Long, hard ride.

“Psst”

(The sound of Mad Dog spitting tobacco is heard, as Mad Dog stands in front of the Harts Community Center in Harts, WV. The cold West Virginia air blows through the hollow as Mad Dog pulls the hood of his Carhart jacket up to cover his already red, wind burnt cheeks. Mad Dog is being filmed for a special on WVPBS TV by a local film crew doing a profile on him and his upcoming match at Inferno.

Harts, like many southern WV communities, is a small and poor town that has died along with the coal boom. With a median income of less than $22,000 a year, life in Harts isn’t easy, the men are rowdy and the crowds are tough. This is part of the area where Mad Dog cut his teeth.)

This is where it all started, the place where I had my first match. I was seventeen years old…huh, hard to think, half my life ago. Hard to believe I’ve spent half my life in the ring, and that it all started right here. I tell you what, I got my ass whipped that night. I thought I was so tough; I was seventeen and full of piss and vinegar. I stepped into the ring as a wrestler after spending my entire life around the sport, selling concessions, setting up the ring, and referring, and now it was time to finally show off my rasslen skills.

Man, I thought I was hot shit, double A state champion wrestler, quarterback on the football team, young, dumb, and full of cum. I tell ya what though, I had what they call a "come to Jesus meeting" that night. My pappy knew I thought I was the man and that I thought I knew it all, so he put me in the ring with the Latin Assassin. Old Hector worked with my Pappy and had been wrestling longer than I had been alive, and he tied me up and knots and kicked the dog shit out of me. I learned a lot that night, a whole damn lot.

(Mad Dog and the camera focus on the small, unlit marquee that reads "Mountain State Wrestling Nov 29th". This is Mad Dogs fathers event, one that will draw the MSW loyal out of the hollows and have them spending their last dimes they didn't spend at Walmart Black Friday shopping.

Mad Dog spits his tobacco juice out again, and speaks without taking his eyes off the marquee.)

Funny, how I've spent half my life in the ring, and at thirty four I'm having the biggest match of my life on Friday night. I know, I know, I've said every match in the Gee Cee Dub Ah is the biggest of my life, but every time it's been true. Getting a shot to be here was the biggest. Showing that I belong here against Vaughn then became the biggest. Earning a North American title shot on pay per view became even bigger, and now the biggest yet... that North American championship match.

Duce, you've been a hell of a champion, and you are going to be a hell of a challenge, but just know that you are in for a hell of a fight. I got nothing to lose and everything to gain. No one is betting on Mad Dog, and saying Mad Dog is the underdog. Well, like my Pappy always said and like David Allen Coe sang, " if you're big star bound let me warn you it's a long hard ride".

Ducey baby, I've been riding for a long damn time, and this ride sure as hell has been hard. I know you are already a big star, and you've got quite the impressive record here, but what I don't know is how hard your ride to get here was. I'm not going to claim to know your past, and I'm not going to claim to know your present, but I do know your future. That future is stepping into the ring with a wild animal, and your future is going to be a long hard ride.

(The scene fades out to a commercial break, and when it fades back in, the shot is now of Sunny Jim. He sits in front of a black backdrop, and wears a samon colored jacket, with a black shirt and pink bowtie.

"Do you think Mad Dog can win his match with Duce Jones at Inferno?" a producer asks off screen. Sunny is dumbstruck by that question, and pauses for a moment before answering.)

What kind of idiotic question is that? You think I'd be here right now talking to you guys if I was worried about Mad Dog losing? This is worse gotcha journalism than CNN. I understand everyone thinks Mad Dog is going to lose and that Duce Jones will make light work of him, well everyone thought the Soviet Union would run over the U.S. in the miracle on ice. Everyone thought Tyson was going to slaughter Buster Douglas, and no one thought the Giants had a chance against the undefeated Patriots.

Well, no one told the U.S. Men's hockey team they were supposed to lose to the commies. No one told Buster Douglas he couldn't KO Tyson. No one told David Tyree that you can't catch a football with your head. The thing they all had in common aside from being the underdog, is that they all believed in themselves. Mark Wright, that man believes in himself, and for damn good reason.

Mark has had to scratch and claw his way to where he is today. He's never had anything come easy in this life, and he damn sure hasn't had anything handed to him. Duce had a big star daddy, who probably helped him get his job here, well Mark didn't have that same luxury, he had to earn his spot. You know what they say though, what comes easy won't last long and what last long won't come easy. In other words Duce, your time as champion is about up.

