Post by SalTal on Oct 27, 2012 18:41:26 GMT -4
"Sally Talfourd presents ..."
is written across the screen, fades out, then
"In association with Action Packed Wrestling..."
is next to appear, holds, then fades out for
"Happy Endings T.V."
Which fades away to a shot of Sally Talfourd, dressed prim and proper, across a table from Asylum’s very own Russ T. Nailz. They’re on stage, spotlights shining down. If you’ve ever seen the show ‘Inside the Actors Studio, you’d know what we’re looking at. Why does it look like that? Well, there’s a reason....
[Russ] Welcome back to Inside the Wreslters LockerRoom with Ms. Talfourd, who’s just finished telling us about her first two ONiH's here in APW - from her first title win in 2010 to come so close to another title in 2011...and now, 2012. Let’s talk about this year.
[Sally] Lots to talk about, isn’t there?
[Russ] Let’s start with what the match means. 2010, it was the chance to really make a mark here in APW. 2011, it seemed you were just fighting to return to lost glory. 2012...what are people fighting for?
[Sally] Well, the thing about a chamber match is...they are brutal and horrible and career-ending and all that. But, something more, they’re an idea. These matches stand for an idea. A cold, hard, representation of an idea that each one of us has. And what I’m fighting for isn’t going to be the same as what the rest of the competitions are fighting for.
[Russ] Then what’s everyone fighting for?
Sally rests back in the chair with a sigh. She has to think. All the words and actions of her competitors - not just of the past few weeks but of the past few years summed up in a few words? It’s not easy. But if anyone has the mastery of words...Sally is the person to say it!
[Sally] Well, start with experience, right? Age before beauty? Take Rebel. What does this match mean for him? This match is his chance. His chance to prove himself and to finally become the megastar he truly thinks he is. The chamber is his opportunity to step up and show that he’s as good as all those people who have actually got ahead of him. Then, you look at someone like Keaton Saint - a man who has done it all, who has been everywhere, and has won everything...except in APW. You’ve got a guy where the match is his redemption. Redemption for opportunities lost on OverDrive. Redemption for his APW failings thus far. Redemption for the disappointment he feels about himself. This match, to Saint, is a tough, cold, rough effort at redemption.
And then you’ve got newcomers to APW like Michael Callahan. This match is his fate. That’s what he will believe. It’s his chance to prove himself. He will tell anyone who will listen that this is his destiny. It’s his poor excuse to make up for his failings. That he was meant to lose the Suicidal Title...he was meant to lose the Beat the Clock matches...and that whatever happened leading up to now was meant to happen because he was destined to win the World Heavyweight Title. Same sort of thing with Atken. This match is the living, breathing proof that he’s been looking for. Proof that he’s not just a comedian. Proof that he’s not just the butt of jokes. Proof of everything he’s ever thought in APW but never been able to...to...
[Russ] Never been able to prove?
[Sally] Exactly. He thinks it’s time for the Rise of the Atken, and here’s the proof of that.
She’s not wrong. Every wrestler knows that each match means something different to everyone. At the bare minimum, when you have a one-on-one match, someone is defending and someone is challenging. There’s the difference. A match like t his? Well obviously you’re going to have a whole lot of different ideas floating around. And if you’re someone like Sally, you can use that to your own manipulation. But more on that in a minute.
[Russ] And the defending champion?
[Sally] Anthony Bailey...a credible champion. A credible wrestler. And a credible man in and of himself. You know, there are few stand-up people in this company. Few people with morals and integrity. I mean, you have Biggs over on OverDrive who, as agitating as he might be, is a moral and integral as they come. You’ve got the recently acquired Keaton Saint. And you now have Anthony Bailey. Except, he’s not on their level just yet. You see, this match, it’s a chance to find out the truth on all that. Does he really have what it takes to be a champion? Does he deserve that belt after Shockwave? Does he deserve that recognition, the same that those other two have? The chamber is his does of truth, and he will be sweating it to find out.
[Russ] If you could just take a look at the screen for a moment...I want to ask you a question...
Sally looks around, finds the screen. The shot fades away to what she is seeing: A photo of the carnage from the last Asylum. Saint has shocked the wrestling world, the other five are in a melee of a brawl in the ring, it’s the typical Asylum chaos.
[Russ] All those ideas that this match represents...except yours. Sally, what does this match mean to you, truly, and how is it any more valid than their ideas?
The shot comes back to Sally, whose face shows that she’s mulling this over.
[Sally] Well, to answer your second question first: It’s not. Everyone’s is valid. It’s just a question of which idea-holder is the better wrestler! Now, what does this match mean to me? It’s...pleasure.
