Post by DGX on Apr 6, 2021 19:35:14 GMT -5
House of Cards
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February 1, 10:45 AM MST
Highway 2, Northbound to Lake Braeburn, Yukon, Canada
Driver: So…you’re sure he’s out here?
{Matthew Werner turns his head briefly from the endless pines whipping passed the car.}
Matthew Werner: That’s what I was told yeah.
Driver: Just seems unusual from what I know of the guy. The GPS looks like it’s taking us to a ranch or something. Never pictured him as an outdoors type.
Matthew Werner: People change, I guess.
{This final leg was the culmination of what had turned out to be a pretty involved journey. After EBR had confirmed the details of Hector Perez’s story at the end of last month the wrestling world had reacted with a bit of an uproar.
Being the person who had broke the story and a responsible journalist Werner had thought the fair and ethical thing to do would be to reach out to the other party named in the controversy. Werner truthfully hadn’t spoken to DGX since he’d done his last piece on Alex Sean back in 2016. He had figured it’d be a simple matter to reach the man formerly known as Unicron to get a comment.
He was wrong.
The phone call yielded a disconnected number. He’d run through a short rolodex of shared contacts all of whom hadn’t heard from him in years. Although now when he met D, he did have a message from Carmen to tell him to go to hell. Next came the attempted pop-by, only to find his residence in Anaheim up for sale and vacant. He had truly dropped off the planet in the intervening five years.}
Matthew Werner: Holly tells me that she still chats with D every couple of months. She took my request to him, he agreed and this is the info he gave to reach him. Here’s hoping he’s not just f*cking with us…
{A distinct possibility.
Werner had almost been ready to abandon his quest to reach DGX when he remembered one of his broadcast colleagues from his early time in XWA prior to his independent filmmaking had a very strong friendship with DGX. He’d reached out to Holly Hunt and after she chastised him for being a stranger they’d caught up and inevitably got to the meat of the matter.
She’d agreed to reach out to DGX and extend his invitation for an interview. A few days had passed and she’d let him know he’d agreed. The itinerary she’d provided was dizzying: fly to Canada, fly more North in Canada, drive more North from there.}
Driver: I don’t understand why we had to come up here man. Couldn’t your friend have just given us his number?
Matthew Werner: Apparently if the interview was going to happen at all, it had to be face to face.
{When he’d asked about a number for a call, she’d given a short snort and asked him if he’d ever met DGX before. He knew instantly this was a kind of reprisal for putting the damaging information out before talking to him in the first place. A perilous line between courtesy and timeliness. He’d opted for the headline. Now he paid.}
Driver: I think this is it coming up on the right…
{As Werner looked indeed the described venue came into view from the snow swept trees. An almost idyllic picture of a ranch, fencing curiously absent livestock, a covering of snow on everything. The driver wheeled the car up behind a snow-covered Ford F-150. There didn’t appear to be anyone waiting for them.}
Driver: I guess we knock or something…
Matthew Werner: Yeah you get the gear ready, I’ll go ring the door.
{Werner walks up the shovelled walkway towards the porch of the ranch, the back door shut. He can see no lights inside. Sighing he checks his watch. This is around the time he had told D to expect them. Pulling his winter parka around himself Werner shivers a moment before resolving to head back to the car, try the cell number. A crunch of snow from behind him makes him turn…}
DGX: Thought I had a bit more time, sorry bout that. Been waiting long?
{Emerging from the tree line, wrapped in furs and winter gear is the man known to the wrestling universe as its pace setting ace. Not so much in recent years. Long wild hair and a full beard adorn the wind-swept features of DGX. Balanced across his shoulders is a small deer, deceased presumably from the arrow in its neck. Or knowing DGX possibly bought from a nearby trapper if there were such a thing around these parts. Either way, the entrance is pretty metal.}
Matthew Werner: No we just got in.
{Werner regards the carcass slung across DGX’s shoulders.}
Matthew Werner: Was that supposed to be dinner or something.
{DGX shakes his head.}
DGX: Not enough time now, I probably still have some fish fillets in the freezer from last week. They’ll have to do. Can’t very well be shown butchering an animal on your wrestling doc, don’t need to add PETA to the list of activist groups looking for my address to send hate mail.
{DGX fixes Werner with a stare before moving towards the porch and dropping the carcass on it.}
Matthew Werner: Well, that’s why we’re doing this interview: so that you can get your side heard.
DGX: Right…get the door once you guys are in.
{DGX enters the ranch. Not a promising start if he’s being honest. Absent mindedly he fiddles with the envelope in his coat pocket. In his preparations to come up here he’d even tried folks tied to Hector Perez’s office to reach him. A desk flunky had given him that envelop requesting that if he found him to pass it on. Between that and Carmen’s message he at least had some things for him.}
Matthew Werner: Alright, he’s definitely a bit sore about the interview.
Driver: Like it’s our fault he and EBR gambled with people’s livelihood and lives?
Matthew Werner: That…is why you are BEHIND the camera. Look D is a complex interview, there’s a way to do it. Just keep your mouth shut and shoot.
Driver: Right…
{As the pair ascend the steps to the porch and enter the ranch Werner calls over his shoulder…}
Matthew Werner: Hope you like fish...
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April 2, 4:45 PM EST
Miami, Florida
DGX: So you’re saying I have to get on a plane, today to go to England?
Weinstein: That’s correct.
DGX: Wembley Stadium, a WFWF show?
