Comeback, Shmumback

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"Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years."
- LL Cool J

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Does the world remember the name Jay Fucking Price? In a realistic world such a question being asked would be grounds for committal to an asylum. But unfortunately we don't live in such a world. We live in a fantasy world where people only choose to remember the names of those that are shoved down their throats. The names of those that are reviled by the ignorant masses, no matter how great, are forgotten with the blink of the eye. The Logans...The Torture's...The Brad Kane's...the helpless sheep remember their names because they're told that they are what is to be considered the "benchmark". But the Jay Price's of the world? People like are him are forgotten about because they are considered to be beneath the rest by those that are the so called experts. Experts. What do they truly know? It was experts that said that Jay Price couldn't walk into One and beat Logan as a rookie. It was experts that said that Price couldn't walk into XIII and beat the unbeatable Jonny Fly. It was experts that said Jay Price was never going to hold the World Title. At last check, he did all three. Honestly, at this point the "experts" just need to shut the fuck up. At Shoot To Thrill, mere weeks after two procedures to help in the repair of his neck, Jay Price walked into a match with Polar Phantasm and flipped the "experts" the bird as he put on the match of the night. And then the "experts" of course, as expected, flipped their views and began murmuring about the comeback of Price. The comeback? In order for someone to make a comeback, they first have to fall. Jay Price never fell. Injured? Yes. Fallen? Never.

And now, after hearing the Price was a late addition to the WAR Match, the chattering of the "experts" is once again being heard by everyone, including Price. Yes, the say, he put on a hell of a performance back in 2009, but that was three years and four neck procedures ago. Not to mention the fact that he was in that match fighting alongside guys like Anthrax, Mikami, Death, Havoc, Ryan Daniels from the Team Of Torture, whereas this year he'll be all on his own. The "experts", they put him on the list of underdogs in the WAR Match this year. That's fine with Jay Price. If you were to ask him today what he thought about what's being said, he'd look at you like you were an idiot. His entire career he's been looked upon as being that guy who couldn't win when it mattered. And his entire career he's given the finger to the "experts" and gone out and won. Why?

Because he's Jay Fucking Price.

So go ahead, tell him he can't win the WAR Match.

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"The people of the world, they hate me. They hate me because I refuse to be what they want me to be. They want the panderers and the "good guys" who put on the act and smile like the trained monkeys that they are."
- Jayson Allen Price

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The scene fades in slowly on the bright green WCF logo, emblazoned on a black banner hanging from the ceiling. The sounds of people talking can be heard in the background as the camera slowly pulls back and pans down, bringing the set of what appears to be a mock talk show into the frame. The camera stays focused on the set for a few moments until Scoops Callahan, WCF.com blogger and occassional reporter, walks into the shot, shuffling some notecards. He's wearing a black earpiece, which he is currently using to talk to an unseen person. Scoops then takes a seat in one of the chairs and continues to shuffle his cards as another man, this one dressed in a referee's shirt, takes the seat beside him.

Scoops: "All right, so here's what's going down tonight. I just want to get a few words from you about the World Title match that you're going to be officiating tonight and then maybe hear a bit about your history with the company."

Referee Slappy Johnson: "Uh, are you sure you want me for this interview? I mean...I'm just a referee. Aren't there any other people that are more interesting? I mean, I doubt anyone wants to hear about my WCF career."

Scoops: "Well the last time I did one of these interviews it didn't exactly go as planned. So when the boss said I had to do another but didn't specify who to interview, I figured I'd go the safe route."

Referee S.J.: "Sounds more like the chicken route."

Scoops: "Hey! You try taking a chair to the back from one of these freaks of nature."

Referee S.J.: "Are you kidding me? I've taken more shots to the head than most boxers."

Scoops: "Look, let's just do this interview. I mean really, what else could you be doing."

With a sigh, the referee nods his head in agreement. Scoops finally finds the notecard he's been searching for and nods to the cameraman. The cameraman does his countdown and...

Scoops: "And welcome once again to Scoop's Corner. I, of course, am Ace Reporter Scoops Callahan and with me tonight is senior WCF Referee Slappy Johnson."

Referee S.J.: "Thanks for ha..."

Without warning a chair is thrown at Slappy, striking him in the head, from off screen. Slappy falls out of his chair to the ground as none other than Jay Price strolls into the shot. Scoops throws his notecards up into the air, sighing loudly.

Scoops: "Really Jay? Was that really necessary?"

Jay Price: "Would you have preferred if I had hit you?"

