Post by Wyatt Crash on Jul 17, 2013 19:17:22 GMT -4
Inside of a high-rise building, located in an unnamed city, a plainly decorated conference room was filled with men in nice suits. On one end of the table, a man with thick black rimmed glasses, and a light gray suit stared directly in front of him. The well put together, affluent man of his late forties was staring at none other than Wyatt Crash.
Wyatt sat at the opposite end of the beautifully stained table, also sporting a nice suit. His beard had been combed, his hair had been nicely slicked over to one side, and his eyes were fixated on the gentleman across from him. He had no idea why he had been called to join some of the APW staff in a conference, only a day before his match against Jerry Matthews. Was he going to be getting the push that he always wanted? Wyatt had no idea what was in store.
A few of the staff around the perimeter of the table shuffled through papers, others scrolled through pages on their tablets, only a few sat entirely still waiting for the conference to begin. Finally, the silence was broken. The man opposite from Wyatt cleared his throat, looked around the table at the ten or so other individuals who joined them, and then began to speak loudly in order to grab everyone’s attention.
“Good afternoon. I hope everyone enjoyed this heat wave we have been having lately. I find it quite nice, I must say. What I can’t stand.. is this traffic!”
A few men around the table snickered. Wyatt kept his typical stone faced glare. It was obvious that those who laughed were trying to kiss their’ bosses ass as much as possible. He could tell that they didn’t really find what he said all too amusing. However, his didn’t stop him from continuing on.
“This traffic truly has been horrible. Fortunately for us, this hasn’t stopped anyone from driving out to see OverDrive live! Yes, in fact the ratings have been great. But! They could always improve! Enough of the small talk. Let’s get down to business, shall we? Wyatt, I was asked to invite you to this conference on behalf of the OverDrive General Manager, and a few other higher ups here at APW.
I figured it would be nice to bring you into the conversation that most of us have been having backstage lately. It most definitely involves you. Mr. Crash, we, Action Packed Wrestling, only accept the best of the best! Those wrestlers who can go out there and really get the crowd jumping up and down screaming for blood or whatever it is they scream for.
APW only accepts those wrestlers who can captivate the fans, and keep their attention for an incredible amount of time. We are only interested in those wrestlers who are willing to be loyal to the brand, and want to live out long careers as a professional wrestler. The thing is Wyatt, we all think you are just the kind of wrestler that we are looking for...”
Wyatt’s mind was racing, he couldn’t believe that this might actually be the moment he had been waiting for all along. He did his best to keep his composure, barely moving at all in the black leather chair that they had seated him in earlier. Was he going to get a title shot? Were they about to tell him that he was destined to be the face of APW? These things were important to Wyatt, however they weren’t exactly what he was all about.
He couldn’t sit still any longer, Wyatt leaned forward in order to make sure he heard exactly what the man across from him was about to say. This was quite nerve wrecking for Wyatt. He had no idea whether what he was about to feel was going to be great or not, he just knew that he wanted to hear it… and that he was ready to hear it.
“…but! There is definitely one thing that we as a company think is hurting you. No offense Mr. Crash but we all think that you could use a bit of tweaking to your image before you really take off here in the APW! Which is why we hired some of the men around you to help you with that! Specifically one man in particular, this man to my right. Meet Baxter Bennington he is going…”
Wyatt only had one thing on his mind. What the hell? After hours of traffic, an awful diner style breakfast, and the fact that he was missing a day of training, this was last thing he ever wanted to hear. What exactly did they mean by, “tweaking to your image”? Wyatt had to stop this talk before it went to far.
“Hold on, just a minute. What do you mean tweak my image? If you don’t like how I do things, or how I look, I mean… I’m sorry. It is what it is, and I am not willing to change any of how who I am.”
None of the men around the table even changed a single inch of their blank expressions. Except for one, Baxter Bennington, who sat to the right of the man across from Wyatt. He was now sporting a sinister grin, waiting to see exactly how his boss would respond to Wyatt’s reaction. Wyatt was prepared to stand up for himself, at all cost.
“Now, now, Mr. Crash. It isn’t all too bad! All we are asking is that you take a few of our suggestions into consideration! Mr. Bennington has flown all the way here from Martha’s Vineyard where he is a free-lance image consultant. And oh, what a successful image consultant he is I might add!
Mr. Bennington, please, tell Wyatt exactly what it is that we are all talking about here. If our plan is good enough for the president to approve, it has to be good enough for one of his wrestlers! After all Wyatt, you are quite new here in this promotion, and what a start you have had. Tough loss last week, tough lost indeed, but enough of that! Tell him, please, Mr. Bennington.”
Wyatt cleared his throat and loosened his neck tie slightly. Baxter Bennington leaned forward so that Wyatt could see him. He took a tablet out from his briefcase and swiped through the pages before brining up a slide show of sorts. Wyatt could barely make out what was on the screen. All he could think about was the incredible heat, and the jive he was being fed.
“Hi! Mr. Crash, Mr. Crash, what a pleasure it is to finally meet you! I can’t shake your hand now but as soon as I get the chance later I will! That is for certain! Well, I mean where do I start! There is so much that I have planned for you that you wouldn’t even begin to believe right now. The best part is, I get the opportunity to show you just a bit of it right now.
The bottom line is this, Wyatt. Your image, your gimmick, your whole spiel, we all think it’s pretty darn bland. Plain and simple, no one wants to see the whole tough guy on a mission to separate right from wrong thing anymore! Even if that is who you really are, it doesn’t help to do that while spicing it up with a bit of fantasy, does it?