Weinstein: Again, correct.
DGX: Dammit Weinstein why?
{An exasperated sigh leaves Weinstein.}
Weinstein: Look, you know why. You have to meet those dates or the contract is annulled. And if that happens, you’re screwed.
{To be spoken to in this way. DGX frowns.}
DGX: Are we though? I mean sure the investments have been down the last year or so but they should pick up again right?
Weinstein: What investments?
{DGX gives Weinstein a look.}
DGX: You know, the investments. I asked you about those once, I’m sure of it.
{Weinstein rubs his eyes with his hand.}
Weinstein: Uh huh, and I told you I’m an agent not an investment banker.
DGX: Well yeah, but I figured that was kind of like a Bones thing…
{Weinstein looks up at DGX with an exhausted stare from behind his desk.}
Weinstein: Bones?
DGX: The doc from the original Star Trek, you know, his Captain would ask him to do something and then he’d say “dammit, I’m a doctor not a insert whatever he was asked to be.” But then he always did it anyhow…
Weinstein: Well D, I’m not Leonard McCoy.
DGX: Clearly. Since you know, HE would always wind up doing as his boss asked him to…
{DGX fixes a pointed stare at Weinstein who again shuts and rubs his eyes in frustration.}
DGX: Wait…so if I don’t have investments, what’ve I been living on?
Weinstein: Your contract D. Wrestling contracts are fully guaranteed whether you fill their time term or not. However, as you learned from Perez’s legal team if certain obligations aren’t met, they can cancel the contract. Meaning you’d have no money.
DGX: So I have to meet a set number of dates and then this contract is good again?
Weinstein: Yes.
DGX: Why WFWF though?
{Not an ideal location if he was being honest. The last time people who watch WFWF had seen him EBR had beaten him unconscious. Still didn’t quit so at least he had that to stand on but it’s never ideal to face an audience with that level of shine taken off your mystique.}
Weinstein: Well, given the controversy surrounding you and E’s little “headhunting” gag you shockingly have a reputation at present as a “danger” and a “liability.”
{Weinstein does unnecessary finger quotes around the words.}
Weinstein: Simply put WFWF are the only ones that called me back. But they called back with a good offer, you’ll get a nice and fair appearance fee on a match-to-match basis and you get to come in on a big pay per view show and get a taste from the buy revenue too. Had to twist an arm but I got it. Because dammit D, I’m an agent, not a doctor!
DGX: Lame.
{Weinstein places both hands on his desk and shuts his eyes, a bemused smile on his face. Finally he slides a plane ticket across his desk towards DGX.}
Weinstein: Look…this is transatlantic flight 1138 leaving tonight for London, England. I’ll break it down for you like this: be on that flight or never cross my doorway again.
DGX: …
{Weinstein’s look says all It needs too. After all the years and all the money he’s been made that’s what it boils down to. Prick. DGX takes the ticket never breaking eye contact and files this away. He’s uncertain that Weinstein truly comprehends what he’s just done. But he will, soon enough. DGX turns his back on him and exits the office ticket in hand.}
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February 1, 12:05 PM MST
DGX homestead near Lake Braeburn, Yukon, Canada
<Matthew Werner:> So…Canada huh?
[DGX:] Yeah.
<Matthew Werner:> I’ll be honest…
(Werner cranes his head around looking at the surroundings of the rustic lodge DGX calls home.)
<Matthew Werner:> I never pictured your sunset was going all “Roy Rodgers”…
(DGX shrugs.)
[DGX:] It was just how it shook out honestly. Anaheim wasn’t really the same since California voted in the UFP government and I wasn’t really interested in going somewhere “busy”. Just wanted somewhere quiet.
(Werner nods.)
[DGX:] But I guess you’re not here to talk about all that, guess we should get to it huh?
<Matthew Werner:> Whenever you’re ready.
(DGX takes a breath. Seems to collect his thoughts.)
[DGX:] Right. Where do you want to start?
<Matthew Werner:> Tell me about your betting system with EBR. How did that come about?
[DGX:] E and I had recently been signed to large deals, came back in as heaters for Alex’s big push to get the world title. The company put us together as a team and so we just went about the business of being champions.
<Matthew Werner:> So you came in a tag team champions?
[DGX:] We never lost the belts before we’d left the company last time so…
(To be the Man ya gotta beat the Man friends.)
<Matthew Werner:> Right. So you’re tag team champions, “unofficially”, you’re competing night to night…how does something like this come up?
(DGX cracks a smile.)
[DGX:] Motivation mainly.
<Matthew Werner:> So you and EBR start betting money with the object of injuring your opponents seriously for extra motivation to compete?
[DGX:] You say that so judgmentally Wern. Are E and I the first people to side bet one another as a form of motivation in any professional sport ever? Look at the New Orleans Saints. However you fall on the “bountygate” argument a fact you can’t dispute is the season that system was put in place remains the only one that franchise won a championship in.
<Matthew Werner:> So to your thinking the ends justify the means then?
[DGX:] Absolutely. That’s been my mentality since day one. I know everyone’s been upset since it came out that E and I did this but I think what it glosses over a ton is context. What do E and I do for a living at the time of this? We were professional wrestlers. When the Saints did what they did, they were professional football players. What do both these things have in common? They are full contact or combat sports. The risk of injury or something happening to you physically is a thing we take on every time we suit up.
