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Here we go! The time left on the clock for all the Grand Rampage promo fun is winding down and everybody in the Grand Rampage match will no doubt be wrapping up their week or they are coming up with their final statements in the hopes that they can try to convince one or more people to support their cause. Myself included. When I look back on the performance and effort I put into my promo videos, I am proud of what I did. I don’t regret a thing that I did this week. Did I measure up when you compare the frequency of recorded promos compared to the rest of the match? My numbers weren’t as high, but I am proud of myself for bringing something fresh and something different to each and every promo. If I did repeat certain points, I made sure to keep the repetition to a minimum. I worked my ass off to make sure that everybody who listened to me could resonate with the heart and the passion I have for not just this match, but this company as a whole. I might not have fired the most shots this week, but I made sure that when I did fire a shot, I made sure the shot counted. I made sure to cause the most damage when I spoke. I showed the lengths I was, am, and will go to make sure that I leave Phoenix as the last man standing. I am willing to sacrifice it all… mind, body, and spirit. I am willing to spill blood and risk life and limb to finally earn this chance that many consider a once in a lifetime opportunity.
It’s great to hear from you again, ARIA. ARIA, I kind of touched upon the situation with Mia earlier when I spoke to Cameron. You don’t have to apologize to me regarding what you said to Mia. Just like how you wouldn’t have to apologize to her if you were ever mean to me. It’s part of the business. We just have to watch the effects of our actions unfold. She can have her moments, but the side of Mia she shows to the world in her promos isn’t the same Mia when me and her are together. As I told Cameron in my last promo, in a match with stakes like this, it’s up to her to use the advice that she has been given. If she chooses to go a different route, then I hope it works for her. Simple as that. Otherwise this match is all about me. What I want and what I plan to accomplish this weekend. It’s a culmination of almost four years of hard work and dedication. Four years of having constant critics who think I suck in the ring and think that I have made it this far because of dumb fucking luck. Four years of being knocked on my ass and forcing myself to get back up and continuing to fight on because I knew that there will always be greener pastures… it’s just that some pastures are easier to reach than others. But I don’t quit just because I can’t reach a pasture. I just keep figuring out ways that don’t work. It just puts me one step closer to find a way that does work… and pays off for me big time.
Part of that journey includes coming to certain realizations. One of those realizations was like what you said. Being more up front with your emotions. When I lost the National Elite Championship, I thought I was fine. I kept a straight face and an even disposition. I kept fighting on, but it eventually led to me having an emotional implosion. It showed that I wasn’t the iron tough competitor that I thought I wasIt sucked, but when I looked back on it, I think it had to happen because you have to drop to your worst in order to rise up and reach your best. That's what has been going on for the last month ever since Shock Value. I am starting to embrace the mindset I had before I imploded. I am starting to turn myself back into the wrestler I was when I first Champion. An attitude that took no shit off nobody. An attitude that wasn’t afraid to rock the boat. A competitor who is more than ready to change the system that is EAW. Remember, the higher ups of EAW never wanted me at the top. But that is just a fact that they are just going to have to deal with. ARIA, people like us have to add a little bit more to the formula in order to create a successful competitor. This competitor wants the years of hard work and always being considered a second tier elitist to finally get his chance to start the final chapter of his story. ARIA, I know you really want to have your happy ending and it doesn’t hurt that we’re in your neck of the woods. I wish you the best of luck this weekend, but I am not willing to let my story die in order to let you take my happy story ending. Nothing personal.
TLA, you have made your presence felt this week so it’s no wonder that many people have predicted you to win the whole damn thing. I can admit that I would love to be featured in the same sentence as you and Jake and Bronson when it comes to being called a favorite in a match like this, but I sadly won’t get that chance this year. People look at you and then people look at me and there is no wonder why we aren’t compared or mentioned in the same sentence. You are a Hall of Famer. You are a former World Champion. You have done almost everything you could accomplish in Elite Answers Wrestling and I… haven’t. I don’t see it as jealousy. I see it as hunger. A hunger of wanting just a small taste of the same success that many others have had. That’s why I am bringing my all into this match. I hold you in high regard and there will be no dispute with that, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to knock one of the top dogs off of his pedestal for my chance at the spotlight. I was never expecting an easy job to take you out of this match and I don’t want anything to happen easily. I want the challenge. I love the challenge because when I successfully complete the challenge, I can hold my head up high in the knowledge that I took out a Hall of Famer at his best.
Cameron, I hold you in very high regards and have taken what you said this entire week very seriously. Not many people look at me and thought that I was able to accomplish much of anything, but not you. You see that I have all the potential in the world and you see that I am more than what people present me as. But even the great Cameron Ella Ava still has her apprehensions about if I am going to put on a command performance this weekend. I get that. Saying is one thing. Doing is another. The time for saying is almost over and it’s almost time for me to back up everything that I have been saying this entire week. It is almost time to show the world that Donovan Duke can be aggressive. To show that Donovan Duke is more than just talk. To show that Donovan Duke can become the One Man Rebellion that he once was. If wanting to see my full aggression is exactly what you want, then it’s exactly what you are going to get. I will stop at nothing and destroy anybody in my path to get what I have desired the most.
