“Who the fuck is Cody Maverick is crazy, Jack Ripley. I’ve spoken of multiple people going into this one, but honestly? I’ve never uttered your name. Glad to kinda hear from you, though, now that I have your attention. It’s not very often I get to cross paths with a hall of famer, but considering this hall of famer is as miserable as Jack Ripley I suppose I may not be missing out on anything in the long run. I kid, I kid. Everyone knows who Jack Ripley is. Multiple time champion, hall of famer.. You could retire tomorrow and live well with a great career. But of course it’s more to that, I’d assume? A chance to win the Grand Rampage and become world champion. So when you ask who is Cody Maverick? I dunno. Who is Cody Maverick? That’s what we’re working on. Every single day. Every single week. Because like you once did, just like anyone else once did, I am keyed in on every single part of this competitive process and I am continuing to work my ass off and get better because my heart beats furiously at squaring up with guys like you, and my drive continues to get stronger and stronger. But y’know, I understand where you’re coming from. Not knowing who certain guys are, not having the slightest clue what to say because of how little material we have together..”
“..But it’s funny, because your ignorance has shown itself. You’re speaking on how little people have spoken to you and what is there to speak on? You don’t think you can win this match. I don’t even think I have high chances, let alone A chance but I’m willing to figure it out in that ring. I’m willing to do a deep dive on anyone if it means I can just raise that chance 0.01% up. I ain’t very familiar with you, and I know that you ain’t familiar with me. However, I can respect what you’ve done. I can respect who you are and what you’re about. When you get so wrapped up around on Friday nights, it’s an uphill battle to be consistent with what goes on Saturday nights and Sunday nights. I’ve done my best job to be aware of what’s going on. To be plain and simple. I respect you. It’s hard NOT to. However, your legendary resume is in my way. It makes you a target, however it’s quite funny that people are just skipping over you. Do they not respect you? Do they not fear you? I’ll admit, you weren’t the highest on my list because I didn’t know what angle to come from. What can I say to Jack Ripley, that a million other people haven’t said to him at some point in his career? I mean, I can understand how you feel, Jack. The Grand Rampage is the unlikeliest of scenarios for most to shine in. A literal 1 in 30 chance to win this thing. Hell, for those who are inexperienced and have nothing to their name – it gets even worse than that. But when you’re fresh off risking your entire body in an Electrified Clusterfuck and getting nothing out of it, I understand just exactly why you don’t have faith in yourself winning. I just wonder if you still have that drive, because you’ve already described your hall of fame induction as the ‘worst thing that could possibly happen’. WHERE is your head at, exactly? I know what I’m looking for here. Making something out of the very little chance to change my career. If I don’t, then that’s fine. But as for you? Are you just willing to go through the motions and leave it at that?”
“Feel free to feel offended by this ‘lecture’ by a rookie, but I just don’t get it. I’d love to hear it from the man himself. These last couple of months, even down to you being unable to win the EAW World Championship chamber, or helping TLA fend off La Familia.. It feels like you’re doing side missions. You don’t feel like THE big deal that perhaps, you think you are– or should be. Disrespect breeds comfortability and perhaps everyone else is just comfortable with glossing over you. But it was a mistake on my part to not mention you, and I still have more than enough time to right that ship. I’d love to hear back, Jack.”
“I can’t say I didn’t deserve that, Jake.”
“But you know? That’s the kind of shit that makes me feel alive. You have been so hellbent on putting yourself in the best position to win the Grand Rampage and en route to getting there, you had to go out of your way and shit on me from every single angle and try to destroy every facet of my being. This was your grand attempt to put me in my place and ultimately wash away my confidence and any chance of ever getting where you are.”
