Post by Chaos Stryke on Oct 14, 2012 16:48:03 GMT -4
The scene fades up from black and we find ourselves watching an agitated Logan Alexander pacing along the length of a sitting room. For those that have watched Logan in action in other promotions the room would look familiar from years ago when he used to cut promos from his Toronto home. There’s a large window that opens the view into the backyard of his home, and sliding doors leading out onto his back deck. We can see it’s around midday about now by the amount of light. There are two other doorways in the sitting room. One is occupied by the cameraperson. The other appears to lead into the kitchen. Green carpeting covers the floor. The walls and ceiling are painted a like blue. There is a three piece furniture set, all dark grey, arranged with a loveseat against the far wall across from the kitchen entrance, a couch across from the window, and a recliner sitting between the camera and the kitchen doorway. An entertainment centre is set up just off to the side of the window. A brown coffee table sits in the middle of the room, and as Logan paces he moves past it on one side and back on the other. From the loveseat, a grey, white, and silver calico cat watches him with mild interest. Logan continues to pace around the room, wearing a black t-shirt and matching knee length shorts. A female voice speaks from near the camera, possibly the one carrying the camera.
“So… are you going to do anything other than pace around in front of the camera today?”
Logan pauses and looks over at the camera.
“Sorry… I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“So talk about it then. It tends to help, doesn’t it?”
“Sort of… I’m not really sure how it helps this week though. Venting my problems doesn’t take care of them. Just let’s others hear about them.”
“And sometimes they can help you with them. Or in the case of your opponents, it gives you something else to focus on for a while.”
Logan rolls his eyes and sighs.
“I guess you’re just going to stay on this until I tell you anyway.”
There’s a trace of humour in her voice as she replies.
“I think that’s pretty much part of my unofficial job description.”
He lowers his gaze to the floor and puts his hands on his hips. He lets out a long breath.
“I don’t know what to do this week…”
“Well… that isn’t in relation to your own match, is it? That seems like a pretty straightforward affair.”
“No. It’s not about that at all. It’s about what is scheduled right AFTER my match this week.”
“Of course… Aubrey.”
Logan offers a grim smile in return.
“Yes.”
He shakes his head.
“I don’t know what to do about this situation. The GM of Meltdown, in his ‘infinite wisdom’, has decided that it would be a really great idea to take my partner, who was injured last week, and put her in a cage match this week. Then she’s stuck in there with two opponents. Vincent ‘I need to make an impression and have no spine’ Pennington… the man who INJURED her so callously last week... and Gervaise ‘I ran my mouth and ended up getting knocked out by Aubrey’ Williams. That’s not a wrestling match that was booked… it’s a blatant attempt to remove a damn talented competitor from active competition!”
“I listened to people on Overdrive talking about unsafe working conditions being promoted in APW and I actually think I agree with them. The kicker is that everyone involved in the North American title match is banned from ringside for this match too. I’m not even allowed to be there in the corner of my partner!”
Logan is seething by this point. He resumes pacing around the room.
“When this goes bad… and I fully expect it to, I’m expected to just sit back and watch as my partner gets decimated.”
“You really think that’s going to happen?”
“When she’s at her best… there’s not a chance. But she’s not at her best. She’s been concussed and I’m worried. I’ve suggested she not go out and compete, but I don’t think she was willing to listen. I’ve wrestled concussed, but never in a situation like this. It would be like me competing in a cage match with a pair of 350 pounders when I’m out of sorts. It’s a recipe for disaster. I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit back and just let it play out if it starts to go badly for her.”
“Pennington hurt her and he just said ‘I snapped’ as though that excuses it. ‘Oops… I was angry when I did that. Total accident.’ He’ll feel totally justified when he decides that he’s going to put Aubrey out. He knows he can’t win against her so he might just decide that he’ll put her out before he has to face her at One Night in Hell. It won’t improve his chances… they’ll still be zero, but he’ll feel that he accomplished something.”