A laugh goes up from the crowd, quickly followed by some good ol’ hootin’ and hollerin’. Russ smiles along, Sally smirks.
[Russ] Please, Miss Talfourd, elaborate?
[Sally] It’s simple. Pleasure. That’s what we all want. We all want to be pleased. We all want to be satisfied. The fans, they want it as much as you and me Russ. They probably want it more. And what better way can I satisfy the fans...please the fans...than to go back to being the World Heavyweight Champion? They loved APW when I was before. Fans remember it as being one of their best memories of APW. When they get to see me in the main events, the commercials, the public things. They get more of me, and they are pleased. And, between you and me Russ...nothing would please me more than to be the champion again. To go out and remind people what true wrestling is. To go back to the days when APW had a champion you could look up to because they weren’t wondering if they deserved it...they weren’t wondering if they were good enough...they weren’t wondering if they could redeem themselves...they weren’t trying to prove anything...and they weren’t trying to delude the world into thinking that this was all a plan.
Sally finishes up in a quick flurry of words, and the fans applaud the effort. After a moment or two, Russ quiets them with his hands, then turns his attention back to his subject.
[Russ] Sally, what does it take to get into this match. And then, what will it take to win.
[Sally] You know, I get asked this a lot by younger wrestlers, fans, even other APW talent who have missed out on seeding a spot. I mean, I’ve been here three years in a row: I must be doing something right!
[Russ] So what are you doing right?
[Sally] I don’t know if it’s one thing. I mean, I wouldn’t be losing matches if that were the case. But I do have a philosophy when it comes to wrestling. It’s simple, but that might be why it works for me. I don’t like complicated things. I like to boil things down to the simple. So I work and live by this motto: If I’m always reading, I don’t have to get ready.
[Russ] Deep...deep. How does that play out in real life?
[Sally] Well, it means training. Training every day. It means that if I wrestled Sunday, went home, went to bed, and was called up Monday morning and Reginald said he needed me to wrestle a match that night...I’d be ready. It means being ready for every Asylum match so that when the important one comes along...I’d be ready. It means being ready for every pay per view as if it were a world title match, so that when one actually comes along...I’d be ready. And then, when you’re in the match, it means being able to last thirty, forty, fifty, sixty minutes, so that when you need to wrestle for the long, long time...I’m ready.
[Russ] That sounds like a routine? Like a life routine?
[Sally] It is. I’ve previously said wrestling, and its success, come from routines. Doing something so often that it becomes natural. And then, making sure you’re the best at doing that. It’s something you work towards, something you work at doing. It’s like building a wall.
Russ looks confused. He arches an eyebrow, intrigued. Who knew Sally has so much...depth!
[Russ] A wall? Wrestling is like...
[Sally] No no, I mean, being ready. Being on your A-game. You don’t just turn it on, like my other opponents would have you believe. The past two weeks, they’ve not said they were working to this point, getting ready for this, for the past year. They are telling you they will turn it on tonight. Me? I’ve been building a wall all year. You see, when someone says “Sally, go build a wall...” or “Russ, go build a wall...”, you don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say “I’m going to build the biggest, bestest, badest wall that’s ever been built!” *Sally lets out a laugh, leans in closer to Russ*[/b] No, you don’t start there. You say “I’m going to lay this brick. I’m going to lay it as perfectly as a brick can be laid. I’m going to lay this brick better than anyone else could.”
And I do that.
Every single day I do that.
And then? [/color]
[Russ] And then you have a wall.
[Sally] Exactly. Then I have a wall. I don’t just show up for pay per views expecting to win, I work to get here. I worked harder than every man and woman not in it. And, at the end of the night, I will have worked harder than every man in that chamber to get the win. Rebel and Saint have been around long enough to know that you should do this...but they didn’t Rebel dropped into Asylum expecting to simply be better by virtue of being Rebel. Saint hasn’t had long enough to know what he will have to do. Callahan is too self-centred to think he has to work hard for anything, and Atken doesn’t know why working hard is important yet. And Bailey? Well, he knows it, but he hasn’t figured out how to do it in the ring yet. Me? I’ve been working for the past year, two years, three years to get to here. Learning, adapting, watching. I’m ready. I’m ready to start laying bricks. They’re still thinking about building walls.
Russ is nodding in appreciation of what’s been said. It’s true, though, isn’t it? You don’t build a wall, you lay bricks. In a match like this, you don’t win the championship, you eliminate your opponents. You eliminate them one-by-one until there’s no one left. Then you win. Go back and listen to the others in this match. Sally did. She only heard men talking about winning the belt. Winning the championship. How they are going to go out and win. They aren’t thinking about eliminations. They aren’t thinking about laying bricks.
