❝  THE CLIMB BACK.  ❞

❝  THE CLIMB BACK.  ❞
vs Emmanuelle.⠀//⠀APEX on TNT — 24/07/22⠀//⠀#001

—

With a view of the skyline of New York City being how the camera feed opens up, the camera slowly panned around to find ourselves with Harvey Kennedy dressed to the nines in the finest dark suits, drinking a small glass of whiskey within his apartment complex penthouse home in the heart of New York. There’s a sigh that comes from The Daemon before he turned his head to look into the lens of the camera, giving off a scoff before he spoke.

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks, I cannot complain about that.

I truly thought that I had it all in me to compete in the Sovereign Cup and continue on into the finals, but here we are—starting back at the bottom of the barrel, wondering what’s next for The Daemon. Though, I shouldn’t be so surprised, there’s a lot of talented people here in APEX. C has proven that to be a powerful point when he won the Sovereign Cup and Hideo Shimada is looking to show just how talented he can become. I guess, even in defeat, I still look like I came out on top but that’s besides the point—the point is that I had lost and now I have no idea what to do next. They had given me their all and I had given it right back to them, and still, I lay here in defeat and I sit here wondering that same question that could be on anyone’s mind right now when they think about me… what’s next?

Like I said, it’s time to start right back at the bottom and hope that the road that we’ll be taking is smooth and narrow, and how better to try and make that come back than to go against someone like Emmanuelle? The former APEX Next Level Champion, it’s very nice to meet you—I’ve heard a whole lot about yourself, Emmanuelle, as expected considering how decorative you’ve been in every promotion you’ve stepped into. You’ve been a respectable name throughout the entire wrestling industry, and you’ve been someone that I’ve wanted to face for quite some time– after all, I needed to see what all the hype was about, I needed to see the real deal for myself and to face you? To fight you? I couldn’t have asked for a better way to formally introduce myself to you.”

A small chuckle escapes the lips of Kennedy, taking another sip from the glass as he moves closer toward the window, seeing the darkness of the sky slowly settling in.

“Now, to understand where you’ve come from, Emmanuelle. You’ve been around the block for a bit, you’ve been causing up quite the stir, and people have been hyping you up for quite some time—they’ve been saying you’re a prodigal groundbreaker, shattering the glass ceiling before you could even step into the ring and make a debut, a woman who’s got all of the talent and the potential in the world no matter what promotion that they can step into. It didn’t matter if it was Wrestleworld, it didn’t matter if it was Project: Honor, or whatever place you’d step into—because that’s what you’d do, right? However, there’s just one problem and it’s simple. This isn’t Wrestleworld you’re in, Project: Honor kicked the bucket months ago now, and you’re not a queen like you’re supposed to be in Southwest Wrestling Syndicate. All of those accomplishments you’ve gotten, all of those victories over the big names here, all of that trash you’ve got holding over your head? Well, what do they matter here, Emmy?

You won the Next Level Championship on your first night here, a respectable feat nonetheless, but when you take a look at the line up that you had going against you for that championship? There’s a reason why you kept that title as long as you did. Hell, when you faced Jack Cole—what was he to anyone else but nothing more than a pasty-ass white dude trying to be black? You went over the jokes, the laughs, the dudes who were there but never really accounted for anything serious. JUDITH went for a stab in the dark and she got the win because what was she, Emmanuelle? She was skilled, she had talent, and with those– you couldn’t keep up. The same thing happened when you went ahead against Liz Karlson and Alyssa Grace, you couldn’t keep up with them, and now what do you hold for yourself? In the same position that I’m in, you’ve got nothing and now you need to find a way to bounce back.

So you might think anyway.”

There’s a slight pause from Harvey, taking a moment to let those words sink in as a slight half-smile grew along his lips, giving one final glance out through the window and to the skyline before turning his attention right back to the camera recording him. His hand, with the glass in his grip, is raised and he points a finger right to the camera as he begins to speak once again.

“The problem for you is that I’ve been searching for a reason to fight a whole lot harder than I have before, I’ve been searching deep within my soul trying to find a way to tap right back into being what I was beforehand—being The Daemon of APEX Wrestling—and I need to make sure that when I come prepared to fight? I’m not letting anyone try to take an upper-hand against me. That’s where you’ve become inconsistent, Emmanuelle, is that you’ve fought against the weakest of the bunch so much and you’ve built yourself up to a higher standard than them? You think you are god’s gift to this sport, you think the whole world needs to know who Emmanuelle is and you think the world needs to know what Emmanuelle is doing next.

I can assure you of what Emmanuelle is doing next, she’s getting put in her place once again—until she finally realises that all of the hype that’s been built around her has been worth nothing, until she realises that everything she thought she worked so hard for was for nothing, and that’s what I come preparing to do this Sunday.

You can come through and think you’re on a different level than me but it’s simple really, there’s nobody that’s caring about you beating three women in one night to win the Queen’s Cup, there’s nobody that’s caring about you going through barbed wire, thumbtacks, boobytraps, guard dogs, and seven other individuals in Project: Honor twice, there’s nobody caring about you beating the hell out of those test tube fuck up Vendettas in Wrestleworld. All of that is just words, all of that means nothing to anyone but yourself, you live in your own bubble and that’s what fails you—because you can’t handle people breaking through that bubble and giving you a fight that you respectfully deserve so much.

Wanna hear it from me?”

Another pause, swiftly followed with a chuckle.

“The name’s Harvey Kennedy—the man who put to shame both Aren Mstislav and Christopher Sabertooth before they could even get their feet off the ground here, before they could be given championship matches that – in my own opinion – never deserved to begin with. The Sovereign, The Daemon, The King of the motherfuckin’ North, baby. Wrestling throughout the entire European continent and giving them all a show.

And you know why I came to APEX, Emmanuelle? To prove myself. To make sure I’m given a real name by these people that are watching, to make sure that there's hype around me? That I solely fuckin’ deserved that hype. And recently? I never deserved nothing. So here I am, trying to gain the trust of them once again, and to show them why I am still here and still standing—because I don’t bitch about what I’ve done and if I have? I’ve got a fuckin reason to because it’s relevant to what I’m doing here.

Please, talk your shit like you would normally and make sure to not leave out any details—the last thing that we need is Emmanuelle forgetting the most key important moment of her career, of course.

The night that she fell victim to a Daemon’s Kiss and was sent for a good night’s sleep.”

A final swig of the glass as he placed it right down onto a table below him before walking out of the shot, the final visual show is of the almost night sky of New York City before the feed slowly faded to black.