Outlaws

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“So our time has finally come. The opportunity I’ve been waiting patiently for has finally arrived.”

Adrien Cochrane gives a quick grin at the cameras as soon as it begins rolling. His smile was short-lived, but it emanated a sense of confidence for just a brief moment. But when a much more serious expression came across the face of the Dropkick King, the atmosphere began to change. His light blue eyes looked directly into the camera, his blonde hair gently waving in the wind. The only lighting in this outdoor evening video is the flames from a fire a few yards away.

“Something to remember about this upcoming Sunday is this one little fact. You will have yours truly, Adrien Cochrane, taking on three of the most talented individuals in probably the biggest fatal four way match I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking part in. I want to make that crystal clear right now. Because when I get into some specifics about each opponent, one might lose sight of that. Don’t. I disagree with almost everything two of my opponents has done since I walked into the doors of this company for the first time ever, but I would be a moron if I didn’t admit that they are talented individuals who will forever be in the lineage of that championship that we are fighting for. You will never hear me question that. No one can take that away from them. No one. And you won’t ever see me try to either.

“But that being said, my goal is to end that lineage right here and right now. I come into this match with a purpose and that purpose is to finish off this reign of terror at Resurgence. Because that is how I can best describe what has gone on during this time period here in this company. Matthew Shields, Kayla Richards, and anyone following them have done whatever the hell they wanted. They claim that I’m just making up some sort of narrative that makes them appear to be some sort of villainous group despite the fact that they are, in fact, respectable individuals who are doing nothing more than what they are supposed to do.

“Question...if you are the good guys in your own little mind, why are you called the Destroyers? You’re aware of the definition of that word, right? You’re aware of what that means to Destroy someone, correct? I speak to you, Matthew, because I’m not sure you quite understand the gravity of the situation YOU created. You demanded respect from people, which I’ve always believed that if you had to demand it then you don’t deserve it. You commanded people to bow to you. You command Coda to do this or that on your behalf, a fact you will deny til you’re blue in the face but facts are facts.

“The funny thing is that you make the same damn claims literally anytime you mention my name. ‘Oh, Adrien steals the spotlight!’ Says the guy who has a habit of showing up in a lot of my matches. ‘Adrien is a selfish jerk who just hates me for being so great!’ Says the guy who has bickered with the love of his life about how he’s going to take her championship away from her. My personal favorite is how before our cage match, you were making these wild claims that the gimmick chosen was a foolish mistake on my part because I was going into your environment and was totally walking into the easiest loss of my career. But the moment that match ended, your narrative shifted. I won because I picked a match where I could ‘run away from you’ to win. You know, instead of chasing you up the side of the cage and winning the struggle at the top, which led to you slipping a little bit and getting your foot caught in the rope. Then there was the laughable part where you claimed we colluded...we being me, Yujiro Fujiwara, and Devlin Scott...in order to take the championship away from you. Because it was Devlin Scott’s fault that Yujiro beat you at WrestleForce when he was sitting in his office, counting the number of people who showed up to his biggest show of the year. Because it was my fault, who didn’t show up until after the final bell rang and saw that you were about to viciously attack the guy who deserved that championship after successfully PINNING YOU TO THE MAT.

“You know what, I think I finally figured out what kind of person you are, Matthew. You’re the kind of person that only sits around, making excuses, and complains about his own shortcomings. You have become one of the biggest sore losers I’ve ever met. Let me explain to you how you overcome a loss the proper way, mmkay? You learn from it. You admit that you made decisions in the match that led to the undesired outcome. You figure out how you can be better than you were so that you have the opportunity to win the next time you are in the ring. But that’s not what Matthew Shields does. He doesn’t admit he can possibly be the lesser man on any given Sunday. Hell, I lost cleanly to Johnny Maverick, and you don’t see me trying to besmirch him over it. I admit that there was something I could be better at it and worked my ass off to be better than I was in that match. Sorry, not all of us are always just the best no matter what and don’t have to work to be win matches using means such as kendo sticks and Kayla Richards so that we can get a tick on the stat sheet. Oh, and if you have this big problem with NGW and are so pissed about it not being called Redemption anymore, do yourself and everyone else a huge favor: leave. Get the hell out of here. I’m serious. Take your ball and go home. We will hear a lot less complaining about losing matches if you do. So go. Leave.”

Adrien’s nearly yelling by the end of his statements towards Matthew. He takes a step away from the camera for a moment or two. He nods his head as he returns to the spot where he was previously standing as he takes a break from talking about the Destroyers to talk about someone he respects a whole lot more.

“Johnny, my friend. You sure you weren’t holding back on that bit towards me? I feel like you were holding back a little bit, but I’ll go ahead and address what you were able to muster about me. You wondered about my leadership. You know, making sure that someone who found himself leading a stable that was somewhat aligned with you has that quality, I can see that being a valid question to have. You want to make sure I can handle the task. From an academic standpoint, it’s if I have the social influence to enlist the aid or support of others towards achieving a common goal.

“Johnny, I want you to think back to our match with one another. What was my goal? There was nothing on the line. I’m not saying I didn’t care whether I won or lost because I always want to win, but it wasn’t as important as say...this match. You were a competitor I respected, and don’t let the past tense fool you, I still do. I cared a whole lot more about our match being a great match of two competitors where we could showcase that we are two people who deserve to be in this title match that we are getting ready to be in. You were prepared to lay down and take the loss. You didn’t care. But what did I do? I used a form of social influence to get you to finally give me the fight that I wanted. And deep down, I know you did too. After that, we gave everyone a damn good match. We both fought and exhibited that we are two of the best NGW have to offer. I may have lost the match, but I got what I wanted out of you: a real match. And what do you call that? Leadership. And I didn’t ask any of the other Guardians to follow me. They believed in what I wanted to do, they believe in my vision. You then say you want there to be more meaning behind those words by having some action. I want you to look back at my match history. I have victories over every member of the Destroyers except Jack Tillman, and that’s because we haven’t shared a ring in a contest yet.

“I want to make one thing clear. My most favored outcome of this match is for me to walk out of Resurgence holding the championship. That’s the outcome I want most right now. But I will admit that the outcome I would prefer if I do not win would be you walking out with the title. Because in all honesty, Johnny Maverick deserves to be an NGW Heavyweight Champion. If it doesn’t happen now, I’m sure it will in the future. But my goal is to have my chance to stamp my name in the line of champions in this company. And my actions will reflect that.”

The New Orleans native appears to bite his lip a little bit as he thinks about the final person in this match that he’s facing off again.

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