Post by Anthony Bailey on Nov 17, 2012 18:50:34 GMT -4
"I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men." – Lao-Tzu
Growing up, the holiday season for Anthony Bailey wasn’t a time to be thankful or to share with others. The two doctorate degrees that his mother Tracy had obtained in school placed her and Anthony in a healthy financial state so the dining room table was stockpiled with lots of delicious food each Thanksgiving and innumerable presents were spilling from under the tree each Christmas.
It wasn’t until Anthony got a little older and volunteered at a homeless shelter one Christmas morning with Tracy that he truly understood the importance of the holidays. It wasn’t about what you received, but it was about how much you gave and were a blessing to someone else. Almost a year into his professional wrestler career, he looked to give back this holiday season bigger and better than ever.
{{The scene opens to the inside of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, a 19,500 person capacity arena located in Tampa, FL. The arena is frequently used for concerts, NHL games, and arena football games. APW’s Overdrive even made a stop here during January of this year, the same month that it was renamed from the St. Pete Times Forum to the Tampa Bay Times Forum. This venue was the principal source of Anthony’s cultivation and affection for the love of wrestling as he witnessed countless events here live during his youth. A few more shots of the empty arena can be seen briefly before the scene shifts to a well decorated office with Bailey and a staff member of the arena. Bailey is finalizing plans for a free Thanksgiving celebration that he is putting on for the lesser fortunate and people with no family this Thursday. He is clad in a red Tampa Bay Buccaneers snapback hat, a black Tampa Bay Buccaneers jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of red, black, and white Nike sneakers. The staff member, who is seated behind his desk, is wearing a black dress shirt and black slacks.}}[/color]
Staff Member: So Mr. Bailey, how many people would you say you are expecting for Thursday? I don’t need an exact number, just an approximate one.
{{Bailey contemplates in silence for a moment.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Well my mother and girlfriend have all the logistics as far as the numbers go, but I’d say at least five thousand people. I can call or text them to double-check if you’d like.
{{The staff member jots something down on a sheet of paper.}}[/color]
Staff Member: No, that won’t be necessary. I put five thousand on the sheet as an estimation so it shouldn’t matter too much if the figure is above or below that. Okay next…when will the turkeys and the rest of the food be arriving? Will they be stored in portable deep freezers?
Anthony Bailey: It’ll all be here this Monday before noon. I won’t be here personally to supervise the truck delivery because I’ll be up in Salem by then but I’ll have a team of people here to overlook that for you.
{{The staff member nods his head as he continues to write.}}[/color]
Staff Member: I’ll be getting with the Tampa Police Department later this evening to finalize the security situation and parking but…what was the status of the custodial team? Were you going to pay us to have our people do that or were you going to use an outside organization?
Anthony Bailey: I’ll be using you all. In my opinion, it’s better to keep as much stuff in house as possible since that day is already going to be hectic enough. We don’t need to add on to the stress.
{{The staff member snickers.}}[/color]
Staff Member: Hectic is probably an understatement but that aside, what you are doing is needed for our community. It speaks volumes.
Anthony Bailey: Well I always vowed to give back and help my community on a large scale once I had the resources. I’m not Bill Gates or Warren Buffet but now I do have the resources to make something like this happen and I wouldn’t want to renege on my word.
Staff Member: That’s wonderful to know. Is there anything else that I can help you with or that we need to discuss? Looking over my notes here, it seems like everything is set to go for your first annual Unity In The Community Thanksgiving Feast here at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on November 22nd.
Anthony Bailey: Sounds good! I can’t wait. Thank you all for helping me pull this off.
Staff Member: And thank you for your willingness. Have a safe flight to Salem and I’ll be seeing you again on Thanksgiving. Some of the concession workers should be roaming around here somewhere. Feel free to grab a free snack or drink or something else on your way out.
{{Anthony stands to his feet and reaches across the desk to shake the event coordinator’s hand as the coordinator also stands to his feet.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Have a great day Mr. Wilkinson…
{{Bailey glances down at the staff member’s nametag, which is now visible.}}[/color]
Jim Wilkinson: Please…call me Jim.
Anthony Bailey: No problem Jim. Take care.
{{Smiles appear across the faces of both men as Anthony exits the office and Jim once again has a seat and continues to work. Anthony slowly promenades down the vacant corridors as his voice lightly echoes down the halls as he decides to speak once again.}}[/color]
There’s a part of me that almost wishes that this camera right in front of me were not rolling back there in that office. I don’t want it to come across like I am trying to elevate myself or publically practice my philanthropy. But fortunately the ones who know the real me know that this is what it has always been about. I don’t need to gain favor in the eye of the public because the ones who like me like me for me and the ones who hate me…well they have no grounds if the truth were told. “Do good unto others while making an impact” has always been my maxim. I’m not downplaying my tag team match with J-Hop against Yarmouth and Evan McDonald this coming Monday on Meltdown in Salem, Massachusetts but I know what truly matters in the broader scope of life.