<Matthew Werner:> So you feel that because physicality is a part of what you do for a living it’s okay to batter a person like former XWA star Lightning to the point that today he can’t function properly in his day-to-day life?
(As Werner speaks DGX rolls his eyes and he shakes his head.)
[DGX:] Combat sports is a dangerous way to make a living Matthew. When the guy you mentioned knew he had a match with me coming up he talked a streak heading into that bout. All manner of trash came out of that guy’s mouth leading in and why? Because he felt he would be better able to inflict his physical will on me than I would him. He was wrong.
(DGX puts up both of his hands, palms out.)
[DGX:] Now don’t get me wrong, if I were to do this kind of thing to him in the street? That’s reprehensible and as abhorrent as you express. There’s no room in society for that kind of conduct outside the bounds of a sport or competition that can support it. I’d go to jail for those sorts of actions and I’d deserve to be there. But Matthew, what is professional wrestling? Really? It’s a series of contests where you try to do enough damage to another human being to make them either quit before it goes too far or pin them to a mat for three seconds after it does.
(It’s not for the faint of heart kids.)
<Matthew Werner:> So you and EBR devise this system, you’re paying one another to be more and more brutal match to match, more and more wrestlers are going down with injury what are you thinking as this is going on?
(DGX nods along to Werner’s spiel and quirks an eyebrow.)
[DGX:] That it’s working Matthew.
<Matthew Werner:> In what way?
[DGX:] Motivation. As I said from the beginning. Look…the state of that company when we signed to it was, being generous, not exactly “overrun with talent.” Everyone loved a good Mike Tyson fight when he was in his prime but he probably wouldn’t have put on quite as much of a show as he did if he was just constantly crushing tomato cans. No matter what they paid him. It gets hard to continually get up for fights you know you’re going to win.
(DGX leans back in his chair.)
[DGX:] Do you think we did it for the money? Wern, the contracts they signed us too over and above Perez’s whining objections was such that the average person would never need to work another day in their life if they lived to one fifty. We all were flush at this point. Now granted I am a ten-time world champion and a great singles wrestler. Arguments have been made for Greatest of All Time. But you know what else I am? A sixteen-time tag team champion. An argument could be made that I’m the most successful “tag team specialist” in the history of the business. And do you know my secret to success Matthew?
<Matthew Werner:> I do not.
[DGX:] Knowing how to lead men. I’m a ring general Matthew and a part of that comes down to my ability to read and understand my partners. EBR might be the most naturally gifted teammate I’ve ever had, all respect to Alex and others. The tradeoff is he knows he’s gifted and therefore is content to give half-assed effort because that more times than not works for him. When do you get his best? When he’s slighted and when he’s competing to prove something. Also when he stands to win lots of money.
<Matthew Werner:> You said you guys didn’t need the money though. Like with the contracts.
(DGX shrugs dismissively.)
[DGX:] I don’t pretend to understand why these things work Matthew I just know that they do. I once paid him to back out of a title shot. Publicly.
<Matthew Werner:> That worked?
[DGX:] It did. Look Jordan was loaded too, it’s a weird selective competitiveness. I try not to think about it too much.
<Matthew Werner:> Alright last question, given what we know now about concussions and their lasting impact on mental health do you think going back you might have done things differently? This was in the mid tens and we only were scratching the surface then…
[DGX:] Not into the “what if” game Matthew. Look I’ve fallen off ladders, buildings, had my head smashed in with steel chairs, stairs and every foreign object in between. I’ve even been beaten unconscious with a person’s bare hands. No one is ringing me up five to twenty years later to apologize to me and give me a lifetime achievement award for coming through a wrestling career with my health. To my mind the knowledge we have now to then aside, I don’t think we get a blanket pass on the ignorance card just by answering “yes of course” to a canned interview question after the fact. Because each and every one of us answered that question at the outset of all of this when we signed our contracts and agreed to beat the piss out of each other for a living.
<Matthew Werner:> So it’s just what you all signed up for then?
[DGX:] Damn right. You know what I loved the most about professional wrestling when I started? The competitiveness. The fact that there were winners and losers. The fact that to get what you wanted you had to go through someone else who didn’t want you to do it. I can’t stand this culture in wrestling now where people stand in the middle of the ring after a hard-fought battle and raise each others hands, and fawn all over each other, and make out center ring because “we’re so great TOGETHER!”
{DGX pantomimes a gag.}
[DGX:] There’s no competitive drive anymore. None will to win at all costs. Because everyone has to like each other and God forbid anyone do anything that makes them feel any negative driving emotions like hate or envy.
<Matthew Werner:> Last question, what do you feel about all your colleagues who have retired with these hardships?
{DGX:} Quite a question to end on. Honestly? Pity. I’m sad for them. I’m sad that their ability and talent didn’t allow them to get what they wanted out of the business. Also, disappointment. Because rather than accept this and move on to something they may excel and be great at they bought in to the whole “trophy for showing up” and “no person left behind” victim culture and decided to parade themselves for everyone as victims so they could absorb all the sympathy and adulation from those people not realizing the once every milk toast, kale smoothie sipping yuppie who subscribes to that garbage pats themselves on the back for the thirty fifth time that morning for feeling sympathy for their plight they forget them in the next five seconds.
{And on that note with a slight nod of his head DGX concludes the interview and it cuts to black.}
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April 2, 11:07 PM EST
Miami International Airport
{He sits in a row of seats on his own, carryon to his right. His eyes fixed on his cell phone reading the details Weinstein had emailed over. Didn’t call. Knew he better keep his head down after that flex back there.
in’ punk.}
Stranger: I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be a creep or nuthin but are you DGX?