[Russ] It sounds like a life in Sally’s shoes requires a lot of determination?
[Sally] Determination and focus. I realised a long time ago that to have the level of success that I want to have here in APW, it’s difficult to spread myself out and do multiple things. I mean, sure, I could be the comedian of Asylum, or the politician or Asylum, or the veteran of Asylum, or the legend of Asylum, or the great new hope of Asylum...but I’m not. No, I’m just Sally Talfourd of Asylum. I’m just a wrestler on Asylum. And that’s enough for me. Because it takes a dedicated, obsessive focus to get to where I want to be. I don’t need distractions. Anyone who wants to be as successful as I want to be, you’ve got to focus all of your heart and all of your fibre and all of your creativity. Everything. Everything on that one goal. And I’ve done that. I’ve been doing it for the past year, waiting to get back to here to show the world that I’m ready to be Sally the Asylum champion again. I decided to do it, and that’s it. The second I decide I’m going to do something, it’s done. Now you’ve just got to wait.
[Russ] Well, we won’t have to wait very long. One Night in Hell is coming up very soon and I’m sure we’ll see your brick-laying abilities are unmatched by your peers! *A chuckle from everyone*[/b] Sally, before we finish, I have a future megastar in the audience who asked me to ask you this: What do you say to yourself at the start of a match like this? In that moment before the bell rings and the first shots...what are you saying to yourself? [/color]
Sally nods. A respectable question. A thought-worthy question.
[Sally] Well, I think back to when I was growing up. My parents, obviously, raised me a little different to your average Seattler haha! And, growing up, we went to temple and one thing that the monks would tell us each week are Confucian prayers. Those long strips of paper that you see pinned up? Yeah, they had a new one each week. And one week, they said that Confucius said: “He who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right.” So, getting back to the question: What do I tell myself before it all starts? I tell myself exactly what I will be telling myself at the start of the chamber match:
I can.
Sally looks resolved, looks determined. The shot slowly starts to fade out as Russ starts to do his closings. We don’t need to hear that. After a moment more on the blank screen, there’s a slow fade out and then into...
Sally Talfourd
written across the screen, which in turn fades away as the episode comes to a close.
is written across the screen, fades out, then
"In association with Action Packed Wrestling..."
is next to appear, holds, then fades out for
"Happy Endings T.V."
Which fades away to a shot of Sally Talfourd, dressed prim and proper, across a table from Asylum’s very own Russ T. Nailz. They’re on stage, spotlights shining down. If you’ve ever seen the show ‘Inside the Actors Studio, you’d know what we’re looking at. Why does it look like that? Well, there’s a reason....
[Russ] Welcome back to Inside the Wreslters LockerRoom with Ms. Talfourd, who’s just finished telling us about her first two ONiH's here in APW - from her first title win in 2010 to come so close to another title in 2011...and now, 2012. Let’s talk about this year.
[Sally] Lots to talk about, isn’t there?
[Russ] Let’s start with what the match means. 2010, it was the chance to really make a mark here in APW. 2011, it seemed you were just fighting to return to lost glory. 2012...what are people fighting for?
[Sally] Well, the thing about a chamber match is...they are brutal and horrible and career-ending and all that. But, something more, they’re an idea. These matches stand for an idea. A cold, hard, representation of an idea that each one of us has. And what I’m fighting for isn’t going to be the same as what the rest of the competitions are fighting for.
[Russ] Then what’s everyone fighting for?
Sally rests back in the chair with a sigh. She has to think. All the words and actions of her competitors - not just of the past few weeks but of the past few years summed up in a few words? It’s not easy. But if anyone has the mastery of words...Sally is the person to say it!
[Sally] Well, start with experience, right? Age before beauty? Take Rebel. What does this match mean for him? This match is his chance. His chance to prove himself and to finally become the megastar he truly thinks he is. The chamber is his opportunity to step up and show that he’s as good as all those people who have actually got ahead of him. Then, you look at someone like Keaton Saint - a man who has done it all, who has been everywhere, and has won everything...except in APW. You’ve got a guy where the match is his redemption. Redemption for opportunities lost on OverDrive. Redemption for his APW failings thus far. Redemption for the disappointment he feels about himself. This match, to Saint, is a tough, cold, rough effort at redemption.
