Post by Markw on Jun 10, 2017 4:57:33 GMT -5
WFWF Foundation – A Little Less Bark
I think what got a lot of people into this sport, what made an awful lot of them love it in the first places, is the thrill they get from winning.
That their music hitting and them standing over their downed opponent, having proved themselves the better wrestler, is what keeps them coming back for more and more and more.
I'm not saying I don't get that. That I didn't walk away from Ultimate Supremacy feeling pretty f***ing good.
But that's not a feeling that's exclusive to professional wrestling, not for me at least. I feel that high every bit as much when I watch the Dons enact a small dose of revenge on Franchise MK, or when – even if it wasn't quite a victory – I watched Theresa May stand in front of her constituents looking like she'd been interfered with by a freight train.
That high's not why I love professional wrestling.
The Climb was a painful reminder that what separates this sport from every other avenue of life, what it is that makes me care so f***ing much about stepping into that ring, is how painful it feels when I'm the one laying flat on my back in the middle of that ring, having tasted defeat.
That's how I know I love this sport, that it means so much more to me that anything else.
Because this, tasting defeat in that ring.
I can't tell you how f***ing s*** that feels.
Shuggy: Y'Awright?
I don't know exactly what it is about Shuggy, but when you're at rock bottom, it feels very easy to open up to him. Maybe it's just that he's easy to talk to, or that he doesn't take himself too seriously, I don't know, but he's easy to confide in and to tell you the truth I'm feeling like I really need someone to confide in.
Joe Bishop: Feeling pretty crap to tell you the truth.
Shuggy: What's up?
Where do I start.
Joe Bishop: Not much of a Champion am I?
He was kind enough to look like he didn't follow, but he knows exactly what I mean.
Joe Bishop: How many real Champions get their ass handed to them in their first match after claiming that title?
Shuggy: They cheated.
Joe Bishop: Doesn't mean I was good enough.
I pretty obviously wasn't.
Joe Bishop: Everyone cheats, I'm not going to be able to change anything if I can't beat them in spite of that.
Shuggy: Feck sake man, you beat both of 'em on your way to that belt. You think they wouldn't swap?
Joe Bishop: They would, but they don't care about the sport, they just care about this strap. Right now I'm really ugh, I'm starting to doubt I can carry it forward.
Shuggy: Shut the f*** up...
Well that was blunt.
Shuggy: And stop being stop being so insecure. You've just won the World Championship, and we both know that the first chance you get your gonna make those two f***ers regret what they did in that match.
Joe Bishop: I hope so.
Shuggy: Course you are. You've worked so hard to get here man, don't start overthinkin' this s***.
Joe Bishop: I guess...
It's just, as I say, I'm not great at coping with defeat. But he's right, I guess I am a little guilty of overthinking things.
---
It's fair to say I've not had the greatest week.
And though it's mainly about tasting defeat, it's not just that. See much as I've tried to avoid it, politics has been weighing heavy on my mind.
Nah, not party politics, pretty obvious that I'm a lot happier than I thought I'd be on that front.
It's WFWF Headquarter politics that have got me feeling down.
I know there's nothing I can do about it. I know I should say nothing, keep going out there and keep on doing what I've been doing from the moment I returned to the WFWF.
But sometimes you've just got to vent you know?
I don't know who the WFWF owner is, I don't know who I'm attacking. Other than Lila Sleater for going along with it without putting up any sort of a fight.
But the decision to take the WFWF off free-TV. To promote all WFWF events on Pay-Per-View is one that is going to cripple this sport and cripple this promotion.
I know it's not very interesting, I know people would rather I just talked about my opponent, I get that. I don't want to be talking about it either. But somebody has to say something.
The decision to move WFWF events exclusively to PPV is one that's been made with an entirely short sighted eye on increasing profit. And, in the short term, it will 'work' in the way they want it to, I'm sure. Because the idea is novel, it's new, it's shiny, and people are going to pay the money for the first three, four weeks.
But the long lasting impact is going to be so f***ing damaging.
Because what it's essentially doing is limiting the number of people who can stumble upon this wonderful sport. It's limiting the number of people who can fall in love with the greatest sport in the world, and given the difficulty Lila and friends seem to be having finding people to step foot in a WFWF ring, that just seems absolutely insane to me.
Not just that, but it's an attempt to make professional wrestling an elitist sport. To keep a few of the richest fans on board, charge them more and more and more, and deny the masses the opportunity to watch professional wrestling. Deny them the chance I was lucky enough to have as a kid.
