Post by Mark Mania on Feb 27, 2013 16:37:13 GMT -4
Part Two
For Part One see Evan Envi’s Promo
For Part One see Evan Envi’s Promo
I storm into the hotel room after seeing what I believed to be Evan Envi’s lacky, Jenny, leaving the hotel.
“What happened?” I scream.
Rosa sat there, on the edge of the couch, with a nervous look on her face. I walked closer to her and lowered my voice a bit.
“Rosa, what happened?”
She looked up at me with a tear in her eye.
“She said that they were watching me. They knew what I had been doing all day. They knew my parents name, my brother, all of it.”
“Who knows?”
She looks at me with a strong gaze.
“Evan.”
My face starts to get red and my hands clam up.
“That fucking asshole.” I say underneath my breath.
“Don’t worry about it. I knew what I was getting myself into.”
“You shouldn’t have been getting into this. This is unacceptable.”
“You know he just wants to get under your skin. He wants to take you out of your element and take that title from you.”
I think about that for a second. Obviously that’s what he wants to do.
“I won’t give him the satisfaction.”
“Good.” Rosa says, but she clearly doesn’t mean it. She’s hurt, she’s embarrassed, and she’s distraught.
“This isn’t how this was supposed to happen.”
“I don’t think he’s going to stop until he hurts everything you care about.”
That was the first time Rosa ever acknowledged that I cared about her. My lack of denial confirmed it for her too.
“He doesn’t deserve a shot at my title. He can’t threaten me into giving him a shot. This is my title.”
“What are you going to do this week?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re on the same tag-team with him this week.”
Like a brick wall, the realization hit me, “Oh fuck.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What’s more important, the win, or teaching Evan Envi a lesson?”
We sat there and thought about it for a moment.
“If you sacrifice the match and yourself then you’re just going to play into his game.” She offered.
“But he needs to know that what he did to you is not going to be tolerated.”
“You hit him or cause any unnecessary conflict, they’ll put you in the ring with him at RassleMania.”
“Rosa, I will not ignore this. Evan Envi will get what’s coming to him. I won’t give him his match or his title shot, but believe me, he will get what’s coming to him.”
“Okay…” Rosa was still noticeably upset. But there was nothing that could be done. I had a lot to do before the match tomorrow, a lot to prepare, and a lot to worry about.
In the past few years I haven’t focused heavily on participating in events outside of APW. Of course there was the Extreme Tournament which I’ve been in since 1999. But beyond that, I didn’t get involved in any of the drama. I have a job to do in the APW and I prefer to do it. However, recently, I took on two opportunities to spread the Mania brand. I’m participating in a “Charity Bash” held by the CRW in which I’ll be taking on another APW wrestler in Johnny Knuckles. Shortly after that, I’ll be competing alongside C.J. Gates to form the tag team of “The Wall Street Warriors”. We’ll be competing in a Visionary Wrestling Incorporate Tag Team Tournament.
Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I normally have no interest in being a tag team or relying on anyone else for my success. But this was different. C.J. Gates and I have always had a friendly rivalry. Both in business and in wrestling. We are perhaps the two richest men in all of sports and because of that there’s a natural rivalry. But you’d be surprised how well we actually get along. I think we’re going to do some serious damage in the tournament and despite the dream teams of Doug Fresh and Kurt Noble and Terry Marvin and Level-One, I truly believe we can win it.
Unfortunately this is doing exactly what I didn’t want it to do. These two events are distracting away from my APW obligations. Obviously I know that I need to defend my title against someone at Overdrive, but really, no one has proven their worth. Buckson Gooch isn’t good enough, that was shown. Legion definitely isn’t good enough. Evan Envi has been beaten by me twice. And everyone else is already involved in some sort of drama or title contention. But there needs to be somebody. With all of these events going on, I’m not paying nearly enough attention to everyone else. I’m trying to push myself and get the word about Mania Enterprises out there. Hell, I hosted a talk show last night just to get the word out there. That’s beyond anything I’ve done in a while.
I’ve been on talk shows my whole life. Hell, I think Late Night with Conan O’Brien was my first ever talk show appearance back in the 90’s. But I had never hosted one before. That was definitely a different experience. Always nice to meet with Hollywood Starlits though. That Jennifer Lawrence has a hell of a body and a sense of humor.
But again, now, even in my own mind I’m being distracted. I need to focus on APW and on the match at hand. More importantly, I need to focus on getting Evan Envi out of my life.
I pick up the phone after it rings a few times, “Hello, this is Mark.”
The voice on the other end is high pitched, yet they’re clearly trying to sound deeper, “You should just stay away.”
“Excuse me?” I offer in a comical tone.
“Stay away from Meltdown, worry about your own business.”