“Williams isn’t much better. He showed up last week with his panties in a twist because he realized fans like M&M and he’s just filler material. He made it abundantly clear he’d like to take advantage of Aubrey last week, and he’s getting a chance this week to do so. He’s starving for attention and credibility. He ran someone down with a golf cart because they beat him up. Now my partner’s in a cage with him too.”
He stops pacing near the camera and looks over at it.
“Since I’ve heard about Aubrey’s match, I’ve been pretty agitated from the moment I wake up till the moment I sleep every day.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I see you most of the day after all.”
Logan scowls at her attempt to lighten the mood.
“That’s really not helping.”
“Sorry.”
He lets out a breath.
“I shouldn’t be taking it out on you… I’ll have to talk with Aubrey again. If I can’t change her mind, then I’ll just have to give her every bit of strategy, every piece of advice, and whatever else I can think of to help her pull through this match. I’m not worried about her winning this match, so much as being able to walk out afterwards and being able to recover… hopefully without having to forfeit her opportunity at One Night in Hell. There’s been a rash of injuries and departures in APW as of late and I don’t want Aubrey to end up being another one added to the list. She deserves better than that.”
He looks back at the camera, glaring darkly.
“And ban or no ban… if things start moving that way on Monday night, heaven help anyone that tries to keep me from getting to Aubrey’s side. I’ll find a way to get there… consequences be damned.”
The scene fades to black.
Fading back in… the camera now offers a different perspective in the home of Logan Alexander. Inside the sitting room, the main lights are out and it’s dark outside, but the room is illuminated by the light coming from the television screen. Logan’s sitting against one end of the couch, one leg across the cushions, the other hanging off the front of the couch, presumably with his foot on the floor. We can see his cat stretched out across his lap and he idly pets her with one hand. From the angle of the camera, it seems like it might be on the coffee table we saw earlier. Logan pays the camera no mind. He still looks tense as he sits there.
“It’s not a night that I think I’m getting much sleep. Too much to think about, too worked up, and no good way to unwind. So I’ve got nothing to do but brood on events last Monday and what might be coming up this Monday. I’m worried about Aubrey’s match, but I’ve got to pay attention to my own as well. But I can’t really say that I care all that much about it.”
“I’m facing Ashton Daniels. He’s one half of the team Educated Money. Why should I care about facing you, Ashton? What have you done that should make me consider you threat? What have you shown since arriving in APW that should make me take you seriously?”
He looks towards the camera, his features conveying his annoyance at and his general feeling of being unimpressed by his opponent.
“You’ve got a lot of money. You live in a mansion. You like to party. You’re overly thrilled by achieving minimal results. Those are pretty much all the key points for you aren’t they? You showed up on Meltdown and like so many others you crowed about how great you and your partner are. You’re going to be the new standard here in the company and take the tag division by storm. You’re going to win championships and become the biggest star ever seen. You’re going to earn yourself millions upon millions of dollars and hook up with all the most beautiful women around the world. Then you’ll win the Noble Peace Prize, cure cancer for all time, and then fly to Mars. That about sums it up, right?”
His sarcasm is painfully obvious as he stops speaking.
“I’m sure what I said wasn’t accurate at all… You’ll try to convince everyone that you are much more grandiose than that of course.”
Logan snorts and looks away from the camera, returning his attention to the television.
“You and your partner Jerome Dubois came out two weeks ago and had a chance to make your great first impression on everyone here in APW. How did you manage in that attempt anyway?”
He snaps his fingers as though in realization of something. The cat lifts her head and looks up at his hand as he wags his now extended finger back and forth slightly. She loses interest after a little while though.