{Looking up from his phone DGX sees another passenger waiting to board transatlantic 1138. He’s an older gent with white hair and wrinkles. Little sickly looking, maybe some hard living. Probably mid fifties. DGX smiles.}
[DGX:] No worries man, yes I did go by DGX in my wrestling days.
{The man smiles wide.}
Stanger: I thought it was you! Man that’s a relief! I thought you might be dead!
[DGX:] Nope, still here.
{He turns back to his phone checking more details from the show. Looks like he’ll be an attraction match with another former WFWF great: the incomparable Reverend Shadow. Or Jason Jadoa. Or whatever he calls himself these days. He feels a pang of pride wounding, an attraction match. Back end of the card. Near but not TOO near to the main events…}
Strangers: Sorry…I uh…I didn’t mean to be disrespectful there.
{Looking up from his phone DGX raises an eyebrow to the fan.}
[DGX:] What do you mean?
Stranger: Oh uh…you just…you kind of went back to your phone there and I thought maybe I’d insulted you or somethin’… just you know I just mean you kind of disappeared after you left wrestling.
[DGX:] Ooooh, yeah no I’m good man. I just never really thought about public life after wrestling…
Stranger: Yeah, after Hollywood, right?
{There’s a beat.}
Stranger: Aw, damn! I’m not great at this…crying out loud, I need to get ahold of myself! I’m a fifty two year old man! I’m starting over! Hi! I’m Chris, I’m a big fan of yours!
{DGX smiles as the guy seems to get himself together and puts his phone away before taking the handshake.}
[DGX:] I’m Jon, used to go by DGX. Glad to meet a fan. Where’d you see me work?
Chris: My first pay per view live event was main evented by you and Vestal in 2002.
{And the sudden realization that this fifty two year old man was a thirty year old kid when he started wrestling helped crystalize the attraction spot on the card. Two decades just about. Not allot in an average human lifespan but an eternity in an athletics career. He was turning into the grey beard veteran that version of himself had spent time ridiculing out of the business.}
[DGX:] Wow. That was a pretty hot crowd if I remember right.
Chris: Yeah, we were wild. So ready to see you finally give it to that bastard. When he managed to sneak one on you I thought for sure I was going to be part of a riot.
{The two share a laugh. Wrestling crowds used to be crazy y’all.}
Chris: So what brings you to London?
[DGX:] Just some business stuff I have to take care of.
{Cool as meeting a fan was he wasn’t eager for a groupie trying to follow him to the show.}
Chris: Cool.
[DGX:] So…do you watch wrestling anymore?
Chris: Not really, I’m not really into what it’s become.
[DGX;} How so? I haven’t watched anything since I’ve been out.
Chris: Well, I feel for the talent today because it’s like…the blind leading the blind ya know? Like you lot who knew how to wrestle are positioned as “Sometimes attractions” and only ever really wrestle each other. So how can the new people learn if they never have to get in with someone better than them?
{You know, super fan Chris makes allot of sense. But maybe, just maybe this could be something other than that. Maybe this could be the start of something greater. Maybe he could find his second wrestling life in WFWF. Sure, he has to meet contractual obligations or face financial ruin and humiliation but what if it wasn’t just that? What if the young, impressionable, mouldable young roster of the WFWF could indeed benefit from his experience and star power? He’d played his whole career for the Patriots, he has his championships maybe now it was his time to take his talents to the Suckaneers of wrestling and show them how to win in 2021! Maybe it could be time to give back! Also…if everything went well, maybe make a boat load of money or two in the process! Age? Pssh. Age is but a number!}
Chris: Hard to know, but I think it can be brought back you know. Just needs the right mix of experience and fresh ideas. Instead of all fresh ideas that kind of suck.
[DGX:] Yeah, I can see there being some potential then. Anyways we should be boarding pretty quick. Nice to meet you. Have a great flight!
Chris: You too man. Can I grab…
[DGX:] Autograph? Absolutely.
{As the Essence of Greatness scribbles his signature for a loyal fan he muses on his newfound motivations. If Tom Brady could do it why the hell couldn’t he?! And you know, even though this attraction match with Reverend Shadow is symptomatic of the problems with wrestling as described by super fan Chris it occurs to him that it doesn’t need to be. Why not make lemonade out of that lemon that has been handed to him as a return?
You know for a long while now, he’d regarded WFWF as a minor league. A double A ball team! The G League! But you know what? It’s a verdant and largely unexplored pasture to him largely because of that kind of elitist thinking! These fans don’t really know his deal. They know he’s great. Putting him in the hall of fame had cemented that fact. But the fans there, their last image of him was a low point, beaten to unconsciousness and not seen since.
It occurs to him now, in this moment that he and Reverend Shadow while largely ships passing in the night had very limited interactions and they almost always went poorly for himself. Through no fault of his own the good Reverend had turned into something of a Bad Omen in the WFWF lore of DGX. But that was the great thing about this new beginning. A chance right at the start to change that narrative, now after Superbrawl the good name of Reverend Shadow will not stand as a portent of doom to DGX but rather will service as his Herald. This match will put the WFWF on notice that the Icon has returned and set his sights on WFWF’s field. Then he’ll build his Kingdom…}
PA: Now boarding transatlantic flight 1138 all remaining seats.