Isolating the WFWF from its potential audience, that might be good for business people, it might make f***ing fiscal sense, but in terms of the impact on this sport it is going to be an absolute disaster.
And she can say it's about 'ensuring each show is of the highest possible quality' and that sounds really f***ing noble. That's exactly the kind of s*** I've been calling for and so it looks to the untrained eye like you're making moves to appease guys like me and Frank Lynn and the thousands of WFWF fans who have embraced our movement.
But it's a load of f***ing horse s***.
You don't have to 'delay' putting the best wrestlers in that ring together for a 'worthy pay off', you don't have to be saving these matches for PPV events, just put us in that f***ing ring, do it on free TV. Let the whole world watch us go toe to toe, and maybe, just maybe, we'll create some enthusiasm for this sport. Maybe that'll get us more people through the doors both of the arenas and of the WFWF locker room.
Don't dress up a money making exercise (that I honestly doubt is even in the long term interests of the businessmen you're kowtowing to Lila) as some attempt to make this sport better for everyone because it is just a lie. Plain and simple.
The Supreme Gauntlet was a superb idea and I gave you the credit for it because at that point of transition you didn't have Trace or the new owner hovering over you, they were to busy and you put in place something really genuinely positive. But now there's a new owner in charge who's got to answer to the businessmen again, you've decided to lay down and let them f*** you again.
Please Lila, grow a backbone.
Nice to get that off my chest, although of course, it's not the only reason I've had a bad week.
At The Climb, I tasted defeat for the second time since I made my return to the WFWF.
I suppose it can't come as a shock any more when Trace Demon flagrantly disregards the rules of this sport, to achieve whatever it is that he's hoping to achieve.
It can't come as a shock that he handcuffed Frank Lynn to a fan or that he smashed my World Championship into the back of my head.
It's Trace Demon, it's what he does.
No what disappointed me, was David Brennan's willingness to capitalize on it. His willingness to pin me 1...2...3 when he knew full well, that he hadn't earned it.
After the incredible match the two of us had put on at Ultimate Supremacy, I've got to admit, it hurt me a little, that he was willing to do that.
But he did.
And no matter how wrong I feel it is, he beat me. In my first match as WFWF World Heavyweight Champion I was pinned by the man I beat to win it.
That is a huge personal disappointment.
And right now, my focus is on getting back in that ring and proving that I still deserve to hold this belt. And if along the way I get the chance to prove that either Trace Demon or David Brennan deserve it less – as I did during the Gauntlet – then I'm not going to be passing that one up.
But, there's an awful lot of stuff I think is wrong with the WFWF and just the once more, I'm afraid I've got to put that on record...
---
You don't need me to tell you how this interview's been going.
Waa PPV waa...
Waa Trace Demon waa...
Waa capitalism waa (It's like being back at Uni)...
The usual.
Still I could hardly believe my ears when Joe Bishop turned his attention to David Brennan...
Joe Bishop: And Brennan's no better either. At least you know what you're getting with Trace, but I thought Brennan had more about him than to steal a win like that.
Poppy Yates: You really can't come out and condemn David Brennan for taking advantage of Trace's intervention when that's exactly what Frank Lynn did only a few weeks ago and you said absolutely nothing.
Joe Bishop: That was completely different.
Poppy Yates: ...was it?
Joe Bishop: Of course it was!
I'm really not seeing it...
Joe Bishop: Frank had no idea Trace distracted Scarlett.
Poppy Yates: You really believe that?
Joe Bishop: You don't?
No.
Poppy Yates: You're going to have to be able to explain the difference.
Joe Bishop: I think I've been doing more than enough explaining lately. Maybe it's time I stopped explaining things, I don't need to.
Poppy Yates: Well, whatever, I'm just saying it's not going to look good.
It makes you look like a huge f***ing hypocrite but I suppose I need to be a bit more diplomatic – although the rest of the press aren't going to be.
Joe Bishop: I don't really give a s*** how it looks to be perfectly honest. Frank Lynn had no idea what Trace did, David Brennan watched Trace Demon hit me with that belt and didn't even hesitate to steal the win.
Poppy Yates: Come o...
Joe Bishop: And frankly, if you think otherwise then you're not worth my f***ing time. I've been throwing you these f***ing bones, helping you, and all you can do in return is question my motives.
Poppy Yates: I'm trying to help you.
Joe Bishop: Well you're failing.
Why do I bother?