“Oh right, Jason Kash turned on Mr. Dangerous, beat him down for you, and then walked out on the match so that you and your partner could pick up the scraps and ‘earn’ your first victory. Quite a glorious debut and after that, you were all set, celebrating the following week. You had that big party you threw in Chicago to celebrate. Isn’t that just adorable too? One half of the ‘greatest tag team’ here in APW was content to celebrate such a worthless victory. You were given a freebie, yet you celebrate like you actually accomplished something. Sure it was your debut match and all, but why don’t you just announce that your goal is mediocrity and save everyone here a few weeks in waiting for you and Jerome to crumble? Oh wait… you did that last week.”
“You had a chance to prove yourself and your team had a chance to earn a future Tag title match. All you had to do was going out and beat the new and untested team of Young Mannie and Shannell Lewis. Should have been a really easy job for Educated Money right? So the two of you went in there and what ended up happening? Mannie beat the crap out of you and your partner, Shannell got in her licks as well, and you got pinned to end the match. So when you actually had to earn a victory rather than having it handed to you, it turned out that you couldn’t get the job done.”
He closes his hand and then opens it, spreading his fingers wide, pantomiming an explosion.
“Poof. In that moment the façade went to pieces and you were shown to be a whole lot of talk that couldn’t back up your claims.”
Logan glances back at the camera.
“Educated Money are certainly no M&M. Aubrey and I showed up and we won our first two tag team matches decisively. After that, the both of us qualified for the North American championship match at One Night in Hell. Last week, we were able to prove our dominance, but I’ll give Lively credit for slipping in and getting the win off our work. If there’s one thing Lively knows, it’s how to make the most of other people’s hard work. But I even put down his ‘unstoppable monster’ last week with one move. I’m disappointed by the losses I suffered last week, but it has given me something in return.”
“Focus. Desire. Anger.”
He narrows his eyes and glares at the camera.
“I have other targets in mind, but I’m not going to get my hands on them for several more weeks… which means that you’re going to have to do as a substitute for now. All of the frustration I have built up over the last week is going to be unleashed on you Ashton. I’m not even too worried about whether I win or lose this week. I’m aiming for a win like I usually do, just that I’m perfectly happy to have someone to hit in the ring as well. There’s only so much stress you can relieve when you’re punching the heck out of hanging bag of sand. It doesn’t fight back. It doesn’t react. I’m fully expecting you to be able to do both of those in the ring at least. Given your last two performances in the ring, I have to wonder just how well you’ll do though. I might just walk to the ring and steamroll you right into the ground. It’ll be disappointing honestly… I’d like to have a good amount of time to vent if I can. But it wouldn’t be the first time in my career that I’ve stepped in against someone that really wasn’t prepared to face someone of my ability or someone currently driven by my level of intensity, so I’ll just have to deal with it.”
“For you it really just is the wrong place at the wrong time. You’re still looking for you place and your direction, Ashton. You came in figuring it’d be a straight run to the top for you, but you’ve already hit a snag and now you’ve got to find a way to go past it. The first thing I’d suggest is that you set down the beer you’re probably drinking and reassess your priorities. You want success? Then you’re going to have to work for it here. I didn’t come into APW expecting to go right to the top. I knew I’d have to work to prove it and I’ve been willing to do just that. Four weeks ago, I got embarrassed in my singles debut. Two weeks ago, I secured a place in the North American title match, beating my partner and two other people. Last week, I stared down one of the biggest challenges possible on Meltdown. In two weeks I’m going to step into a match that is nothing but an uphill climb for someone like me… but that match is exactly what I want now. It’s going to prove a point. Before I can get there and get my hands on the ones I really want though, I first have you to deal with.”
“I’m not going to use you to send a message to the other North American contenders either. You’re nothing here Ashton and beating you proves nothing and impresses no one. You’re just a warm up act this week, but I’m fine with that. Bring as much fight as you possibly have, but just know that the more you fight, the more punishment you’re going to absorb. This match isn’t going to end until you are knocked out or you tap out, I don’t care which happens first. Then once you are done and out of the way I can return my attention to what really matters this week, but between the bells that define our match… you’re all I’ve got to deal with.”