I am honored to be teaming up with my good friend J-Hop, a man who is the spitting image of me. Not physically speaking but when you’re analyzing his core values, his passions, and what drives him in life, I see myself. I can only say that about very few people because not only am I unique to the way that God created me to be but far too many megastars have paraded around here and have tried to deceive the fans but have only in reality deceived themselves. I don’t think of untrustworthy or elusive when I think of Jair Hopkins, I think of raw talent who will excel to new heights at the right opportunity. And something is telling me that the right opportunity is this tag team tournament. The appointed time has come for J-Hop to be recognized and finally get the credit that he deserves.
But the appointed time has also come for me. It is time to show each and everyone that the result at One Night In Hell was not the eulogy for The Promise. My match with Knuckles on Asylum last weekend was just a sample for what I truly have in store. That was the forerunner and this tag team tournament will be the actuality. The Tag Team Titles would look exceptional around the waists of J-Hop and myself, I won’t deny that, but that’s not our goal. It’s the tangible goal obviously but there’s an underlying abstract mission to all of this. Two like minded individuals teaming up and two like minded young men who stand for something in a day in age where it’s popular and common to waver and not stand for anything at all.
Yarmouth and Evan McDonald will be the firsthand witnesses but unfortunate casualties to all of this. I’ve never seen you in action Evan, but because you call yourself “God’s Gift To Women” and claim that you will carry your team all by your lonesome, it’s very hard to take you seriously. Your Usain Bolt analogy was weak and apparently you don’t know who I am. I’m not asking you to worship the ground that I walk on, but drive down to Best Buy, purchase a few APW DVD’s from this past year, and do some research on me. Your findings are bound to blow your mind and make you feel even more inadequate than you already are.
Now unlike his idiotic partner, I know what Yarmouth is capable of. Even before he was ever drafted to Asylum, Yarmouth has been a guy that I have secretly been rooting for on the sidelines all along. Why? Because I know how much work and how much training he has put in to improve and succeed in this business and I want to see all of that hard work pay off for him. There’s nothing like enjoying the reward of the fruits of your labor and I want Yarmouth to know what that feels like. I’ve reaped plenty of benefits from the fruits of my labor and it’s a fantastic feeling. I’ve never been a selfish person so I don’t want that experience to only be enjoyed by me. I want others to partake of it as well.
But Yarmouth, to put all my cards out on the table, I’ll only cheer for you when I’m not in the equation. You aren’t a bad guy at all but it would be foolish of me to applaud my adversary because then he would no longer be my adversary would he? Now don’t get me wrong; I have no qualms with you. You spoke highly of me in your last promo and you were very respectful. It was a breath of fresh air to be honest. I can’t remember the last time my opponent genuinely respected me and didn’t motivate me to give them a verbal assaulting because they were being reckless. I envisioned it being that way with Sally Talfourd, but some steel chairs and match interferences quickly changed that dynamic. Evan McDonald needs to take notes.
Because I know where you and I stand Yarmouth, I look forward to giving the fans of Meltdown a classic showcase of some good wrestling. Animosity is a key element in this business because it fuels your drive to not only want to defeat your opponent, but to want to take his head off as well. I don’t want to take off Yarmouth’s head like I do Michael Callahan or his partner Mr. McDonald, but I do want him to know that I am not some pushover and just because I like you I’m going to let you walk all over me and my partner J-Hop. For too long I thought that meekness meant weakness, but meekness doesn’t mean that at all. Meekness means keeping a kind and patient heart as you go through life.
And life will bring about a myriad of both triumphs and failures. But in my pursuit of lifelong meekness, I am not expecting a failure on Meltdown. Call it a self fulfilling prophecy, call it cockiness, call it whatever you like but the fact of the matter is that J-Hop and I are hungry. J-Hop’s hunger has grown these past few months while mine had waned. Experiencing all that I did so quickly, why remain hungry if you were at the top of your game? I might no longer be on the “top” because I lost my title, but I know what I am capable of bringing to the table and many would agree. This is a new season in my life and in my career and I cannot wait to prove that what happened this past summer was not a mistake. It was only the beginning. I am Anthony Bailey…APW’s only Promise…the only Promise that can't be broken. Until Meltdown…
{{The scene slowly fades to black as Bailey walks up to a concession stand and begins ordering some food.}}[/color]
Growing up, the holiday season for Anthony Bailey wasn’t a time to be thankful or to share with others. The two doctorate degrees that his mother Tracy had obtained in school placed her and Anthony in a healthy financial state so the dining room table was stockpiled with lots of delicious food each Thanksgiving and innumerable presents were spilling from under the tree each Christmas.