{One Gift at a time.}
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February 1, 10:45 AM MST
Highway 2, Northbound to Lake Braeburn, Yukon, Canada
Driver: So…you’re sure he’s out here?
{Matthew Werner turns his head briefly from the endless pines whipping passed the car.}
Matthew Werner: That’s what I was told yeah.
Driver: Just seems unusual from what I know of the guy. The GPS looks like it’s taking us to a ranch or something. Never pictured him as an outdoors type.
Matthew Werner: People change, I guess.
{This final leg was the culmination of what had turned out to be a pretty involved journey. After EBR had confirmed the details of Hector Perez’s story at the end of last month the wrestling world had reacted with a bit of an uproar.
Being the person who had broke the story and a responsible journalist Werner had thought the fair and ethical thing to do would be to reach out to the other party named in the controversy. Werner truthfully hadn’t spoken to DGX since he’d done his last piece on Alex Sean back in 2016. He had figured it’d be a simple matter to reach the man formerly known as Unicron to get a comment.
He was wrong.
The phone call yielded a disconnected number. He’d run through a short rolodex of shared contacts all of whom hadn’t heard from him in years. Although now when he met D, he did have a message from Carmen to tell him to go to hell. Next came the attempted pop-by, only to find his residence in Anaheim up for sale and vacant. He had truly dropped off the planet in the intervening five years.}
Matthew Werner: Holly tells me that she still chats with D every couple of months. She took my request to him, he agreed and this is the info he gave to reach him. Here’s hoping he’s not just f*cking with us…
{A distinct possibility.
Werner had almost been ready to abandon his quest to reach DGX when he remembered one of his broadcast colleagues from his early time in XWA prior to his independent filmmaking had a very strong friendship with DGX. He’d reached out to Holly Hunt and after she chastised him for being a stranger they’d caught up and inevitably got to the meat of the matter.
She’d agreed to reach out to DGX and extend his invitation for an interview. A few days had passed and she’d let him know he’d agreed. The itinerary she’d provided was dizzying: fly to Canada, fly more North in Canada, drive more North from there.}
Driver: I don’t understand why we had to come up here man. Couldn’t your friend have just given us his number?
Matthew Werner: Apparently if the interview was going to happen at all, it had to be face to face.
{When he’d asked about a number for a call, she’d given a short snort and asked him if he’d ever met DGX before. He knew instantly this was a kind of reprisal for putting the damaging information out before talking to him in the first place. A perilous line between courtesy and timeliness. He’d opted for the headline. Now he paid.}
Driver: I think this is it coming up on the right…
{As Werner looked indeed the described venue came into view from the snow swept trees. An almost idyllic picture of a ranch, fencing curiously absent livestock, a covering of snow on everything. The driver wheeled the car up behind a snow-covered Ford F-150. There didn’t appear to be anyone waiting for them.}
Driver: I guess we knock or something…
Matthew Werner: Yeah you get the gear ready, I’ll go ring the door.
{Werner walks up the shovelled walkway towards the porch of the ranch, the back door shut. He can see no lights inside. Sighing he checks his watch. This is around the time he had told D to expect them. Pulling his winter parka around himself Werner shivers a moment before resolving to head back to the car, try the cell number. A crunch of snow from behind him makes him turn…}
DGX: Thought I had a bit more time, sorry bout that. Been waiting long?
{Emerging from the tree line, wrapped in furs and winter gear is the man known to the wrestling universe as its pace setting ace. Not so much in recent years. Long wild hair and a full beard adorn the wind-swept features of DGX. Balanced across his shoulders is a small deer, deceased presumably from the arrow in its neck. Or knowing DGX possibly bought from a nearby trapper if there were such a thing around these parts. Either way, the entrance is pretty metal.}
Matthew Werner: No we just got in.
{Werner regards the carcass slung across DGX’s shoulders.}
Matthew Werner: Was that supposed to be dinner or something.
{DGX shakes his head.}
DGX: Not enough time now, I probably still have some fish fillets in the freezer from last week. They’ll have to do. Can’t very well be shown butchering an animal on your wrestling doc, don’t need to add PETA to the list of activist groups looking for my address to send hate mail.
{DGX fixes Werner with a stare before moving towards the porch and dropping the carcass on it.}
Matthew Werner: Well, that’s why we’re doing this interview: so that you can get your side heard.
DGX: Right…get the door once you guys are in.
{DGX enters the ranch. Not a promising start if he’s being honest. Absent mindedly he fiddles with the envelope in his coat pocket. In his preparations to come up here he’d even tried folks tied to Hector Perez’s office to reach him. A desk flunky had given him that envelop requesting that if he found him to pass it on. Between that and Carmen’s message he at least had some things for him.}
Matthew Werner: Alright, he’s definitely a bit sore about the interview.
Driver: Like it’s our fault he and EBR gambled with people’s livelihood and lives?
Matthew Werner: That…is why you are BEHIND the camera. Look D is a complex interview, there’s a way to do it. Just keep your mouth shut and shoot.
Driver: Right…
{As the pair ascend the steps to the porch and enter the ranch Werner calls over his shoulder…}
Matthew Werner: Hope you like fish...
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April 2, 4:45 PM EST
Miami, Florida
DGX: So you’re saying I have to get on a plane, today to go to England?
Weinstein: That’s correct.
DGX: Wembley Stadium, a WFWF show?
Weinstein: Again, correct.
DGX: Dammit Weinstein why?