And then you’ve got newcomers to APW like Michael Callahan. This match is his fate. That’s what he will believe. It’s his chance to prove himself. He will tell anyone who will listen that this is his destiny. It’s his poor excuse to make up for his failings. That he was meant to lose the Suicidal Title...he was meant to lose the Beat the Clock matches...and that whatever happened leading up to now was meant to happen because he was destined to win the World Heavyweight Title. Same sort of thing with Atken. This match is the living, breathing proof that he’s been looking for. Proof that he’s not just a comedian. Proof that he’s not just the butt of jokes. Proof of everything he’s ever thought in APW but never been able to...to...
[Russ] Never been able to prove?
[Sally] Exactly. He thinks it’s time for the Rise of the Atken, and here’s the proof of that.
She’s not wrong. Every wrestler knows that each match means something different to everyone. At the bare minimum, when you have a one-on-one match, someone is defending and someone is challenging. There’s the difference. A match like t his? Well obviously you’re going to have a whole lot of different ideas floating around. And if you’re someone like Sally, you can use that to your own manipulation. But more on that in a minute.
[Russ] And the defending champion?
[Sally] Anthony Bailey...a credible champion. A credible wrestler. And a credible man in and of himself. You know, there are few stand-up people in this company. Few people with morals and integrity. I mean, you have Biggs over on OverDrive who, as agitating as he might be, is a moral and integral as they come. You’ve got the recently acquired Keaton Saint. And you now have Anthony Bailey. Except, he’s not on their level just yet. You see, this match, it’s a chance to find out the truth on all that. Does he really have what it takes to be a champion? Does he deserve that belt after Shockwave? Does he deserve that recognition, the same that those other two have? The chamber is his does of truth, and he will be sweating it to find out.
[Russ] If you could just take a look at the screen for a moment...I want to ask you a question...
Sally looks around, finds the screen. The shot fades away to what she is seeing: A photo of the carnage from the last Asylum. Saint has shocked the wrestling world, the other five are in a melee of a brawl in the ring, it’s the typical Asylum chaos.
[Russ] All those ideas that this match represents...except yours. Sally, what does this match mean to you, truly, and how is it any more valid than their ideas?
The shot comes back to Sally, whose face shows that she’s mulling this over.
[Sally] Well, to answer your second question first: It’s not. Everyone’s is valid. It’s just a question of which idea-holder is the better wrestler! Now, what does this match mean to me? It’s...pleasure.
A laugh goes up from the crowd, quickly followed by some good ol’ hootin’ and hollerin’. Russ smiles along, Sally smirks.
[Russ] Please, Miss Talfourd, elaborate?
[Sally] It’s simple. Pleasure. That’s what we all want. We all want to be pleased. We all want to be satisfied. The fans, they want it as much as you and me Russ. They probably want it more. And what better way can I satisfy the fans...please the fans...than to go back to being the World Heavyweight Champion? They loved APW when I was before. Fans remember it as being one of their best memories of APW. When they get to see me in the main events, the commercials, the public things. They get more of me, and they are pleased. And, between you and me Russ...nothing would please me more than to be the champion again. To go out and remind people what true wrestling is. To go back to the days when APW had a champion you could look up to because they weren’t wondering if they deserved it...they weren’t wondering if they were good enough...they weren’t wondering if they could redeem themselves...they weren’t trying to prove anything...and they weren’t trying to delude the world into thinking that this was all a plan.
Sally finishes up in a quick flurry of words, and the fans applaud the effort. After a moment or two, Russ quiets them with his hands, then turns his attention back to his subject.
[Russ] Sally, what does it take to get into this match. And then, what will it take to win.
[Sally] You know, I get asked this a lot by younger wrestlers, fans, even other APW talent who have missed out on seeding a spot. I mean, I’ve been here three years in a row: I must be doing something right!
[Russ] So what are you doing right?
[Sally] I don’t know if it’s one thing. I mean, I wouldn’t be losing matches if that were the case. But I do have a philosophy when it comes to wrestling. It’s simple, but that might be why it works for me. I don’t like complicated things. I like to boil things down to the simple. So I work and live by this motto: If I’m always reading, I don’t have to get ready.
[Russ] Deep...deep. How does that play out in real life?
[Sally] Well, it means training. Training every day. It means that if I wrestled Sunday, went home, went to bed, and was called up Monday morning and Reginald said he needed me to wrestle a match that night...I’d be ready. It means being ready for every Asylum match so that when the important one comes along...I’d be ready. It means being ready for every pay per view as if it were a world title match, so that when one actually comes along...I’d be ready. And then, when you’re in the match, it means being able to last thirty, forty, fifty, sixty minutes, so that when you need to wrestle for the long, long time...I’m ready.