“Who is this?” I say, not angrily, but more like Jerry Seinfeld from his show when George would call in a panic.
“You’ve been warned.”
“Well, better than being served.” The phone on the other end hangs up, “Not very friendly. “ I hang up the phone as Rosa comes out of her room.
“Who was that?”
“Someone who is not all that happy with my appearance at Meltdown this past week.”
“What was that all about?”
“Rosa…”
“I know, I know, you don’t want to tell me yet.”
“We just can’t have any of the information leak yet. I’ll at least tell you this; I’ll be going to Meltdown again this week to see how things are going.”
“Why would you need to do that?”
“And that’s where the questions are going to have to stop.”
“You’re a pain in the ass. You drag me into all your drama with Evan Envi, but then I can’t even hear any of the good stuff.”
“Trust me, none of it is that good. It’s a Mania Enterprises thing.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Rosa turns and walks out of the room.
“Rosa..” I say after her, but it’s too late.
“I need a drink.”
I walk up into the bar and sit at a stool on the far left of the bar. “Pint of Guinness.”
“Coming up.”
I sit there, contemplating what my next move could possibly be. I’ve spent so much time trying to keep everything balanced. I’ve been the Overdrive Champion for a long time now, I’ve defeated all challengers and really done some things that I’m proud of. But now, it seems like everything is starting to fall apart. I know this is what Evan wants, which is why I need to work like hell to keep it all together.
“Here you go” The bartender says as he puts the glass down in front of me.
“Thanks” I grab the glass and take a big gulp, almost a third of the glass.
“Everything alright young man?”
Been a long time since someone has called me a young man, “A lot on my mind is all.”
“I hear that just about every day.”
“It’s tough to balance friends, personal goals, and the safety of others.”
“You’re not a super hero. You don’t have to be responsible for others.”
“If I don’t, who will?”
“Again, I don’t think that’s your problem to worry about.”
I sat there thinking about that for a moment longer while he helped another customer at the bar. Do I put too much pressure on myself to make sure that others are taken care of? Obviously I did in the past by hiring all my friends as the Board of Directors for Mania Enterprises, but I also changed that. The only person it could be true about now is Rosa. I don’t think I coddle her though, I don’t think she wants to be coddled.
The bartender makes his way back over, “What if someone has done something to wrong someone I care about?” I ask him.
“How much do you care about this person?”
“She’s like a sister.”
“Then you make sure that person doesn’t do it again.”
“Doesn’t that going against your theory of other problems not being mine?”
“It’s a thin line, my friend. But I’ll tell you this, you can’t fight other peoples battles, but you can certainly make their fight a little easier.”
“By making it my fight?”
The bartender smiles at me and goes to help another customer. I take another big gulp of the Guinness. It tastes good going down. I used to be a much bigger drinker. In my older age my hangovers are worse so it doesn’t make as much sense to keep drinking to excess.
“What if those choices to protect the ones close to me can threaten my professional career or my business?” I ask again as the bartender comes back over. I’m treating this man like he’s my own personal Yoda.
“I’m not a Fortune 500 CEO, but I’ll tell you this, if you put your company in front of your family, you’re going to be very alone later in life.”
I thought about that for a moment. No one wants to be alone. But Mania Enterprises is everything. I’d be nothing without it. It’s been the only thing I’ve had for nearly two decades. I’ve known Rosa for less than a year. Can I threaten all that’s been built by my family and by myself just for someone who was threatened? It’s wrestling, who doesn’t get threatened now and then. Hell, APW made a television show out of it with Amy Noble. It’s a sad state of affairs, but I think Rosa is just going to have to learn to deal with it. I’ll make sure Evan gets what’s coming to him, but I won’t let it hurt me or my Overdrive title.
“I feel like you didn’t fully get what I was saying to you, son.” The barkeep says after studying my face.
“I made a decision here today, but I don’t think it would be the one you’d like.”
“Well, I don’t always like the decisions that are being made in this bar, but I respect your right to make them.”
“You’re not big into ruffling feathers are you?”
“I work in a tip business, I can’t ruffle feathers.”
I laugh as I finish off my Guinness. I lay down a hundred dollar bill as I get up to walk out. “Thanks for the advice.”
The man looks at me and smiles, “Thanks for ignoring it.”
“Well, this is one of those tag matches that I normally try to avoid if at all possible. Normally whoever ends up on my team does nothing but let me down and I get punished for their inabilities. However I feel like this week is going to be different. There are four solid competitors in this match. No one is going to back down, no one is going to give up an inch. As much as I hate Evan Envi, I know that he’ll pull his weight. I’m not saying we’re going to mesh together like Shawn and Gus, but by damn it we’re going to win this match.”
