ever be something I experience in my career. Because the day I stop caring about the accolades, the victories, the glory...is the day I hope I leave this Earth.
He scoffs, shaking his head and returning to the camera with a stark gaze.
RICKY VALERO: I have been a fighter all my life. My parents were scavengers who chose the streets and the high over providing their children with a comfortable upbringing, so I guess--in some way--I learned it from them. I learned how to fight for what I wanted. I learned how to do it with reckless abandon, by any means necessary. NOTHING, not a single obstacle, should obstruct you for your desires. And every night that I step into that ring, I approach life the exact same way. The only thing that matters is the win. It doesn’t matter how you got there or what it took to get there, so long as you got there. At the end of the day, that’s all anyone will remember. When they look in the record books, your name is listed in the win section. Who gives a damn if it was a grueling 30-minute marathon run to the finish or if you snuck in a low blow and a pair of brass knucks because you felt like having an early evening? A real competitor uses everything in his repertoire; even the kitchen sink.
He snickers.
RICKY VALERO: I know Tokyo Zombie knows what he’s getting himself into. He’s a smart man. Well trained and all that. I’m sure he’s been studying the film and I’m sure he’s been doing all the scouting he could possibly do to prepare for this match at Pride of Puroresu. But when you’re stepping into the ring with a man who literally has no boundaries...a man who will go to the depths of hell just to ensure he leaves the arena with a win...how do you stop him? It’s already enough to know you’re going into this match with a world-class athlete. It’s already enough to know you’re going into this match against one of the greatest competitors to ever grace the squared circle. But to know you’re going into this match against a man who has accumulated the level of success I have, especially here in the wonderful country of Japan...what keeps you from just throwing in the towel right now, Zombie?
His blue eyes stare deep into the camera lens, bloodshot and dilated.
RICKY VALERO: I know you’re losing sleep just thinking about it. I know you’re staying up at night scratching your head just trying to wrap your head around the mere thought of stepping into the ring with a wrestling GOD like Ricky Valero. No one would blame you if you didn’t show up to Pride of Puroresu. No one would blame you if you called in sick and fled to Hong Kong with your tail tucked between your legs.
He smirks.
RICKY VALERO: But I know you’ll be there. I know you’re going to come looking to fight even though you know deep in the back of your mind that you do not have a chance in hell of surviving against me. Your ego would never allow you to sit home and I can respect that, just know that I’m not going to have any compassion for your stubborn fatuousness...You call yourself the Tokyo Zombie, but we’re not talking about any fear of the living dead. No, for you, my undead friend, this is a fear of reality. And let me tell you, reality is a true son of a bitch and it’s going to slap some real sense into you when you step toe to toe with Ricky Valero inside the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. You’re entering my world, chief, and there’s not a soul in the world--dead or undead--who can save you once that bell sounds. In Tokyo, we go to war, and I will not leave that arena with anything less than victory!
He chuckles as his eyes travel off camera and soak in the calm night sky.
Valero remains focused, his eyes still set squarely on the camera in front of him. There is a fire in him yet unseen in NJFC.
RICKY VALERO: Are you ready?
RICKY VALERO: Complacency is the worst thing that can happen to a competitor. Everything that drives you, everything that made you who you are..it just disappears.
Valero’s eyes wander to the concrete beneath him with a harrowing glare.
RICKY VALERO: May God have mercy on my soul should that ever be something I experience in my career. Because the day I stop caring about the accolades, the victories, the glory...is the day I hope I leave this Earth.
He scoffs, shaking his head and returning to the camera with a stark gaze.
RICKY VALERO: I have been a fighter all my life. My parents were scavengers who chose the streets and the high over providing their children with a comfortable upbringing, so I guess--in some way--I learned it from them. I learned how to fight for what I wanted. I learned how to do it with reckless abandon, by any means necessary. NOTHING, not a single obstacle, should obstruct you for your desires. And every night that I step into that ring, I approach life the exact same way. The only thing that matters is the win. It doesn’t matter how you got there or what it took to get there, so long as you got there. At the end of the day, that’s all anyone will remember. When they look in the record books, your name is listed in the win section. Who gives a damn if it was a grueling 30-minute marathon run to the finish or if you snuck in a low blow and a pair of brass knucks because you felt like having an early evening? A real competitor uses everything in his repertoire; even the kitchen sink.
He snickers.
RICKY VALERO: I know Tokyo Zombie knows what he’s getting himself into. He’s a smart man. Well trained and all that. I’m sure he’s been studying the film and I’m sure he’s been doing all the scouting he could possibly do to prepare for this match at Pride of Puroresu. But when you’re stepping into the ring with a man who literally has no boundaries...a man who will go to the depths of hell just to ensure he leaves the arena with a win...how do you stop him? It’s already enough to know you’re going into this match with a world-class athlete. It’s already enough to know you’re going into this match against one of the greatest competitors to ever grace the squared circle. But to know you’re going into this match against a man who has accumulated the level of success I have, especially here in the wonderful country of Japan...what keeps you from just throwing in the towel right now, Zombie?
His blue eyes stare deep into the camera lens, bloodshot and dilated.
RICKY VALERO: I know you’re losing sleep just thinking about it. I know you’re staying up at night scratching your head just trying to wrap your head around the mere thought of stepping into the ring with a wrestling GOD like Ricky Valero. No one would blame you if you didn’t show up to Pride of Puroresu. No one would blame you if you called in sick and fled to Hong Kong with your tail tucked between your legs.
He smirks.
RICKY VALERO: But I know you’ll be there. I know you’re going to come looking to fight even though you know deep in the back of your mind that you do not have a chance in hell of surviving against me. Your ego would never allow you to sit home and I can respect that, just know that I’m not going to have any compassion for your stubborn fatuousness...You call yourself the Tokyo Zombie, but we’re not talking about any fear of the living dead. No, for you, my undead friend, this is a fear of reality. And let me tell you, reality is a true son of a bitch and it’s going to slap some real sense into you when you step toe to toe with Ricky Valero inside the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. You’re entering my world, chief, and there’s not a soul in the world--dead or undead--who can save you once that bell sounds. In Tokyo, we go to war, and I will not leave that arena with anything less than victory!
He chuckles as his eyes travel off camera and soak in the calm night sky.
It’s game time baby!
Valero remains focused, his eyes still set squarely on the camera in front of him. There is a fire in him yet unseen in NJFC.
RICKY VALERO: Are you ready?