It wasn’t until Anthony got a little older and volunteered at a homeless shelter one Christmas morning with Tracy that he truly understood the importance of the holidays. It wasn’t about what you received, but it was about how much you gave and were a blessing to someone else. Almost a year into his professional wrestler career, he looked to give back this holiday season bigger and better than ever.
{{The scene opens to the inside of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, a 19,500 person capacity arena located in Tampa, FL. The arena is frequently used for concerts, NHL games, and arena football games. APW’s Overdrive even made a stop here during January of this year, the same month that it was renamed from the St. Pete Times Forum to the Tampa Bay Times Forum. This venue was the principal source of Anthony’s cultivation and affection for the love of wrestling as he witnessed countless events here live during his youth. A few more shots of the empty arena can be seen briefly before the scene shifts to a well decorated office with Bailey and a staff member of the arena. Bailey is finalizing plans for a free Thanksgiving celebration that he is putting on for the lesser fortunate and people with no family this Thursday. He is clad in a red Tampa Bay Buccaneers snapback hat, a black Tampa Bay Buccaneers jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of red, black, and white Nike sneakers. The staff member, who is seated behind his desk, is wearing a black dress shirt and black slacks.}}[/color]
Staff Member: So Mr. Bailey, how many people would you say you are expecting for Thursday? I don’t need an exact number, just an approximate one.
{{Bailey contemplates in silence for a moment.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Well my mother and girlfriend have all the logistics as far as the numbers go, but I’d say at least five thousand people. I can call or text them to double-check if you’d like.
{{The staff member jots something down on a sheet of paper.}}[/color]
Staff Member: No, that won’t be necessary. I put five thousand on the sheet as an estimation so it shouldn’t matter too much if the figure is above or below that. Okay next…when will the turkeys and the rest of the food be arriving? Will they be stored in portable deep freezers?
Anthony Bailey: It’ll all be here this Monday before noon. I won’t be here personally to supervise the truck delivery because I’ll be up in Salem by then but I’ll have a team of people here to overlook that for you.
{{The staff member nods his head as he continues to write.}}[/color]
Staff Member: I’ll be getting with the Tampa Police Department later this evening to finalize the security situation and parking but…what was the status of the custodial team? Were you going to pay us to have our people do that or were you going to use an outside organization?
Anthony Bailey: I’ll be using you all. In my opinion, it’s better to keep as much stuff in house as possible since that day is already going to be hectic enough. We don’t need to add on to the stress.
{{The staff member snickers.}}[/color]
Staff Member: Hectic is probably an understatement but that aside, what you are doing is needed for our community. It speaks volumes.
Anthony Bailey: Well I always vowed to give back and help my community on a large scale once I had the resources. I’m not Bill Gates or Warren Buffet but now I do have the resources to make something like this happen and I wouldn’t want to renege on my word.
Staff Member: That’s wonderful to know. Is there anything else that I can help you with or that we need to discuss? Looking over my notes here, it seems like everything is set to go for your first annual Unity In The Community Thanksgiving Feast here at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on November 22nd.
Anthony Bailey: Sounds good! I can’t wait. Thank you all for helping me pull this off.
Staff Member: And thank you for your willingness. Have a safe flight to Salem and I’ll be seeing you again on Thanksgiving. Some of the concession workers should be roaming around here somewhere. Feel free to grab a free snack or drink or something else on your way out.
{{Anthony stands to his feet and reaches across the desk to shake the event coordinator’s hand as the coordinator also stands to his feet.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Have a great day Mr. Wilkinson…
{{Bailey glances down at the staff member’s nametag, which is now visible.}}[/color]
Jim Wilkinson: Please…call me Jim.
Anthony Bailey: No problem Jim. Take care.
{{Smiles appear across the faces of both men as Anthony exits the office and Jim once again has a seat and continues to work. Anthony slowly promenades down the vacant corridors as his voice lightly echoes down the halls as he decides to speak once again.}}[/color]
There’s a part of me that almost wishes that this camera right in front of me were not rolling back there in that office. I don’t want it to come across like I am trying to elevate myself or publically practice my philanthropy. But fortunately the ones who know the real me know that this is what it has always been about. I don’t need to gain favor in the eye of the public because the ones who like me like me for me and the ones who hate me…well they have no grounds if the truth were told. “Do good unto others while making an impact” has always been my maxim. I’m not downplaying my tag team match with J-Hop against Yarmouth and Evan McDonald this coming Monday on Meltdown in Salem, Massachusetts but I know what truly matters in the broader scope of life.