[Russ] That sounds like a routine? Like a life routine?
[Sally] It is. I’ve previously said wrestling, and its success, come from routines. Doing something so often that it becomes natural. And then, making sure you’re the best at doing that. It’s something you work towards, something you work at doing. It’s like building a wall.
Russ looks confused. He arches an eyebrow, intrigued. Who knew Sally has so much...depth!
[Russ] A wall? Wrestling is like...
[Sally] No no, I mean, being ready. Being on your A-game. You don’t just turn it on, like my other opponents would have you believe. The past two weeks, they’ve not said they were working to this point, getting ready for this, for the past year. They are telling you they will turn it on tonight. Me? I’ve been building a wall all year. You see, when someone says “Sally, go build a wall...” or “Russ, go build a wall...”, you don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say “I’m going to build the biggest, bestest, badest wall that’s ever been built!” *Sally lets out a laugh, leans in closer to Russ*[/b] No, you don’t start there. You say “I’m going to lay this brick. I’m going to lay it as perfectly as a brick can be laid. I’m going to lay this brick better than anyone else could.”
And I do that.
Every single day I do that.
And then? [/color]
[Russ] And then you have a wall.
[Sally] Exactly. Then I have a wall. I don’t just show up for pay per views expecting to win, I work to get here. I worked harder than every man and woman not in it. And, at the end of the night, I will have worked harder than every man in that chamber to get the win. Rebel and Saint have been around long enough to know that you should do this...but they didn’t Rebel dropped into Asylum expecting to simply be better by virtue of being Rebel. Saint hasn’t had long enough to know what he will have to do. Callahan is too self-centred to think he has to work hard for anything, and Atken doesn’t know why working hard is important yet. And Bailey? Well, he knows it, but he hasn’t figured out how to do it in the ring yet. Me? I’ve been working for the past year, two years, three years to get to here. Learning, adapting, watching. I’m ready. I’m ready to start laying bricks. They’re still thinking about building walls.
Russ is nodding in appreciation of what’s been said. It’s true, though, isn’t it? You don’t build a wall, you lay bricks. In a match like this, you don’t win the championship, you eliminate your opponents. You eliminate them one-by-one until there’s no one left. Then you win. Go back and listen to the others in this match. Sally did. She only heard men talking about winning the belt. Winning the championship. How they are going to go out and win. They aren’t thinking about eliminations. They aren’t thinking about laying bricks.
[Russ] It sounds like a life in Sally’s shoes requires a lot of determination?
[Sally] Determination and focus. I realised a long time ago that to have the level of success that I want to have here in APW, it’s difficult to spread myself out and do multiple things. I mean, sure, I could be the comedian of Asylum, or the politician or Asylum, or the veteran of Asylum, or the legend of Asylum, or the great new hope of Asylum...but I’m not. No, I’m just Sally Talfourd of Asylum. I’m just a wrestler on Asylum. And that’s enough for me. Because it takes a dedicated, obsessive focus to get to where I want to be. I don’t need distractions. Anyone who wants to be as successful as I want to be, you’ve got to focus all of your heart and all of your fibre and all of your creativity. Everything. Everything on that one goal. And I’ve done that. I’ve been doing it for the past year, waiting to get back to here to show the world that I’m ready to be Sally the Asylum champion again. I decided to do it, and that’s it. The second I decide I’m going to do something, it’s done. Now you’ve just got to wait.
[Russ] Well, we won’t have to wait very long. One Night in Hell is coming up very soon and I’m sure we’ll see your brick-laying abilities are unmatched by your peers! *A chuckle from everyone*[/b] Sally, before we finish, I have a future megastar in the audience who asked me to ask you this: What do you say to yourself at the start of a match like this? In that moment before the bell rings and the first shots...what are you saying to yourself? [/color]
Sally nods. A respectable question. A thought-worthy question.
[Sally] Well, I think back to when I was growing up. My parents, obviously, raised me a little different to your average Seattler haha! And, growing up, we went to temple and one thing that the monks would tell us each week are Confucian prayers. Those long strips of paper that you see pinned up? Yeah, they had a new one each week. And one week, they said that Confucius said: “He who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right.” So, getting back to the question: What do I tell myself before it all starts? I tell myself exactly what I will be telling myself at the start of the chamber match:
I can.
Sally looks resolved, looks determined. The shot slowly starts to fade out as Russ starts to do his closings. We don’t need to hear that. After a moment more on the blank screen, there’s a slow fade out and then into...
Sally Talfourd
written across the screen, which in turn fades away as the episode comes to a close.