“This week, my focus is on you and what I want is to get you out of my way as quickly as possible. If that requires me to be a bit more brutal in the ring to get the job done, so be it. All the anger I have is going to be brought to bear on you Ashton. That is exactly how I’m going to put you away. It’s not going to be me raging out of control though, I’m going to be methodical and I’ll break you down in the ring piece by piece, bit by bit until you can’t handle any more. You can try to stop me, and I’d like to see you try, but I’m not going to bet on you being able to. So on Meltdown, show me what you’ve got and give me a fight if you can.”
Logan looks away from the camera falling silent again. The camera watches him for a few moments before the scene fades to black.
“So… are you going to do anything other than pace around in front of the camera today?”
Logan pauses and looks over at the camera.
“Sorry… I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“So talk about it then. It tends to help, doesn’t it?”
“Sort of… I’m not really sure how it helps this week though. Venting my problems doesn’t take care of them. Just let’s others hear about them.”
“And sometimes they can help you with them. Or in the case of your opponents, it gives you something else to focus on for a while.”
Logan rolls his eyes and sighs.
“I guess you’re just going to stay on this until I tell you anyway.”
There’s a trace of humour in her voice as she replies.
“I think that’s pretty much part of my unofficial job description.”
He lowers his gaze to the floor and puts his hands on his hips. He lets out a long breath.
“I don’t know what to do this week…”
“Well… that isn’t in relation to your own match, is it? That seems like a pretty straightforward affair.”
“No. It’s not about that at all. It’s about what is scheduled right AFTER my match this week.”
“Of course… Aubrey.”
Logan offers a grim smile in return.
“Yes.”
He shakes his head.
“I don’t know what to do about this situation. The GM of Meltdown, in his ‘infinite wisdom’, has decided that it would be a really great idea to take my partner, who was injured last week, and put her in a cage match this week. Then she’s stuck in there with two opponents. Vincent ‘I need to make an impression and have no spine’ Pennington… the man who INJURED her so callously last week... and Gervaise ‘I ran my mouth and ended up getting knocked out by Aubrey’ Williams. That’s not a wrestling match that was booked… it’s a blatant attempt to remove a damn talented competitor from active competition!”
“I listened to people on Overdrive talking about unsafe working conditions being promoted in APW and I actually think I agree with them. The kicker is that everyone involved in the North American title match is banned from ringside for this match too. I’m not even allowed to be there in the corner of my partner!”
Logan is seething by this point. He resumes pacing around the room.
“When this goes bad… and I fully expect it to, I’m expected to just sit back and watch as my partner gets decimated.”
“You really think that’s going to happen?”
“When she’s at her best… there’s not a chance. But she’s not at her best. She’s been concussed and I’m worried. I’ve suggested she not go out and compete, but I don’t think she was willing to listen. I’ve wrestled concussed, but never in a situation like this. It would be like me competing in a cage match with a pair of 350 pounders when I’m out of sorts. It’s a recipe for disaster. I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit back and just let it play out if it starts to go badly for her.”
“Pennington hurt her and he just said ‘I snapped’ as though that excuses it. ‘Oops… I was angry when I did that. Total accident.’ He’ll feel totally justified when he decides that he’s going to put Aubrey out. He knows he can’t win against her so he might just decide that he’ll put her out before he has to face her at One Night in Hell. It won’t improve his chances… they’ll still be zero, but he’ll feel that he accomplished something.”
“Williams isn’t much better. He showed up last week with his panties in a twist because he realized fans like M&M and he’s just filler material. He made it abundantly clear he’d like to take advantage of Aubrey last week, and he’s getting a chance this week to do so. He’s starving for attention and credibility. He ran someone down with a golf cart because they beat him up. Now my partner’s in a cage with him too.”
He stops pacing near the camera and looks over at it.
“Since I’ve heard about Aubrey’s match, I’ve been pretty agitated from the moment I wake up till the moment I sleep every day.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I see you most of the day after all.”
Logan scowls at her attempt to lighten the mood.