With all the heavy hitters that are in this match, I had to work that much harder to make my story and my reasonings stand out. Am I trying to finish my second story like Bronson Daniels who has had a really crappy time recently on Dynasty with all that bullshit? No. Am I like Jake Smith who has come close to winning this match on numerous occasions who believes that this is his night? No. Just because my story isn’t as extensive in these high stakes situations like Bronson or Jake doesn’t mean that my story should be considered beneath theirs or less important than theirs. People already consider competitors like Jake and Bronson and TLA and Cameron and Camille the favorites in this match. Those same people don’t look AT me. They look PAST me. Why? Because they have already written me off as an “obvious” choice to not win the Grand Rampage. Do you know what is truly obvious? That you don’t sleep on me! That’s why I took everybody on this journey with my story of preparation for Grand Rampage. I have put my heart on the line. I have put my soul on the line for the world to see and it’s all for the sake of earning just ONE CHANCE to make it to the main event of Pain for Pride. This weekend, I will also put my body on the line for just ONE opportunity and I will do ANYTHING for this sacrifice to pay off for me.
It’s great to hear from you again, ARIA. ARIA, I kind of touched upon the situation with Mia earlier when I spoke to Cameron. You don’t have to apologize to me regarding what you said to Mia. Just like how you wouldn’t have to apologize to her if you were ever mean to me. It’s part of the business. We just have to watch the effects of our actions unfold. She can have her moments, but the side of Mia she shows to the world in her promos isn’t the same Mia when me and her are together. As I told Cameron in my last promo, in a match with stakes like this, it’s up to her to use the advice that she has been given. If she chooses to go a different route, then I hope it works for her. Simple as that. Otherwise this match is all about me. What I want and what I plan to accomplish this weekend. It’s a culmination of almost four years of hard work and dedication. Four years of having constant critics who think I suck in the ring and think that I have made it this far because of dumb fucking luck. Four years of being knocked on my ass and forcing myself to get back up and continuing to fight on because I knew that there will always be greener pastures… it’s just that some pastures are easier to reach than others. But I don’t quit just because I can’t reach a pasture. I just keep figuring out ways that don’t work. It just puts me one step closer to find a way that does work… and pays off for me big time.
Part of that journey includes coming to certain realizations. One of those realizations was like what you said. Being more up front with your emotions. When I lost the National Elite Championship, I thought I was fine. I kept a straight face and an even disposition. I kept fighting on, but it eventually led to me having an emotional implosion. It showed that I wasn’t the iron tough competitor that I thought I wasIt sucked, but when I looked back on it, I think it had to happen because you have to drop to your worst in order to rise up and reach your best. That's what has been going on for the last month ever since Shock Value. I am starting to embrace the mindset I had before I imploded. I am starting to turn myself back into the wrestler I was when I first Champion. An attitude that took no shit off nobody. An attitude that wasn’t afraid to rock the boat. A competitor who is more than ready to change the system that is EAW. Remember, the higher ups of EAW never wanted me at the top. But that is just a fact that they are just going to have to deal with. ARIA, people like us have to add a little bit more to the formula in order to create a successful competitor. This competitor wants the years of hard work and always being considered a second tier elitist to finally get his chance to start the final chapter of his story. ARIA, I know you really want to have your happy ending and it doesn’t hurt that we’re in your neck of the woods. I wish you the best of luck this weekend, but I am not willing to let my story die in order to let you take my happy story ending. Nothing personal.
TLA, you have made your presence felt this week so it’s no wonder that many people have predicted you to win the whole damn thing. I can admit that I would love to be featured in the same sentence as you and Jake and Bronson when it comes to being called a favorite in a match like this, but I sadly won’t get that chance this year. People look at you and then people look at me and there is no wonder why we aren’t compared or mentioned in the same sentence. You are a Hall of Famer. You are a former World Champion. You have done almost everything you could accomplish in Elite Answers Wrestling and I… haven’t. I don’t see it as jealousy. I see it as hunger. A hunger of wanting just a small taste of the same success that many others have had. That’s why I am bringing my all into this match. I hold you in high regard and there will be no dispute with that, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to knock one of the top dogs off of his pedestal for my chance at the spotlight. I was never expecting an easy job to take you out of this match and I don’t want anything to happen easily. I want the challenge. I love the challenge because when I successfully complete the challenge, I can hold my head up high in the knowledge that I took out a Hall of Famer at his best.
Cameron, I hold you in very high regards and have taken what you said this entire week very seriously. Not many people look at me and thought that I was able to accomplish much of anything, but not you. You see that I have all the potential in the world and you see that I am more than what people present me as. But even the great Cameron Ella Ava still has her apprehensions about if I am going to put on a command performance this weekend. I get that. Saying is one thing. Doing is another. The time for saying is almost over and it’s almost time for me to back up everything that I have been saying this entire week. It is almost time to show the world that Donovan Duke can be aggressive. To show that Donovan Duke is more than just talk. To show that Donovan Duke can become the One Man Rebellion that he once was. If wanting to see my full aggression is exactly what you want, then it’s exactly what you are going to get. I will stop at nothing and destroy anybody in my path to get what I have desired the most.
With all the heavy hitters that are in this match, I had to work that much harder to make my story and my reasonings stand out. Am I trying to finish my second story like Bronson Daniels who has had a really crappy time recently on Dynasty with all that bullshit? No. Am I like Jake Smith who has come close to winning this match on numerous occasions who believes that this is his night? No. Just because my story isn’t as extensive in these high stakes situations like Bronson or Jake doesn’t mean that my story should be considered beneath theirs or less important than theirs. People already consider competitors like Jake and Bronson and TLA and Cameron and Camille the favorites in this match. Those same people don’t look AT me. They look PAST me. Why? Because they have already written me off as an “obvious” choice to not win the Grand Rampage. Do you know what is truly obvious? That you don’t sleep on me! That’s why I took everybody on this journey with my story of preparation for Grand Rampage. I have put my heart on the line. I have put my soul on the line for the world to see and it’s all for the sake of earning just ONE CHANCE to make it to the main event of Pain for Pride. This weekend, I will also put my body on the line for just ONE opportunity and I will do ANYTHING for this sacrifice to pay off for me.