Duce... yeah he's a real number two... the shits. Number Two likes to talk about how bad he is and how tough he is, he likes to puff his chest out and pound on it like a guerilla. Number Two, you like to talk about going to war, and loving a fight, well try to contain your erection at Inferno, because Mad Dog will take your ass to a paradise of pain.

You got something right though, after your match with Savage at High Rollers you should have been in a hospital eating through a straw, because Mad Dog should have put you there. I told him after that match to go out there and make a statement. Well, apperantly he didn't understand that I meant to kick your teeth in live on pay per view. Instead he did the honorable thing, and showed you respect for your tough fought victory.

That's Mark's biggest fault, he's just too damn nice sometimes. If it had been me, you'd still be in a Vegas hospital and the boys would be betting the over under on if you'll walk right again. Mark though, well he's got his weird code of honor, and the most screwy moral compass I've ever seen. So, number two is lucky, because he'll get the war he wants and he'll get it in a straight up throw down fight. Number two says he's war ready, well he damn well better be, and he better come strapped cause he's going get clapped.

Mark has worked seventeen years in the ring to get to this match, and I know him, I know how hard he works, how much he wants this, and his never say die lifestyle. Number Two, you have no idea what you are walking into at Inferno, and no idea who you are stepping into the ring with. This is no open challenge where any bum off the street can just walk in and get an opportunity, this is a man who has worked his ENTIRE LIFE, for that moment.

I don't know if Duce Jones is ready for what Mark Wright brings to the ring, but I do know this, Mark Wright is ready to bring everything he has to the ring and leave it all out there.

(The scene fades to commercial once more, and when it fades back Mad Dog is standing in front of an abandoned single wide trailer. All of the windows have been broken, some just cracked, but most completely shattered. The underpinning is torn away, the paint has faded, and the grass I nearly knee high to Mad Dog.

Mad Dog stands in the front yard staring at the old run down house that was his childhood home. Mad Dog spits his chew of Redman tobacco out, and wipes his mouth with the sleeve of his Carhart.)

I always dreamed about making it out of here, about becoming a big time star, traveling the country and the world, and do you know where I ended up? About five miles down the hollow from from here. You know why? I was scared.

Scared to fully commit, scared to give all I had to the sport of professional wrestling. Scared of failure, scared of letting my family down, scared to try. Well, f**k fear. Fear is a liar, sent to kill and steal your dreams. For years I spent my life half in and half out, my days at the mines and my nights in the ring at small shows, and one day I had a wake up call and realized that isn't the life I want and that I wanted more, and that I could have more, I just had to stop being a pussy and lay it all on the line.

That is exactly what I did, and it has led me to Inferno, it has led me to Duce Jones, and I whole heartedly believe it is going to lead me to that North American championship. I'm all in, this sport is all I have to provide for my family, it's how I put food on the table and clothes on our back. That North American championship means a better life for me and my family, but more than that it's the realization of a dream come true.

(Mad Dog walks up a set of cement blocks constructed into steps to the front door of the trailer, he gives it a hard shoulder and the rotten wood breaks way. There is nothing inside the trailer but filth, trash, and memories. Mad Dog stands in what used to be the living room.)

Ya know, I was so poor growing up that if I wasn't a boy, I wouldn't have had anything to play with. I was scared of my kids going through that, so I stayed at the mines, and i cooked the shine. But, is having the new Jordans worth giving up your dreams for? Better yet, how about when your dreams provide those new Jordans? What about when it provides an escape from the hollow, or provides an escape from poverty and breaking your back and working yourself into an early grave?

Brother don't get it twisted, I ain't in rasslen for the money, but I know that rasslen can provide a better life for me and mine. That North American strap old Ducey carrys over his shoulder, that's a way to a better life for me and mine. That's why I'll do whatever I have to take it Ducey, because as much as I respect you as a competitor and as a man, I love my kids a whole hell of a lot more, and I'm not about to see them grow up in this same dead, opioid addicted town I did.

This is more than just another match to me. It's more than a championship, it's more than a feather in my cap. It's presents under the Christmas tree, it's a summer vacation to Myrtle Beach, it's a better life for my family and a way out of this dead hollow. Ducey, I'll be damned if I let you take that away.

(Mad Dog walks to the area where the kitchen meets the living room, and there is a support beam with lines on it, clearly measurements of children's height. Mad Dog rubs the dust away from the wood and looks at the marks on the beam. He smiles as he reads the names "Mark, Ruth, and Daniel".)

It's all about family. It's all we have, they are our legacy. At Inferno, I secure my legacy.

(Fade out.)