{An exasperated sigh leaves Weinstein.}
Weinstein: Look, you know why. You have to meet those dates or the contract is annulled. And if that happens, you’re screwed.
{To be spoken to in this way. DGX frowns.}
DGX: Are we though? I mean sure the investments have been down the last year or so but they should pick up again right?
Weinstein: What investments?
{DGX gives Weinstein a look.}
DGX: You know, the investments. I asked you about those once, I’m sure of it.
{Weinstein rubs his eyes with his hand.}
Weinstein: Uh huh, and I told you I’m an agent not an investment banker.
DGX: Well yeah, but I figured that was kind of like a Bones thing…
{Weinstein looks up at DGX with an exhausted stare from behind his desk.}
Weinstein: Bones?
DGX: The doc from the original Star Trek, you know, his Captain would ask him to do something and then he’d say “dammit, I’m a doctor not a insert whatever he was asked to be.” But then he always did it anyhow…
Weinstein: Well D, I’m not Leonard McCoy.
DGX: Clearly. Since you know, HE would always wind up doing as his boss asked him to…
{DGX fixes a pointed stare at Weinstein who again shuts and rubs his eyes in frustration.}
DGX: Wait…so if I don’t have investments, what’ve I been living on?
Weinstein: Your contract D. Wrestling contracts are fully guaranteed whether you fill their time term or not. However, as you learned from Perez’s legal team if certain obligations aren’t met, they can cancel the contract. Meaning you’d have no money.
DGX: So I have to meet a set number of dates and then this contract is good again?
Weinstein: Yes.
DGX: Why WFWF though?
{Not an ideal location if he was being honest. The last time people who watch WFWF had seen him EBR had beaten him unconscious. Still didn’t quit so at least he had that to stand on but it’s never ideal to face an audience with that level of shine taken off your mystique.}
Weinstein: Well, given the controversy surrounding you and E’s little “headhunting” gag you shockingly have a reputation at present as a “danger” and a “liability.”
{Weinstein does unnecessary finger quotes around the words.}
Weinstein: Simply put WFWF are the only ones that called me back. But they called back with a good offer, you’ll get a nice and fair appearance fee on a match-to-match basis and you get to come in on a big pay per view show and get a taste from the buy revenue too. Had to twist an arm but I got it. Because dammit D, I’m an agent, not a doctor!
DGX: Lame.
{Weinstein places both hands on his desk and shuts his eyes, a bemused smile on his face. Finally he slides a plane ticket across his desk towards DGX.}
Weinstein: Look…this is transatlantic flight 1138 leaving tonight for London, England. I’ll break it down for you like this: be on that flight or never cross my doorway again.
DGX: …
{Weinstein’s look says all It needs too. After all the years and all the money he’s been made that’s what it boils down to. Prick. DGX takes the ticket never breaking eye contact and files this away. He’s uncertain that Weinstein truly comprehends what he’s just done. But he will, soon enough. DGX turns his back on him and exits the office ticket in hand.}
====================================================================================================================================
February 1, 12:05 PM MST
DGX homestead near Lake Braeburn, Yukon, Canada
<Matthew Werner:> So…Canada huh?
[DGX:] Yeah.
<Matthew Werner:> I’ll be honest…
(Werner cranes his head around looking at the surroundings of the rustic lodge DGX calls home.)
<Matthew Werner:> I never pictured your sunset was going all “Roy Rodgers”…
(DGX shrugs.)
[DGX:] It was just how it shook out honestly. Anaheim wasn’t really the same since California voted in the UFP government and I wasn’t really interested in going somewhere “busy”. Just wanted somewhere quiet.
(Werner nods.)
[DGX:] But I guess you’re not here to talk about all that, guess we should get to it huh?
<Matthew Werner:> Whenever you’re ready.
(DGX takes a breath. Seems to collect his thoughts.)
[DGX:] Right. Where do you want to start?
<Matthew Werner:> Tell me about your betting system with EBR. How did that come about?
[DGX:] E and I had recently been signed to large deals, came back in as heaters for Alex’s big push to get the world title. The company put us together as a team and so we just went about the business of being champions.
<Matthew Werner:> So you came in a tag team champions?
[DGX:] We never lost the belts before we’d left the company last time so…
(To be the Man ya gotta beat the Man friends.)
<Matthew Werner:> Right. So you’re tag team champions, “unofficially”, you’re competing night to night…how does something like this come up?
(DGX cracks a smile.)
[DGX:] Motivation mainly.
<Matthew Werner:> So you and EBR start betting money with the object of injuring your opponents seriously for extra motivation to compete?
[DGX:] You say that so judgmentally Wern. Are E and I the first people to side bet one another as a form of motivation in any professional sport ever? Look at the New Orleans Saints. However you fall on the “bountygate” argument a fact you can’t dispute is the season that system was put in place remains the only one that franchise won a championship in.
<Matthew Werner:> So to your thinking the ends justify the means then?
[DGX:] Absolutely. That’s been my mentality since day one. I know everyone’s been upset since it came out that E and I did this but I think what it glosses over a ton is context. What do E and I do for a living at the time of this? We were professional wrestlers. When the Saints did what they did, they were professional football players. What do both these things have in common? They are full contact or combat sports. The risk of injury or something happening to you physically is a thing we take on every time we suit up.
<Matthew Werner:> So you feel that because physicality is a part of what you do for a living it’s okay to batter a person like former XWA star Lightning to the point that today he can’t function properly in his day-to-day life?