Scoops: "Well...no. But still, you just knocked out my guest!"

Jay Price: "And you're welcome. Now you have a chair to offer the guy who's going to get this crappy little show some ratings. The guy who is going to win WAR tonight."

Scoops: "You brought Polar Phantasm with you?"

Price shoots Scoops a dirty look and then takes the now vacated seat across from him as Slappy Johnson is dragged out of the shot.

Scoops: "Fine, just please don't hit me with a chair again."

Jay Price: "Fair enough."

Scoops looks toward the cameraman, ready to signal that he's ready, when he sees the red light is already on and realizes that they've been filming this whole time. With a mumbled curse to himself, Scoops turns to Price.

Scoops: "Well Jay, you're going to have to excuse me, but all of the questions that I had prepared for tonight were for Mr. Johnson. So I guess I'm just going to have to wing it, as they say. First things first, I suppose the number one question on people's minds when it comes to you is the health of your neck. We had heard reports on and off after the attack by the Team Of Treachery, and it seemed like you were going to be out for some time. But you looked to be all but 100% at Shoot To Thrill. So how are you feeling."

Jay Price: "The neck feels as good as it ever did before. You'd be shocked at how far medical science has come over the years."

Scoops: "Oh? Care to expand on that?"

Jay Price: "Well there was a time when somebody who had sustained the amount of excessive damage to the neck that I have over the years would have been forced to retire. And to be honest, there was a point when I had doctors telling me that I needed to step away. But the great thing about living in the age we live in today is that there are people in places that are doing things in the medical world that were never thought of before. You see, here in the good old USA, I had doctors talking about how I needed to take a year off, at the minimum that is, if I was serious about wanting to safely return to the ring. I was having absolutely none of that. So I did my research and found a pair of doctors over in Europe doing some things in...let's just say experimental medicine."

Scoops: "I don't mean to interrupt, but are we talking about real medical doctors? Or are you talking about some sort of back room, dropped out of medical school types."

Jay Price: "Oh no, these were real doctors. They had their degrees and everything sitting right out there in the open from the first time I met them. But back to what I was saying. These doctors over in Germany, they were really excited to meet me after I got in touch with them. So I hopped on the first plane I could book and I flew over there. We met and they started right away on trying to sell me on this procedure they had been working on. They promised me that it would not only fix the damage already done to the neck, but make it stronger. Make it able to withstand the kind of damage that a normal neck wouldn't be able to. I was skeptical but then they showed me the files on the patients they'd already worked on. Forearms that had been crushed were re-built. Legs..shoulders..almost any sort of body part that had been left a shell of what it used to be fixed and better than before."

Scoops: "Well now this sounds a little fishy to me. I mean it almost sounds like you're about to tell us you have a bionic neck."

Jay Price: "Well I wouldn't exactly put it that way Scoops. I mean I can't sit here and tell you all the exact medical terms for what they did to fix my neck. But I can tell you that right now, there's enough metal in my neck to make it so that I can probably never get through airport security again. I almost wish I had brought the x-ray picture with me so that you could see all the work they did in there. Rods...screws...little plates...hell trying to find some bone in there would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But it was worth it. I may be a new age Six Million Dollar Man and I might have to start booking my travel via the train, but I could get hit a thousand times in the neck and never feel it once."

Scoops: "Well that's just...is that...I guess it's great to hear that you're back to where you were before the attack, I'm just taken a bit aback by the thought of that sort of procedure. I mean, is there going to be any sort of side effects? What about wear and tear on the metals?"

Jay Price: "They mentioned that sometime down the road, we're talking years and years from now, they might have to replace a piece or two, but it'll be nothing. It's just like with any piece of equipment, you need to do the occassional upkeep."

Scoops: "Well that's good news then I suppose. Let's move on, shall we. You came back rather unexpectedly to face Polar Phantasm at Shoot To Thrill. After the way you left WCF, and after we all thought your neck was too damaged for a return, to see you come back to wrestle Phantasm was both a shock and a delight. Care to talk about why you came back for Shoot To Thrill?"

Jay Price: "Well after my neck was healed up I started to get that itch that us wrestlers get when we've been away from the ring for a bit. At the moment I was in no mood to be dealing with WCF, or to be specific Seth Lerch, and GEW's show interested me. As for Phantasm, look I like the guy. He's one of the few people in this business right now that I can look at and honestly say "he's got a future". And when I found out that he hadn't gotten an opponent for Shoot To Thrill yet, I wanted to take the initiative and see if I could push him to the limit. Granted, I really just wanted the challenge for myself, to see if I was at all rusty from not wrestling for all those months."