“That’s really not helping.”
“Sorry.”
He lets out a breath.
“I shouldn’t be taking it out on you… I’ll have to talk with Aubrey again. If I can’t change her mind, then I’ll just have to give her every bit of strategy, every piece of advice, and whatever else I can think of to help her pull through this match. I’m not worried about her winning this match, so much as being able to walk out afterwards and being able to recover… hopefully without having to forfeit her opportunity at One Night in Hell. There’s been a rash of injuries and departures in APW as of late and I don’t want Aubrey to end up being another one added to the list. She deserves better than that.”
He looks back at the camera, glaring darkly.
“And ban or no ban… if things start moving that way on Monday night, heaven help anyone that tries to keep me from getting to Aubrey’s side. I’ll find a way to get there… consequences be damned.”
The scene fades to black.
Fading back in… the camera now offers a different perspective in the home of Logan Alexander. Inside the sitting room, the main lights are out and it’s dark outside, but the room is illuminated by the light coming from the television screen. Logan’s sitting against one end of the couch, one leg across the cushions, the other hanging off the front of the couch, presumably with his foot on the floor. We can see his cat stretched out across his lap and he idly pets her with one hand. From the angle of the camera, it seems like it might be on the coffee table we saw earlier. Logan pays the camera no mind. He still looks tense as he sits there.
“It’s not a night that I think I’m getting much sleep. Too much to think about, too worked up, and no good way to unwind. So I’ve got nothing to do but brood on events last Monday and what might be coming up this Monday. I’m worried about Aubrey’s match, but I’ve got to pay attention to my own as well. But I can’t really say that I care all that much about it.”
“I’m facing Ashton Daniels. He’s one half of the team Educated Money. Why should I care about facing you, Ashton? What have you done that should make me consider you threat? What have you shown since arriving in APW that should make me take you seriously?”
He looks towards the camera, his features conveying his annoyance at and his general feeling of being unimpressed by his opponent.
“You’ve got a lot of money. You live in a mansion. You like to party. You’re overly thrilled by achieving minimal results. Those are pretty much all the key points for you aren’t they? You showed up on Meltdown and like so many others you crowed about how great you and your partner are. You’re going to be the new standard here in the company and take the tag division by storm. You’re going to win championships and become the biggest star ever seen. You’re going to earn yourself millions upon millions of dollars and hook up with all the most beautiful women around the world. Then you’ll win the Noble Peace Prize, cure cancer for all time, and then fly to Mars. That about sums it up, right?”
His sarcasm is painfully obvious as he stops speaking.
“I’m sure what I said wasn’t accurate at all… You’ll try to convince everyone that you are much more grandiose than that of course.”
Logan snorts and looks away from the camera, returning his attention to the television.
“You and your partner Jerome Dubois came out two weeks ago and had a chance to make your great first impression on everyone here in APW. How did you manage in that attempt anyway?”
He snaps his fingers as though in realization of something. The cat lifts her head and looks up at his hand as he wags his now extended finger back and forth slightly. She loses interest after a little while though.
“Oh right, Jason Kash turned on Mr. Dangerous, beat him down for you, and then walked out on the match so that you and your partner could pick up the scraps and ‘earn’ your first victory. Quite a glorious debut and after that, you were all set, celebrating the following week. You had that big party you threw in Chicago to celebrate. Isn’t that just adorable too? One half of the ‘greatest tag team’ here in APW was content to celebrate such a worthless victory. You were given a freebie, yet you celebrate like you actually accomplished something. Sure it was your debut match and all, but why don’t you just announce that your goal is mediocrity and save everyone here a few weeks in waiting for you and Jerome to crumble? Oh wait… you did that last week.”
“You had a chance to prove yourself and your team had a chance to earn a future Tag title match. All you had to do was going out and beat the new and untested team of Young Mannie and Shannell Lewis. Should have been a really easy job for Educated Money right? So the two of you went in there and what ended up happening? Mannie beat the crap out of you and your partner, Shannell got in her licks as well, and you got pinned to end the match. So when you actually had to earn a victory rather than having it handed to you, it turned out that you couldn’t get the job done.”