(As Werner speaks DGX rolls his eyes and he shakes his head.)
[DGX:] Combat sports is a dangerous way to make a living Matthew. When the guy you mentioned knew he had a match with me coming up he talked a streak heading into that bout. All manner of trash came out of that guy’s mouth leading in and why? Because he felt he would be better able to inflict his physical will on me than I would him. He was wrong.
(DGX puts up both of his hands, palms out.)
[DGX:] Now don’t get me wrong, if I were to do this kind of thing to him in the street? That’s reprehensible and as abhorrent as you express. There’s no room in society for that kind of conduct outside the bounds of a sport or competition that can support it. I’d go to jail for those sorts of actions and I’d deserve to be there. But Matthew, what is professional wrestling? Really? It’s a series of contests where you try to do enough damage to another human being to make them either quit before it goes too far or pin them to a mat for three seconds after it does.
(It’s not for the faint of heart kids.)
<Matthew Werner:> So you and EBR devise this system, you’re paying one another to be more and more brutal match to match, more and more wrestlers are going down with injury what are you thinking as this is going on?
(DGX nods along to Werner’s spiel and quirks an eyebrow.)
[DGX:] That it’s working Matthew.
<Matthew Werner:> In what way?
[DGX:] Motivation. As I said from the beginning. Look…the state of that company when we signed to it was, being generous, not exactly “overrun with talent.” Everyone loved a good Mike Tyson fight when he was in his prime but he probably wouldn’t have put on quite as much of a show as he did if he was just constantly crushing tomato cans. No matter what they paid him. It gets hard to continually get up for fights you know you’re going to win.
(DGX leans back in his chair.)
[DGX:] Do you think we did it for the money? Wern, the contracts they signed us too over and above Perez’s whining objections was such that the average person would never need to work another day in their life if they lived to one fifty. We all were flush at this point. Now granted I am a ten-time world champion and a great singles wrestler. Arguments have been made for Greatest of All Time. But you know what else I am? A sixteen-time tag team champion. An argument could be made that I’m the most successful “tag team specialist” in the history of the business. And do you know my secret to success Matthew?
<Matthew Werner:> I do not.
[DGX:] Knowing how to lead men. I’m a ring general Matthew and a part of that comes down to my ability to read and understand my partners. EBR might be the most naturally gifted teammate I’ve ever had, all respect to Alex and others. The tradeoff is he knows he’s gifted and therefore is content to give half-assed effort because that more times than not works for him. When do you get his best? When he’s slighted and when he’s competing to prove something. Also when he stands to win lots of money.
<Matthew Werner:> You said you guys didn’t need the money though. Like with the contracts.
(DGX shrugs dismissively.)
[DGX:] I don’t pretend to understand why these things work Matthew I just know that they do. I once paid him to back out of a title shot. Publicly.
<Matthew Werner:> That worked?
[DGX:] It did. Look Jordan was loaded too, it’s a weird selective competitiveness. I try not to think about it too much.
<Matthew Werner:> Alright last question, given what we know now about concussions and their lasting impact on mental health do you think going back you might have done things differently? This was in the mid tens and we only were scratching the surface then…
[DGX:] Not into the “what if” game Matthew. Look I’ve fallen off ladders, buildings, had my head smashed in with steel chairs, stairs and every foreign object in between. I’ve even been beaten unconscious with a person’s bare hands. No one is ringing me up five to twenty years later to apologize to me and give me a lifetime achievement award for coming through a wrestling career with my health. To my mind the knowledge we have now to then aside, I don’t think we get a blanket pass on the ignorance card just by answering “yes of course” to a canned interview question after the fact. Because each and every one of us answered that question at the outset of all of this when we signed our contracts and agreed to beat the piss out of each other for a living.
<Matthew Werner:> So it’s just what you all signed up for then?
[DGX:] Damn right. You know what I loved the most about professional wrestling when I started? The competitiveness. The fact that there were winners and losers. The fact that to get what you wanted you had to go through someone else who didn’t want you to do it. I can’t stand this culture in wrestling now where people stand in the middle of the ring after a hard-fought battle and raise each others hands, and fawn all over each other, and make out center ring because “we’re so great TOGETHER!”
{DGX pantomimes a gag.}
[DGX:] There’s no competitive drive anymore. None will to win at all costs. Because everyone has to like each other and God forbid anyone do anything that makes them feel any negative driving emotions like hate or envy.
<Matthew Werner:> Last question, what do you feel about all your colleagues who have retired with these hardships?
{DGX:} Quite a question to end on. Honestly? Pity. I’m sad for them. I’m sad that their ability and talent didn’t allow them to get what they wanted out of the business. Also, disappointment. Because rather than accept this and move on to something they may excel and be great at they bought in to the whole “trophy for showing up” and “no person left behind” victim culture and decided to parade themselves for everyone as victims so they could absorb all the sympathy and adulation from those people not realizing the once every milk toast, kale smoothie sipping yuppie who subscribes to that garbage pats themselves on the back for the thirty fifth time that morning for feeling sympathy for their plight they forget them in the next five seconds.
{And on that note with a slight nod of his head DGX concludes the interview and it cuts to black.}
====================================================================================================================================
April 2, 11:07 PM EST
Miami International Airport
{He sits in a row of seats on his own, carryon to his right. His eyes fixed on his cell phone reading the details Weinstein had emailed over. Didn’t call. Knew he better keep his head down after that flex back there.
in’ punk.}Stranger: I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be a creep or nuthin but are you DGX?