“But here's the thing. It’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I think we’re past the point of what I personally see as you taking serious and what’s not. It’s clear, from the jump, that you have a narrative that you specifically adhere to and if I am not a calm idiot willing to do things your way, then you’ll blow up on me and try to tear me down with your words. The same way that I use my words, you and I are no different. I’ll admit that I lost to you the second time. It happened. It ain’t the end of the world. But despite the fact that I have kindly, for my standards, talked about growing from that, it doesn’t fit your perspective so you’re prepared to tear it down every step of the way. ‘Unlike you, I face them head-on and keep moving forward, using them as stepping stones toward my success.’ Are you kidding me, Jake? Is that not what I’ve been doing this entire time? I HAVE faced my loss to you head-on. Hell, I’ve begun to come down to earth and acknowledge what I did wrong in my other big matches. No longer am I afraid to face reality. I don’t have a good idea on if reality ensures a near-godly performance from myself to win the Grand Rampage. But no one knows if it will be for you as well. And that’s pretty damn funny for a guy who goes by the moniker ‘The Real’. You ain't real. And we’ll see what really waits for you on the other side of this all, because it’s win or you’ve gotta shut up like the rest of us. If we left Jake Smith up to build Rome, he would’ve had a temper tantrum because the city didn’t match the blueprint on day one. In Jake Smith’s head, you’ve only got two things. You can agree with all of his words and leave him alone, or accept defeat and shut up and never speak a word to him again. Truthfully, everyone has to acknowledge this guy because of how good he is – but if we allowed him to speak to himself and wallow in his constant overcompensation for self-pity, we’d see a completely different man. The whole point of human nature is not perfect, but I’d be hard pressed to find another world championship caliber talent’s mind regress as bad as his has. The body is still there. The talent is still there, without a doubt. But Jake Smith continues to shock me with the way that he bends truths, twists narratives, and contradicts himself. Everyone who's faced me knows that I’m not trying to intimidate anyone. In fact, I enjoy being afraid because I think fear is a powerful motivator.”
“Maybe that’s why I didn’t beat you in our first encounter, because I saw right through you and I wasn’t afraid. I’m not making excuses, by the way. Although, I bet you’ve already skipped past this part so you can make a point out of it in your next video with another batshit insane title since you’re losing grip over reality in an attempt to try and control fate and win this Grand Rampage match. I’m not deluding myself into thinking I have a chance. I know that I don’t have much of a chance but I will continue to fight because if I don’t even try, what does that make me? Genuinely. If I sit back and I don’t even get in the way, I just allow myself to be eliminated and I let scum like you and Daryl Kinkade have an even easier job in this Grand Rampage. Y’all don’t care about the idea of someone at least giving it a damn shot. You just want the ring to be empty when you walk down to the ring. And as much as I would love to go and admit ‘yeah, that’s fair’, it’s coming from your whiny ass voice and it makes me sick. A former Answers World Champion and you still act like a child. The only way I can get better is by continuing to try and observing what I’ve done wrong. There’s no shame in my game there because it’s exactly what I said to you. You weren’t that guy back then, so I always find it funny that you try your damndest to tear me down. Maybe it’s because of my confidence in myself but I’m starting to think there ain’t a single soul who loves to hear themselves talk more than Jake Smith does. I want to be great. So I’m going to stay at that because only a loser with a defeatist mentality would quit now. I have no problem when it comes to admitting that I’m fighting a losing battle, but what I WON’T do is sit here and leave from that battle. But I’ll tell you now. There is a lesson to be learned for myself from everything you’ve said to me. I have no problem admitting that there is some truth to what you’re saying. But everything you say, it can – and will be turned around. I would love for it to happen at the Grand Rampage, but if it doesn’t? I don’t mind.”
“That’s where I continue to work. That’s where I continue to grind. Because I know you don’t know me but let me make one thing clear, you ain’t the first man to try and shut me down like this and I know that you ain’t the last. I don’t regret a single word that I’ve said to you, and I don’t regret anything I’ve done to get you riled up like this because only a coward is unable to act on his convictions. I’m not going to run from my lashings because I practically held my arms out and told you to do it! I begged you to bring this on by continuing to attack your ability to perform on a grand scale, knowing that I haven’t been there myself – but I eat up at myself for the chance to do so.. And yet. You say I have no talent. I have no skill. I have no ability. I have no track record. I have no accolades. I have no credibility. I have no conviction. I have no killer instinct. And if that wasn’t enough, you say that I don’t have anything else. And you know? I think the average person would’ve tapped out right there. They wouldn’t have responded to you, or they would have given a hollow response. I don’t think this is a dead, or a lifeless response, though. This is something that you absolutely hate, though. This is the truth. I am not hurt by anything you’ve said to me. It’s not because of my stubbornness, or an inability to take in your words. I listened to all of it. Even played it back a couple of times to fully digest what you got off of your chest. I think deep down, a part of you doesn’t want to see me hit my full potential. To be honest, I don’t know if there’s a lot that do, considering how much they hate my approach to my matches as if it personally affects them. You’ve laid it out quite clear, before. I don’t matter to this in the grand scheme, right? But you wanted to make an example out of me. You’re out to make a statement.”