“Obviously this match is created to get people in tag teams with people they’re trying to avoid. Terry Marvin wants nothing to do with CJ Gates, I want nothing to do with Evan Envi and vice versa. But there is something bigger than that here. It has nothing to do with why we don’t like each other. We’re all going into RassleMania trying to gain momentum. We’re all trying to show the world what they’re in for. Now while CJ Gates and Terry Marvin are obviously facing each other in the Main Event, and I’ll be defending my title against someone, not Evan Envi, there is still a lot to prove for him.”
“He’s doing his best to prove that he should challenge for the title, maybe if we win I’ll give you shot. Ha, probably not. But either way, damn guy is trying his best to gain some momentum.”
“For the sake of argument though, let’s look at this match. First of all, on one team we have the two men who will be fighting for the APW Undisputed Title, the most sought after title in all of wrestling. On the other team, you have the Overdrive champion and man who is trying to get himself associated with the Overdrive title. On the outside it seems like there would be a clear mismatch, you know? That’s the interesting thing about APW. Two different divisions can compete with each other and there will be no mismatch. Hell, Evan Envi beat Terry Marvin.”
“And if, by some miracle I lost the Overdrive title, I could very quickly make my way up and start challenging for the Undisputed Title. I’ll take on anybody, anytime. So this match is no mismatch. This will be a competitive, hard-fought match. There will be some drama, of course. There is no point in even pretending like we’ll all put everything aside in order to win. Evan Envi did some terrible and unforgivable things and I’ll make sure he pays the price for that.”
“There is no love lost between Terry and CJ either. I’m sure their team will be in upheaval the whole time. But that’s what makes all of us so great. We know what we’re expected to do, we know the obstacles in our way, and we’ll overcome them. In the end I don’t care if it’s me beating down on Evan Envi in one corner and CJ beating on Terry in another, in the end, the match will be squared away.”
“I haven’t gone up against Terry much in my career. Every time there are always other people involved and it makes it very difficult to get a feel for what the two of us would actually do if it was just a one on one match. Clearly he’s been on a streak like no other since Test for the Best, but I still think that I could give him a run for his money. I think that being the champion for this long is starting to weigh on him. It’s tough having a target on your back every day.”
“While Terry and I haven’t matched up much there are still some similarities. And we’ve still been tied together in certain extents. People are starting to say that I’m on a ‘roll’ like they once said about Terry. And, we’re the two longest reigning champions in the APW right now. He a little longer than I, but there have been a lot of title changes since October and none of them have been from the Overdrive Title or the Undisputed Title. It offers a bond that can’t be bought or manufactured. We both know what it’s like to be the champ. We both know what’s it’s like to fight off challenges that people said you couldn’t. We both know that it’s not easy at the top.”
“Now, I know Terry will say that I don’t really know because I don’t have the big title. I don’t have the one that counts. But let me tell you this Terry it’s not how other people perceive the title it’s how I perceive it. This title is as important to me as yours is to you. I don’t want to give it up. I don’t want someone else to be holding it. I mean hell, you held it for a long while, I know you still believe a little bit that it’s yours. And that’s fine. But you’ll also understand that it’s meaningful to hold onto it.”
“Moving on to my other opponent is going to be a little difficult. CJ and I are actually going to be acting as a tag team later on this coming week in some big tag team tournament, so it’s going to be odd seeing him across the ring from me. We’ve been practicing working as a tag team, so for all of a sudden us going against each other, it’s going to be strange. But I know CJ and he knows me, we’re not going to go any lighter on each other because we’re going to be teaming up later that week. And I wouldn’t want him to either. It’s better off if we push each other in the ring and find out what we’re really made of.”
“I always said that you can’t truly respect someone until you’ve been in the ring with them. While Gatesy and I have been in the ring together multiple times, never hurts to go another round before we’re going to be on the same side. This should be a good go round for us. I think we both have the same goals though. Make sure that Terry and Evan get theirs. One way or another, they’ll get theirs.”
“And speaking of Evan, even though he’s my partner, he’s the last one I want to address today. Because say what you will about Evan, and I’ll say some terrible things, but I know he’s a good wrestler. He’s just not as good as he thinks. He needs to be taught a lesson, he needs to learn to respect his place. The smartest thing he can learn is to get in line and shut his fucking mouth.”
“He did something this week that I will not forget. He threated my assistant and my best friend Rosa. I try very hard to keep her out of things that are wrestling related. She helps me with my day to day life and with getting my head in the right place. There is no reason for her to be followed or threatened or anything of that ilk.”
“So do not make that mistake again Evan. All you are is a whining little baby that’s having a fit trying to get attention. I’m not going to reward you for acting out, but so help me god, I will punish you for it. The only advice I can offer you now, is watch yourself. You’re getting dangerously close to bringing something upon you that you want nothing to do with.”