{Looking up from his phone DGX sees another passenger waiting to board transatlantic 1138. He’s an older gent with white hair and wrinkles. Little sickly looking, maybe some hard living. Probably mid fifties. DGX smiles.}
[DGX:] No worries man, yes I did go by DGX in my wrestling days.
{The man smiles wide.}
Stanger: I thought it was you! Man that’s a relief! I thought you might be dead!
[DGX:] Nope, still here.
{He turns back to his phone checking more details from the show. Looks like he’ll be an attraction match with another former WFWF great: the incomparable Reverend Shadow. Or Jason Jadoa. Or whatever he calls himself these days. He feels a pang of pride wounding, an attraction match. Back end of the card. Near but not TOO near to the main events…}
Strangers: Sorry…I uh…I didn’t mean to be disrespectful there.
{Looking up from his phone DGX raises an eyebrow to the fan.}
[DGX:] What do you mean?
Stranger: Oh uh…you just…you kind of went back to your phone there and I thought maybe I’d insulted you or somethin’… just you know I just mean you kind of disappeared after you left wrestling.
[DGX:] Ooooh, yeah no I’m good man. I just never really thought about public life after wrestling…
Stranger: Yeah, after Hollywood, right?
{There’s a beat.}
Stranger: Aw, damn! I’m not great at this…crying out loud, I need to get ahold of myself! I’m a fifty two year old man! I’m starting over! Hi! I’m Chris, I’m a big fan of yours!
{DGX smiles as the guy seems to get himself together and puts his phone away before taking the handshake.}
[DGX:] I’m Jon, used to go by DGX. Glad to meet a fan. Where’d you see me work?
Chris: My first pay per view live event was main evented by you and Vestal in 2002.
{And the sudden realization that this fifty two year old man was a thirty year old kid when he started wrestling helped crystalize the attraction spot on the card. Two decades just about. Not allot in an average human lifespan but an eternity in an athletics career. He was turning into the grey beard veteran that version of himself had spent time ridiculing out of the business.}
[DGX:] Wow. That was a pretty hot crowd if I remember right.
Chris: Yeah, we were wild. So ready to see you finally give it to that bastard. When he managed to sneak one on you I thought for sure I was going to be part of a riot.
{The two share a laugh. Wrestling crowds used to be crazy y’all.}
Chris: So what brings you to London?
[DGX:] Just some business stuff I have to take care of.
{Cool as meeting a fan was he wasn’t eager for a groupie trying to follow him to the show.}
Chris: Cool.
[DGX:] So…do you watch wrestling anymore?
Chris: Not really, I’m not really into what it’s become.
[DGX;} How so? I haven’t watched anything since I’ve been out.
Chris: Well, I feel for the talent today because it’s like…the blind leading the blind ya know? Like you lot who knew how to wrestle are positioned as “Sometimes attractions” and only ever really wrestle each other. So how can the new people learn if they never have to get in with someone better than them?
{You know, super fan Chris makes allot of sense. But maybe, just maybe this could be something other than that. Maybe this could be the start of something greater. Maybe he could find his second wrestling life in WFWF. Sure, he has to meet contractual obligations or face financial ruin and humiliation but what if it wasn’t just that? What if the young, impressionable, mouldable young roster of the WFWF could indeed benefit from his experience and star power? He’d played his whole career for the Patriots, he has his championships maybe now it was his time to take his talents to the Suckaneers of wrestling and show them how to win in 2021! Maybe it could be time to give back! Also…if everything went well, maybe make a boat load of money or two in the process! Age? Pssh. Age is but a number!}
Chris: Hard to know, but I think it can be brought back you know. Just needs the right mix of experience and fresh ideas. Instead of all fresh ideas that kind of suck.
[DGX:] Yeah, I can see there being some potential then. Anyways we should be boarding pretty quick. Nice to meet you. Have a great flight!
Chris: You too man. Can I grab…
[DGX:] Autograph? Absolutely.
{As the Essence of Greatness scribbles his signature for a loyal fan he muses on his newfound motivations. If Tom Brady could do it why the hell couldn’t he?! And you know, even though this attraction match with Reverend Shadow is symptomatic of the problems with wrestling as described by super fan Chris it occurs to him that it doesn’t need to be. Why not make lemonade out of that lemon that has been handed to him as a return?
You know for a long while now, he’d regarded WFWF as a minor league. A double A ball team! The G League! But you know what? It’s a verdant and largely unexplored pasture to him largely because of that kind of elitist thinking! These fans don’t really know his deal. They know he’s great. Putting him in the hall of fame had cemented that fact. But the fans there, their last image of him was a low point, beaten to unconsciousness and not seen since.
It occurs to him now, in this moment that he and Reverend Shadow while largely ships passing in the night had very limited interactions and they almost always went poorly for himself. Through no fault of his own the good Reverend had turned into something of a Bad Omen in the WFWF lore of DGX. But that was the great thing about this new beginning. A chance right at the start to change that narrative, now after Superbrawl the good name of Reverend Shadow will not stand as a portent of doom to DGX but rather will service as his Herald. This match will put the WFWF on notice that the Icon has returned and set his sights on WFWF’s field. Then he’ll build his Kingdom…}
PA: Now boarding transatlantic flight 1138 all remaining seats.
{One Gift at a time.}
