Insult

A hotel room in Charlotte North Carolina. Veteran announcer, the well respected Jim Ross was seated in a black leather chair, the same color as his trademark cowboy hat, and looked on at this guest. It was impossible for his expressions to change very much but if they could he would almost certainly look apprehensive. His subject for this afternoon was Brian Kendrick who was sprawled out on a nearby couch. Despite the August heat, he was dressed in a thick, winter coat and was laying in a way so that his back was turned to J.R. and his face couldn't be seen. His long, dark brown hair hung past his shoulders and would have masked him if he were turned in the direction of the camera.

| Brian Kendrick |  Why do you keep doing these? Are you some kind of sadist? Is it a fetish?

| Jim Ross | |I beg your pardon?

| Brian Kendrick | These candid interviewers where you're in a closed in space with someone who's borderline psychotic, like, 99.9% percent of the time. You always end up getting attacked or threatened and I'm pretty I even threatened you once. I threaten a lot of people. So, it is a fetish, or..?

| Jim Ross | I assure you that it's not a fetish.

Ross' tone became a little more authoritative but just that. A little. He was weary about pushing too many buttons with this one for obvious reasons. Very slowly, Kendrick rose up to a sitting position. His shoulders were kept slouched and low and his back remained turned.

| Brian Kendrick | Oh. I remember. I made you think there was a dead body in my freezer. And you bought it. Because you're small minded and you bought into this whole "serial killer/rapist" thing. 

| Jim Ross | The lines begin to blur for a lot of folk when it concerns you.

| Brian Kendrick | Then "a lot of folk" are dumber than you.

He still didn't even bother to look at Ross or shift his position very much.

| Brian Kendrick | I didn't ask for this interview. If I get quiet, everyone goes all ansty and has to find out what I've been up to. But that really isn't any of your business, now is it?

| Jim Ross | Then let's just talk about the opportunity you have this week. You're going to be facing Sami Zayn. One of the hottest up in comers, not only in the EBWF, but all of professional wrestling. A man you faced during the King of the Ring final four. Hell of an encounter. But he was the better man that night. You have a chance to rectify that. Sami Zayn is the number one contender for the World Title and a win over him would have to get you into talks for World Title contention.

| Brian Kendrick | Would it?

Finally, he began to shift his head until he was giving the slightest glance over his shoulder.

| Brian Kendrick | Beating up a guy who's not at one hundred percent is going to be some big accomplishment? Granted, he said he's never at one hundred percent, but what is he at the moment? 25 percent or something? Last time I saw him, The Vertex Club, or whatever the hell they're calling themselves, beat the ever loving shit out of him. There's, like, fifteen guys in that group. I'm kind of surprised he's even walking right now.

| Jim Ross | Sami Zayn has a ton of heart. More so than anyone on the roster, perhaps.

| Brian Kendrick | Oh, god, if I have to listen one of you sputter something about his heart one more time I'm going to rip it out and eat it!

Visibly annoyed he threw his hands towards the ceiling in disgust before spinning around to face the interviewer. One of his hands clenched into a tight fist.

| Brian Kendrick | So he has heart. Big deal! He still has to wake up every morning and roam the Earth as a VERY unfortunate looking ginger! If I were average and every possible way, I guess my defining character trait might be heart too! I heard everything Sami had to say about me. That I'm unappreciated and underutilized. That worthless little insect! Yeah, no shit, I'm unappreciated and underutilized! Everyone but the people running this company realize that! But I don't need someone like HIM going out and telling that to the world. Like I want, need, or asked for his endorsement. He talked about me like I'm some kind of test to prove himself. So he can prove that he's a worthy king and worthy to go up against that blonde haired douchebag holding the championship right now.

That annoyance was beginning to grow to full on outrage at this point.

| Brian Kendrick | That is NOT the kind of reaction he should have. By no stretch of the imagination should he WANT to be inside the ring with me. He should be dreading every last second of it. I even began to wonder if he was playing some kind of mind game to get me worked up. But then I realized, no, he's not smart enough for something like that. Mind games are not his repertoire. He just really IS that naive and ignorant. I need to change this. I'm GOING to change this. When I am done with him, he is NEVER going to ask for a match with me again! I will prove to the entire free world that I should have been the King of the Ring and that I should be getting his title shot!