I am honored to be teaming up with my good friend J-Hop, a man who is the spitting image of me. Not physically speaking but when you’re analyzing his core values, his passions, and what drives him in life, I see myself. I can only say that about very few people because not only am I unique to the way that God created me to be but far too many megastars have paraded around here and have tried to deceive the fans but have only in reality deceived themselves. I don’t think of untrustworthy or elusive when I think of Jair Hopkins, I think of raw talent who will excel to new heights at the right opportunity. And something is telling me that the right opportunity is this tag team tournament. The appointed time has come for J-Hop to be recognized and finally get the credit that he deserves.
But the appointed time has also come for me. It is time to show each and everyone that the result at One Night In Hell was not the eulogy for The Promise. My match with Knuckles on Asylum last weekend was just a sample for what I truly have in store. That was the forerunner and this tag team tournament will be the actuality. The Tag Team Titles would look exceptional around the waists of J-Hop and myself, I won’t deny that, but that’s not our goal. It’s the tangible goal obviously but there’s an underlying abstract mission to all of this. Two like minded individuals teaming up and two like minded young men who stand for something in a day in age where it’s popular and common to waver and not stand for anything at all.
Yarmouth and Evan McDonald will be the firsthand witnesses but unfortunate casualties to all of this. I’ve never seen you in action Evan, but because you call yourself “God’s Gift To Women” and claim that you will carry your team all by your lonesome, it’s very hard to take you seriously. Your Usain Bolt analogy was weak and apparently you don’t know who I am. I’m not asking you to worship the ground that I walk on, but drive down to Best Buy, purchase a few APW DVD’s from this past year, and do some research on me. Your findings are bound to blow your mind and make you feel even more inadequate than you already are.
Now unlike his idiotic partner, I know what Yarmouth is capable of. Even before he was ever drafted to Asylum, Yarmouth has been a guy that I have secretly been rooting for on the sidelines all along. Why? Because I know how much work and how much training he has put in to improve and succeed in this business and I want to see all of that hard work pay off for him. There’s nothing like enjoying the reward of the fruits of your labor and I want Yarmouth to know what that feels like. I’ve reaped plenty of benefits from the fruits of my labor and it’s a fantastic feeling. I’ve never been a selfish person so I don’t want that experience to only be enjoyed by me. I want others to partake of it as well.
But Yarmouth, to put all my cards out on the table, I’ll only cheer for you when I’m not in the equation. You aren’t a bad guy at all but it would be foolish of me to applaud my adversary because then he would no longer be my adversary would he? Now don’t get me wrong; I have no qualms with you. You spoke highly of me in your last promo and you were very respectful. It was a breath of fresh air to be honest. I can’t remember the last time my opponent genuinely respected me and didn’t motivate me to give them a verbal assaulting because they were being reckless. I envisioned it being that way with Sally Talfourd, but some steel chairs and match interferences quickly changed that dynamic. Evan McDonald needs to take notes.
Because I know where you and I stand Yarmouth, I look forward to giving the fans of Meltdown a classic showcase of some good wrestling. Animosity is a key element in this business because it fuels your drive to not only want to defeat your opponent, but to want to take his head off as well. I don’t want to take off Yarmouth’s head like I do Michael Callahan or his partner Mr. McDonald, but I do want him to know that I am not some pushover and just because I like you I’m going to let you walk all over me and my partner J-Hop. For too long I thought that meekness meant weakness, but meekness doesn’t mean that at all. Meekness means keeping a kind and patient heart as you go through life.
And life will bring about a myriad of both triumphs and failures. But in my pursuit of lifelong meekness, I am not expecting a failure on Meltdown. Call it a self fulfilling prophecy, call it cockiness, call it whatever you like but the fact of the matter is that J-Hop and I are hungry. J-Hop’s hunger has grown these past few months while mine had waned. Experiencing all that I did so quickly, why remain hungry if you were at the top of your game? I might no longer be on the “top” because I lost my title, but I know what I am capable of bringing to the table and many would agree. This is a new season in my life and in my career and I cannot wait to prove that what happened this past summer was not a mistake. It was only the beginning. I am Anthony Bailey…APW’s only Promise…the only Promise that can't be broken. Until Meltdown…
{{The scene slowly fades to black as Bailey walks up to a concession stand and begins ordering some food.}}[/color]