“And perhaps you can prove me wrong just like everyone else and win the Grand Rampage. But that doesn’t deter me either. I feel fuelled by what you’ve said. It won’t be immediate. It may not even come in the next few months as I’d love for it to be.. But, like anything else in life, that was my motivation. Jake Smith. I’m going to prove you wrong. Plain and simple. I can tell you now, you’re damn right, I am naive. I haven’t seen what you saw, but I don’t need to. There’s a reason that you call me overhyped and try to discredit me because I haven’t accomplished much relative to my growing fanbase. What I say to that is that there’s a reason I have supporters. It’s not because I’m a loser. It’s not because I’m a rookie that will probably never amount to anything. It’s because just like I, everyone else that has ever chanted my name sees something in me. They know what I can be. But if I allow you to get in my head, and tear me down? I won’t be. However, that’s the difference between you and I. I don’t know how many times you had that talk in your career. Quite frankly, I don’t care. But the saying is simple.”
“Hurt people hurt people.”
“You have claimed to use your failures to propel you for the future. I have as well. Except you always say it doesn’t matter to you. You’ll do anything to shut me up. You’ll do anything to shut anyone up! Because all that matters to you is getting back to world championship gold. The entire world was on your side just a couple of months ago, and you FUMBLED IT! You come after me because I’m a loudmouth and the fans still like me? It’s as if you’re hiding something. As if you aren’t content with the man that you are now. And it ain’t nothing wrong with that. In this world, there ain’t many people content with who they are deep down inside. But I don’t need to jump the shark and shit on you for that. Sure. I made a couple observations just like you have, but I’ve never been overwhelmingly wrong like you have. I don’t have skill? I don’t have ability? Are you fucking shitting me? You got a few things right. You’re right I don’t have the track record and accolades, but that’s what this match is all about. Because contrary to common belief, you selfish, sad, narcissistic prick, this match IS NOT JUST ABOUT YOU. THIS IS NOT THE JAKE SMITH AND ENEMIES MATCH. This is not Jake Smith versus the world. It is thirty men and women fighting for an opportunity of a lifetime. Sure, a guy like you may have a higher chance to win this because of your experience and what you’ve endured, but you can get thrown over that top rope at a moment’s notice just like anyone else. This isn’t about pinfalls or submissions. I didn’t pin you in our match on Dynasty, but I sure as hell can throw you over the top rope when you least expect it. You’ve backed up your talk time and time again, that’s fair. But you and I both know that if you continue to fall short in your goal to ‘save’ Pain For Pride, even the rookies aren’t going to hear you out like you’d expect them to. This is big for me, because I’m trying to make something out of nothing. But for you, this is everything. It’s not just about proving you wrong, but making a point to myself. But I know the opportunities are endless. The sky's the limit for me because I just got here, and no matter what YOU think, I haven’t lost track of that.”
“But have you lost track?”
“You can’t write me off, Jake. You never will. No one will ever be able to write me off. Because if I’m becoming a nuisance to you? I guess then I’ll go down in history as the greatest nuisance in history because I ain’t going nowhere until I get better, and better, and better. You put me on my blast. You put my failures on the Summer Jam stage and I’m STILL not fazed! See you Sunday. No matter the result, I’m still getting started. I ain’t going nowhere.”
“..But it’s funny, because your ignorance has shown itself. You’re speaking on how little people have spoken to you and what is there to speak on? You don’t think you can win this match. I don’t even think I have high chances, let alone A chance but I’m willing to figure it out in that ring. I’m willing to do a deep dive on anyone if it means I can just raise that chance 0.01% up. I ain’t very familiar with you, and I know that you ain’t familiar with me. However, I can respect what you’ve done. I can respect who you are and what you’re about. When you get so wrapped up around on Friday nights, it’s an uphill battle to be consistent with what goes on Saturday nights and Sunday nights. I’ve done my best job to be aware of what’s going on. To be plain and simple. I respect you. It’s hard NOT to. However, your legendary resume is in my way. It makes you a target, however it’s quite funny that people are just skipping over you. Do they not respect you? Do they not fear you? I’ll admit, you weren’t the highest on my list because I didn’t know what angle to come from. What can I say to Jack Ripley, that a million other people haven’t said to him at some point in his career? I mean, I can understand how you feel, Jack. The Grand Rampage is the unlikeliest of scenarios for most to shine in. A literal 1 in 30 chance to win this thing. Hell, for those who are inexperienced and have nothing to their name – it gets even worse than that. But when you’re fresh off risking your entire body in an Electrified Clusterfuck and getting nothing out of it, I understand just exactly why you don’t have faith in yourself winning. I just wonder if you still have that drive, because you’ve already described your hall of fame induction as the ‘worst thing that could possibly happen’. WHERE is your head at, exactly? I know what I’m looking for here. Making something out of the very little chance to change my career. If I don’t, then that’s fine. But as for you? Are you just willing to go through the motions and leave it at that?”