Ross shifted backwards in his chair a bit. It was the first time in a long time he had seen Kendrick this fired up and angry. It was more than a little unsettling. But he pressed forward.

| Jim Ross | If you heard what he said, then you know that he claims that loss is eating you up inside..

| Brian Kendrick | Of course it is! It's like a parasite, gnawing it's way into my intestine's! It's still there! I have to cut it out of me! He thinks he wanted the King of the Ring more than me?! Impossible! Nobody needed that more than me! I had everything depending on that! And now he's got the balls to challenge me again after RUINING what I had been building?! After you have a match with me you should NOT come skipping down to the ring with a smile on your face! I failed. I did. I wanted him to be the most miserable, despair ridden person on the planet. But, see, I think something's wrong with him. Miz's posse beat him down and left him for dead and he's still got that big, carefree grin on his face. All of them couldn't break his spirit but I will!

He actually began to audibly growl as he peeled his way from J.R. and glared a hole at a corner in the room.

| Brian Kendrick | He seriously called me entertaining. ENTERTAINING?! I'll show him entertaining. If he thinks crawling up the ramp with blood between his teeth and his eyes closed shut entertaining then this outta be pure orgasmic joy for him! He is going to pray that his old pal Kevin Owens and his crew would have crippled him just so he wouldn't have to live with what I'm going to do to him! 

Pacing. He began to pace back and forth while scratching deeply at the side of his head.

| Brian Kendrick | That little nobody. Talking all that shit about me. Like he knows even half of what I'm capable of. It's insulting. No one's upstaging me. Miz and his little playmates are going to drop their bottles of wine all of their fancy ass suits once they see the remains of Sami Zayn strewn all across the ring. I literally am envisioning his guts hanging off the ropes and THAT makes me happy. It's a really, really vivid thought and I'm going with it. It's high time I reminded everyone, especially all these new guys, of actually who I am. 

| Jim Ross | You--

| Brian Kendrick | DON'T INTERRUPT ME!

Kendrick's voice rarely went to that level and it sounded almost demonic as he suddenly snapped and shouted towards Ross who recoiled a bit from the suddenness of it all.

| Brian Kendrick | He went to talk about seeing The Exotic Express and he's the one calling ME a drug addict?! I blew that thing up! Right before our last match! What kind of tripped out, LSD inspired world is he living in?! Unless Rose went out and bought another but I highly doubt that! I haven't even heard a whisper from him since I tried to nuke him and his Rosebuds to the ends of the Earth! So do you know what that means?

After sharply turning his head to the side, he approached Ross in one, quick, sudden motion.  He was simply going to allow Kendrick to vent now.

| Brian Kendrick | It means he's a liar and maybe he really is trying to get into my head. Maybe everything about him is all an act and he really is a psychopath just like all those other white knight heroes. Maybe he's much smarter than I'm giving him credit for. 

A thought drifted into his head and once he fully grasped it his eyes darkened considerably.

| Brian Kendrick | I don't want to toy with him. I don't want to make him question himself and his beliefs. I think I might actually just straight up hate him. Yeah. There is no desire on my part to want to corrupt or twist him. I just want to knock his teeth out. With everyone else, there was an ulterior motive! This, this right here, is just violence for violence's sake! Heh. 

He laughed a tiny bit and looked momentarily surprised.

| Brian Kendrick | Maybe Sami Zayn really is special. I don't think I've ever had this kind of reaction towards anyone. Maybe he really is the future. The bright, shiny, all consuming future. Someone that will lead professional wrestling into a prosperous new age filled with hope.

The shock didn't last very long as he quickly shifted gears and murderous sort of intent returned to his eyes.

| Brian Kendrick | Then again, maybe I'm completely off base here and there's nothing special about this cockroach at all. Maybe the only extraordinary thing about him is how lucky he got last time we met. This is going to be a very harsh lesson in reality for Sami Zayn and when it's over he's going to wish he never would have heard my name. Let alone call me out like I'm some kind of amateur that's here for his amusement.

Ross, who had wisely decided to remain silent during this rant, he the sole focus of the former World Champion now.

| Brian Kendrick | Remember how I said that horrible things always seem to happen to you every time you do an interview like this? It's about to happen again. Click your heels together and sprint because you're beginning to look a lot like Sami Zayn right now. Except that you aren't covered from head to toe in your own blood. But I can change that. Stay in this room for another second and find out how fast.

With his eyes widening in alarm, J.R. got to his feet and made a rather hasty retreat as Kendrick's eyes stared him down the entire time he was making his sudden exit.