He closes his hand and then opens it, spreading his fingers wide, pantomiming an explosion.
“Poof. In that moment the façade went to pieces and you were shown to be a whole lot of talk that couldn’t back up your claims.”
Logan glances back at the camera.
“Educated Money are certainly no M&M. Aubrey and I showed up and we won our first two tag team matches decisively. After that, the both of us qualified for the North American championship match at One Night in Hell. Last week, we were able to prove our dominance, but I’ll give Lively credit for slipping in and getting the win off our work. If there’s one thing Lively knows, it’s how to make the most of other people’s hard work. But I even put down his ‘unstoppable monster’ last week with one move. I’m disappointed by the losses I suffered last week, but it has given me something in return.”
“Focus. Desire. Anger.”
He narrows his eyes and glares at the camera.
“I have other targets in mind, but I’m not going to get my hands on them for several more weeks… which means that you’re going to have to do as a substitute for now. All of the frustration I have built up over the last week is going to be unleashed on you Ashton. I’m not even too worried about whether I win or lose this week. I’m aiming for a win like I usually do, just that I’m perfectly happy to have someone to hit in the ring as well. There’s only so much stress you can relieve when you’re punching the heck out of hanging bag of sand. It doesn’t fight back. It doesn’t react. I’m fully expecting you to be able to do both of those in the ring at least. Given your last two performances in the ring, I have to wonder just how well you’ll do though. I might just walk to the ring and steamroll you right into the ground. It’ll be disappointing honestly… I’d like to have a good amount of time to vent if I can. But it wouldn’t be the first time in my career that I’ve stepped in against someone that really wasn’t prepared to face someone of my ability or someone currently driven by my level of intensity, so I’ll just have to deal with it.”
“For you it really just is the wrong place at the wrong time. You’re still looking for you place and your direction, Ashton. You came in figuring it’d be a straight run to the top for you, but you’ve already hit a snag and now you’ve got to find a way to go past it. The first thing I’d suggest is that you set down the beer you’re probably drinking and reassess your priorities. You want success? Then you’re going to have to work for it here. I didn’t come into APW expecting to go right to the top. I knew I’d have to work to prove it and I’ve been willing to do just that. Four weeks ago, I got embarrassed in my singles debut. Two weeks ago, I secured a place in the North American title match, beating my partner and two other people. Last week, I stared down one of the biggest challenges possible on Meltdown. In two weeks I’m going to step into a match that is nothing but an uphill climb for someone like me… but that match is exactly what I want now. It’s going to prove a point. Before I can get there and get my hands on the ones I really want though, I first have you to deal with.”
“I’m not going to use you to send a message to the other North American contenders either. You’re nothing here Ashton and beating you proves nothing and impresses no one. You’re just a warm up act this week, but I’m fine with that. Bring as much fight as you possibly have, but just know that the more you fight, the more punishment you’re going to absorb. This match isn’t going to end until you are knocked out or you tap out, I don’t care which happens first. Then once you are done and out of the way I can return my attention to what really matters this week, but between the bells that define our match… you’re all I’ve got to deal with.”
“This week, my focus is on you and what I want is to get you out of my way as quickly as possible. If that requires me to be a bit more brutal in the ring to get the job done, so be it. All the anger I have is going to be brought to bear on you Ashton. That is exactly how I’m going to put you away. It’s not going to be me raging out of control though, I’m going to be methodical and I’ll break you down in the ring piece by piece, bit by bit until you can’t handle any more. You can try to stop me, and I’d like to see you try, but I’m not going to bet on you being able to. So on Meltdown, show me what you’ve got and give me a fight if you can.”
Logan looks away from the camera falling silent again. The camera watches him for a few moments before the scene fades to black.