“Feel free to feel offended by this ‘lecture’ by a rookie, but I just don’t get it. I’d love to hear it from the man himself. These last couple of months, even down to you being unable to win the EAW World Championship chamber, or helping TLA fend off La Familia.. It feels like you’re doing side missions. You don’t feel like THE big deal that perhaps, you think you are– or should be. Disrespect breeds comfortability and perhaps everyone else is just comfortable with glossing over you. But it was a mistake on my part to not mention you, and I still have more than enough time to right that ship. I’d love to hear back, Jack.”
“I can’t say I didn’t deserve that, Jake.”
“But you know? That’s the kind of shit that makes me feel alive. You have been so hellbent on putting yourself in the best position to win the Grand Rampage and en route to getting there, you had to go out of your way and shit on me from every single angle and try to destroy every facet of my being. This was your grand attempt to put me in my place and ultimately wash away my confidence and any chance of ever getting where you are.”
“But here's the thing. It’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I think we’re past the point of what I personally see as you taking serious and what’s not. It’s clear, from the jump, that you have a narrative that you specifically adhere to and if I am not a calm idiot willing to do things your way, then you’ll blow up on me and try to tear me down with your words. The same way that I use my words, you and I are no different. I’ll admit that I lost to you the second time. It happened. It ain’t the end of the world. But despite the fact that I have kindly, for my standards, talked about growing from that, it doesn’t fit your perspective so you’re prepared to tear it down every step of the way. ‘Unlike you, I face them head-on and keep moving forward, using them as stepping stones toward my success.’ Are you kidding me, Jake? Is that not what I’ve been doing this entire time? I HAVE faced my loss to you head-on. Hell, I’ve begun to come down to earth and acknowledge what I did wrong in my other big matches. No longer am I afraid to face reality. I don’t have a good idea on if reality ensures a near-godly performance from myself to win the Grand Rampage. But no one knows if it will be for you as well. And that’s pretty damn funny for a guy who goes by the moniker ‘The Real’. You ain't real. And we’ll see what really waits for you on the other side of this all, because it’s win or you’ve gotta shut up like the rest of us. If we left Jake Smith up to build Rome, he would’ve had a temper tantrum because the city didn’t match the blueprint on day one. In Jake Smith’s head, you’ve only got two things. You can agree with all of his words and leave him alone, or accept defeat and shut up and never speak a word to him again. Truthfully, everyone has to acknowledge this guy because of how good he is – but if we allowed him to speak to himself and wallow in his constant overcompensation for self-pity, we’d see a completely different man. The whole point of human nature is not perfect, but I’d be hard pressed to find another world championship caliber talent’s mind regress as bad as his has. The body is still there. The talent is still there, without a doubt. But Jake Smith continues to shock me with the way that he bends truths, twists narratives, and contradicts himself. Everyone who's faced me knows that I’m not trying to intimidate anyone. In fact, I enjoy being afraid because I think fear is a powerful motivator.”
“Maybe that’s why I didn’t beat you in our first encounter, because I saw right through you and I wasn’t afraid. I’m not making excuses, by the way. Although, I bet you’ve already skipped past this part so you can make a point out of it in your next video with another batshit insane title since you’re losing grip over reality in an attempt to try and control fate and win this Grand Rampage match. I’m not deluding myself into thinking I have a chance. I know that I don’t have much of a chance but I will continue to fight because if I don’t even try, what does that make me? Genuinely. If I sit back and I don’t even get in the way, I just allow myself to be eliminated and I let scum like you and Daryl Kinkade have an even easier job in this Grand Rampage. Y’all don’t care about the idea of someone at least giving it a damn shot. You just want the ring to be empty when you walk down to the ring. And as much as I would love to go and admit ‘yeah, that’s fair’, it’s coming from your whiny ass voice and it makes me sick. A former Answers World Champion and you still act like a child. The only way I can get better is by continuing to try and observing what I’ve done wrong. There’s no shame in my game there because it’s exactly what I said to you. You weren’t that guy back then, so I always find it funny that you try your damndest to tear me down. Maybe it’s because of my confidence in myself but I’m starting to think there ain’t a single soul who loves to hear themselves talk more than Jake Smith does. I want to be great. So I’m going to stay at that because only a loser with a defeatist mentality would quit now. I have no problem when it comes to admitting that I’m fighting a losing battle, but what I WON’T do is sit here and leave from that battle. But I’ll tell you now. There is a lesson to be learned for myself from everything you’ve said to me. I have no problem admitting that there is some truth to what you’re saying. But everything you say, it can – and will be turned around. I would love for it to happen at the Grand Rampage, but if it doesn’t? I don’t mind.”