Scoops: "And you looked great in that match. I didn't see any real ring rust."

Jay Price: "Ehh, I felt like I was a step behind from how I usually am. But it was still good enough to leave me feeling like it wouldn't take long to get back to my World Title reign form. The real test to see if I'm back or not is coming tonight."

Scoops: "Well thanks for segueing me into what was going to be my next question. In what was a pretty decent shocker, you were announced as a participant in the WAR Match. As far as I had heard, you weren't even signed to a contract when that announcement was made. And I checked into it yesterday and you still aren't officially signed on to the active roster. Are you back with WCF? And if not, how are you in this match."

Jay Price: "Without going too much into the details, I can say that there was an...agreement...made that is making my entrance into the WAR Match possible. Again, I won't go too much into the details, but I don't have a full contract right now."

Scoops: "Well here's to hoping that you get one soon. Well let's talk about the WAR Match itself now. In 2009 you made your name here in WCF in the WAR Match, as you entered at #4 and went all the way to the final three alongside Logan and Slickie T. I've talked to people about you before and everytime that night is brought up, mainly because you just came out of nowhere."

Jay Price: "Yeah, that night still holds a special place in my heart. Nobody thought a rookie was going to make it far in that match, let alone get that close to actually winning it. But to be in that final three, looking across that ring and seeing a Hall Of Famer and a guy who, at that time, was performing like a future Hall Of Famer, I won't lie I was a bit in awe. And sometimes I still think about what could have been. Like, what if I had gone for the pin instead of trying to show off and go for the moonsault. Could I have actually pinned Slickie T, gotten that record 6th elimination and then won the whole damn thing? To this day I kick myself for that one."

Scoops: "It certainly was a terrific match. Well let's talk about this year's match. There is no shortage of amazing talent that is going to be in that ring with you. I mean, I don't want to compare 2012's to 2009, but this might be an ever tougher test for your. What do you think?"

Jay Price: "Well I'll agree that there is some top notch talent, but I won't go as far as to say that this group will be as tough. I mean, back then Slickie T was just on a path of destruction and no one around today, not Phantasm or Fly included, is at that level Slickie was at. And Logan, yeah he's around this year for the match, but he's so fucked up in the head right now who knows if he's going to be even a fraction of what he was back then."

Scoops: "What about some of the guys that people aren't necessarily talking about? I mean, Phantasm is a front-runner no matter who you ask. And whichever of the two that don't walk out of the World Title match with the World Title are certainly going to be in any discussion. But what about guys like Steve Orbit? Or Tommy Kain? Or Eric Price."

Jay Price: "They're good talents, I'm not doubting that. But this WAR Match...it's a whole different kind of beast and I doubt that any of them know just what they are getting into. You know, anyone going into a one on one match has a 50-50 chance of getting a win. Going into WAR, your chances are miniscule. You constantly have to be watching your back, because even your best friend in the world is going to be looking to stab you in the back so he can get that World Title match. And that's the thing that I believe is going to be the undoing for some of these guys. You look at all of these stables that are going to be represented and you have to think what will happen when the opportunity knocks. How sure is Corey Black that one of his Pantheon buddies won't roll him up from behind just to get one step closer to a shot at the World Title? All of the guys from the Dark Saints like von Liebert and Oblivion are going to have to think the same thing."

Scoops: "Bit of wise advice I suppose."

Jay Price: "That's why guys like myself are the ones that win matches like these. You spend the whole match watching your buddies back and vice versa and you start getting into that comfort zone. You know you have a guy or two right there to keep you safe, so when they end up out of that match and you still feel all warm and safe...BOOM! You end up on the wrong end of the 1, 2, 3. That's why I watch my own back. I don't let myself get into that comfort zone so I can be ready for whatever comes my way."

Scoops: "Sounds like you have a sound strategy for tonight. Any last thoughts?"

Jay Price: "Yeah, tonight I get 6. Fuck you Logan, and fuck you Gravedigger."

With a smirk Price flips off the camera and walks out of the shot as Scoops can only look toward the camera and sigh.

Scoops: "And on that note, I'm Scoo..."

Without warning a chair is thrown from off screen, striking Scoops in the head. Scoops falls out of his chair and Price's laugh can be heard in the background.

Jay Price: "Whoops, guess I lied."

The cameraman mercifully ends the show.