Joe Bishop: I'm f***ing sick of having to explain myself when it's so f***ing obvious what my problem with this sport, and certain wrestlers is. I'm f***ing sick of having to tell you why I do every little thing I do and frankly I'm sick of sitting across from you having to justify myself. I'm the WFWF World Heavyweight Champion, I am changing this sport in spite of a tidal wave of s*** that's coming my way and I don't owe a f***ing two-bit wannabe hackette an explanation.
He stormed off and I wish I could say I just brushed it off. Treated it with the contempt it deserved.
Joe Bishop is really struggling to justify his hypocrisy now and because of that he's lashing out. I know that's what's happening.
But I couldn't help but release the anxiety and the frustration and the tears that have been building up inside me from seemingly the moment I met Joe Bishop.
He can be stubborn, he can be hypocritical, he can be aggressive. Times like this he can just be an all round t***.
But for some unfathomable reason, I find myself really caring.
Both about him and his world, and about what he thinks of me and mine.
And I can't help thinking that I wouldn't be sat here, my head on Dad's desk, tears streaming down my face, if I could just stop myself caring...
Shuggy: Y'awright Pops?
---
The measure of a man huh?
I've got to be honest, as far as I'm concerned, everyone born with the appropriate equipment is as man as everyone else who's packing.
And more than a few men who've gone around telling everyone how big the article they're swinging is, have stepped into that ring and had their ass handed to them by Scarlett Quinn or Penny Shannon. Heck they've both bested me in that ring to.
So seeing you stand in front of the WFWF fans and the WFWF locker room, claiming to be the measuring stick against which we'll all be judged. Well, let's just say, I wasn't desperately waiting for the opportunity to get in that ring with you and prove how 'man' I am.
I'd rather be stepping into that ring with a woman who's proved they're a proper f***ing wrestler, and avenging a past defeat.
But Anna Ahriman's taken over the role of token woman, and so – along with half of the rest of the roster, those deemed not 'marketable' – Penny and Scarlett have had to make way.
It's a real shame.
And so, I'm left, ready to go toe to toe with 'The Violent Gentleman'.
Now, let's be honest Sean, nobodies going into this match waiting to see how I perform against you.
I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'm not the one with anything to prove.
I'm the WFWF World Heavyweight Champion, you... well you just aren't.
I'm one of the greatest gaijin, you aren't. At least if the fact that while was touring all the countries you went too to 'make your name', not one person had very much to say about Sean Casey.
It's all well and good going out there and saying you're the 'measure of a man', talk is cheap and unfortunately, just about everyone's got the freedom to do it.
But I don't need to talk.
I am, objectively, the best wrestler in the WFWF right now.
I may not be the 'measure of a man', because that's meaningless dribble, but I am the measure of a professional wrestler. And you're going to have to be pretty f***ing good to come out of our head to head in that ring with a defeat that makes people think you might just have what it takes, rather than one that leaves people thinking you're just another dud in a long line of those the WFWF's recruited of late.
And I do genuinely hope it's the former, as I always do. I want to be challenged. I want the WFWF to be moving forwards in at least one avenue.
But I dunno, I hear this stuff about being the measure of a man, you christening yourself 'The Violent Gentleman', I see the clips of some of your more notorious matches, and I can't help but think the WFWF has opened its doors to another 'King of Demons', another 'King of Gore', another 'God of F***', and the only comfort is that I've got the opportunity to find out whether that is what we're getting and to undermine it right from the get go.
You may not be exactly the opponent I'd like to be stepping in the ring with, but I am looking forward to it a little Sean. I always do look forward to new opponents even if I have my doubts about them, I just can't help it.
Whatever the circumstances, whatever the right and wrongs of the way he went about it, David Brennan pinned my shoulders to the mat 1...2...3.
I can't put that right here.
But I don't intend to start making a habit of losing. I don't intend to be tasting defeat for the second time in as many weeks.
I intend to find out exactly what you're all about and to beat you in that ring
And if you're a wrestler who takes this sport seriously then hey, welcome aboard, if you're not, then you aren't going to survive long against the measuring stick of a professional wrestler.
OOC: So apologies for the lateness & shortness, I'm struggling to find the time to do what I want to do right now. I would have just posted the monologues last night but the scenes that made it from the planning stage to here are there to build up to what comes next – and since I think I'm going to need the next show off – I really needed to throw something in place if I'm going to get where I want to in time for the big PPV. Big thanks to The Violent Gentleman for letting me do that, I really appreciate it.