“That’s where I continue to work. That’s where I continue to grind. Because I know you don’t know me but let me make one thing clear, you ain’t the first man to try and shut me down like this and I know that you ain’t the last. I don’t regret a single word that I’ve said to you, and I don’t regret anything I’ve done to get you riled up like this because only a coward is unable to act on his convictions. I’m not going to run from my lashings because I practically held my arms out and told you to do it! I begged you to bring this on by continuing to attack your ability to perform on a grand scale, knowing that I haven’t been there myself – but I eat up at myself for the chance to do so.. And yet. You say I have no talent. I have no skill. I have no ability. I have no track record. I have no accolades. I have no credibility. I have no conviction. I have no killer instinct. And if that wasn’t enough, you say that I don’t have anything else. And you know? I think the average person would’ve tapped out right there. They wouldn’t have responded to you, or they would have given a hollow response. I don’t think this is a dead, or a lifeless response, though. This is something that you absolutely hate, though. This is the truth. I am not hurt by anything you’ve said to me. It’s not because of my stubbornness, or an inability to take in your words. I listened to all of it. Even played it back a couple of times to fully digest what you got off of your chest. I think deep down, a part of you doesn’t want to see me hit my full potential. To be honest, I don’t know if there’s a lot that do, considering how much they hate my approach to my matches as if it personally affects them. You’ve laid it out quite clear, before. I don’t matter to this in the grand scheme, right? But you wanted to make an example out of me. You’re out to make a statement.”
“And perhaps you can prove me wrong just like everyone else and win the Grand Rampage. But that doesn’t deter me either. I feel fuelled by what you’ve said. It won’t be immediate. It may not even come in the next few months as I’d love for it to be.. But, like anything else in life, that was my motivation. Jake Smith. I’m going to prove you wrong. Plain and simple. I can tell you now, you’re damn right, I am naive. I haven’t seen what you saw, but I don’t need to. There’s a reason that you call me overhyped and try to discredit me because I haven’t accomplished much relative to my growing fanbase. What I say to that is that there’s a reason I have supporters. It’s not because I’m a loser. It’s not because I’m a rookie that will probably never amount to anything. It’s because just like I, everyone else that has ever chanted my name sees something in me. They know what I can be. But if I allow you to get in my head, and tear me down? I won’t be. However, that’s the difference between you and I. I don’t know how many times you had that talk in your career. Quite frankly, I don’t care. But the saying is simple.”
“Hurt people hurt people.”
“You have claimed to use your failures to propel you for the future. I have as well. Except you always say it doesn’t matter to you. You’ll do anything to shut me up. You’ll do anything to shut anyone up! Because all that matters to you is getting back to world championship gold. The entire world was on your side just a couple of months ago, and you FUMBLED IT! You come after me because I’m a loudmouth and the fans still like me? It’s as if you’re hiding something. As if you aren’t content with the man that you are now. And it ain’t nothing wrong with that. In this world, there ain’t many people content with who they are deep down inside. But I don’t need to jump the shark and shit on you for that. Sure. I made a couple observations just like you have, but I’ve never been overwhelmingly wrong like you have. I don’t have skill? I don’t have ability? Are you fucking shitting me? You got a few things right. You’re right I don’t have the track record and accolades, but that’s what this match is all about. Because contrary to common belief, you selfish, sad, narcissistic prick, this match IS NOT JUST ABOUT YOU. THIS IS NOT THE JAKE SMITH AND ENEMIES MATCH. This is not Jake Smith versus the world. It is thirty men and women fighting for an opportunity of a lifetime. Sure, a guy like you may have a higher chance to win this because of your experience and what you’ve endured, but you can get thrown over that top rope at a moment’s notice just like anyone else. This isn’t about pinfalls or submissions. I didn’t pin you in our match on Dynasty, but I sure as hell can throw you over the top rope when you least expect it. You’ve backed up your talk time and time again, that’s fair. But you and I both know that if you continue to fall short in your goal to ‘save’ Pain For Pride, even the rookies aren’t going to hear you out like you’d expect them to. This is big for me, because I’m trying to make something out of nothing. But for you, this is everything. It’s not just about proving you wrong, but making a point to myself. But I know the opportunities are endless. The sky's the limit for me because I just got here, and no matter what YOU think, I haven’t lost track of that.”
“But have you lost track?”
“You can’t write me off, Jake. You never will. No one will ever be able to write me off. Because if I’m becoming a nuisance to you? I guess then I’ll go down in history as the greatest nuisance in history because I ain’t going nowhere until I get better, and better, and better. You put me on my blast. You put my failures on the Summer Jam stage and I’m STILL not fazed! See you Sunday. No matter the result, I’m still getting started. I ain’t going nowhere.”