Fortunately for you, APW has hired me to help you jazz up your career with a new look and deal that is going to get the fans roaring louder than you have ever heard them roar before, every single time you come through those curtains! Are you ready to see what kind of suggestions I have cooked up for you? I am sure you are, here we go…”
Wyatt’s jaw nearly fell to the floor. Suddenly, here he was being told that he needed to change who he was in order to please the fans and boost ratings, or whatever it was they were trying to do. If there was one thing Wyatt wasn’t, it’s anyone’s damn puppet. He was appalled at the fact that he was being told that the company which employed him wanted to take it into their own liberty to change him as a person.
No more Mr. Nice Guy, Wyatt was ready to give these penguins a piece of his mind. The fact is, he couldn’t stand their type to begin with. These golf playing on the weekends, three home buying, ivy league types. Most of the time they made him sick to his stomach, this was definitely one of those times.
“Listen, Mr. Bennington. It’s great that you have come all the way out from your cosy little island, and I appreciate the fact that you are so concerned about me, I really do. There is just one thing. No one, and I repeat, no one will ever change me in order to benefit themselves. That isn’t how I roll. That isn’t how any respectable wrestler in their right mind rolls, actually.
I don’t give a single damn what the fans want to see, if they don’t like me, then so be it. They are going to have to with deal it, and for a long time at that. I live by a saying, Mr Bennington. ‘No Gimmicks, No Masters’. I’m sorry but I won’t stand to see those who run a big part of the sport I love, trying to control their own athletes down to the way they carry themselves.
I thought APW wasn’t about that. I want to be the wrestler who I have been for the entirety of my career. Tomorrow night, when I go into the ring and wrestle Jerry Matthews, it is going to be the same damn Wyatt Crash that y’all have seen since day one, and are going to see until my final day between the ropes where I make my living. That’s that.”
The odd smile remained on Mr. Bennington’s face, while the man across from Wyatt was overcome by a look of shock. He couldn’t believe that Wyatt was deciding to act out this way. Why would any wrestler ever deny the requests of their superiors? Once the look of shock disappeared, the man running the meeting began to speak out loud after adjusting his glasses.
“Mr. Crash! Oh, at least give Mr. Bennington a chance! This is all for you! This is for the betterment of your fine career! We see big things for you and we just want to improve your chances of obtaining those goals. Just give the man a chance, I beg of you. After all, all of us here really do know what is best for our wrestlers, don’t we?
I mean, plenty of other superstars have taken advice from imaging consultants. Oh, Mr. Crash, you would be surprised to see how many of your fellow wrestlers have come into meetings just like this and taken some advice that has lead to title reigns and more! That could be you, Mr. Crash! Just keep that in mind as you listen.
“Thank you, sir. Now where was I? Oh, yes, I was about to show Mr. Crash what sort of ideas that I have developed for him, so far. Yes, here is one that I particularly am proud of. Now, Wyatt, you already have the beard and frizzy wild hair. Why not just add a flannel shirt, overalls, hiking boots, a red hat, and an axe! You could call yourself, ‘The Amazing Lumberjack’! How do you like the sound of that?
Or, how about this one, keeping on the topic of the hideous beard which could completely end up working for you. We give you a set of disgusting tattered rags to wear, cover your face in a bit of dirt, black out some of your teeth, and give you a shopping cart full of tin cans and different odds and ends to push around. You would be, ‘The Homeless Hitman’ and your signature move could be the ‘Shopping Cart Massacre’?
Sounds great doesn’t it? Just mull those two over for a bit. Imagine how the fans would react if tomorrow night they didn’t see boring old Wyatt Crash facing off with Jerry Matthews. Imagine if they saw one of this fantastic new images squaring off in the ring, doing it for the great outdoors or any one who has ever lived in a cardboard box anywhere! Just imagine, Mr. Crash!”
This last stretch of dialogue was the straw which broke the camel’s back. Wyatt had now officially had enough of this insane banter. A lumberjack and a homeless man? Who in God’s name did they think he was? Wyatt Crash is no one would simply bend of backwards for company heads in order to change his entire image.
In fact, Wyatt Crash was someone who wasn’t planning on changing his image at all. Stubbornness was one of Wyatt’s most noticeable qualities. His incredible conditioning was the result of that exact same stubbornness. These people around the table were now about to get a taste of that stubbornness.
“Everyone stop. Please, just stop this insanity. None these suggestions are ever going to be taken on by me. Are you folks sure you even called the right person to this conference? I’m not the kind of wrestler who wants to have other people make a name for him based off of a lousy fake image. I’m sorry, folks. That just isn’t going to happen.
I think it’s time for me to leave. I have some more training to get to before my match tomorrow, and it is a long drive back to airport. Once again, thanks but no thanks. Try some other wrestlers on the roster, maybe one of them will be okay with Mr. Bennington’s suggestion and y’all can get exactly what you want. Unfortunately, Wyatt Crash is not your man for this job.”
The grin on Mr. Bennington’s face finally faded, and was replaced by a cold glare directed toward Wyatt. The man next time him wiped a bit of sweat from his brow with a light pink handkerchief before adjusting his glasses once more, letting out an exaggerated sigh. Wyatt knew from that sound that he wasn’t going to enjoy what he was about to hear.
“Now, Mr. Crash. You aren’t necessarily required to take the advice that Mr. Bennington has so graciously offered you. But, I will tell you one thing however, it very well may be that you are putting your career on the line by not accepting this wonderful advice. Keep that in mind Mr. Crash, you might want to reconsider what you have just told all of us.”
“…oh! Mr. Crash, before you leave, I Bennington Baxter would just like to say thank you for hearing out my suggestions. I can assure that eventually you will try some of them out. All of my projects have at one time or another. Enjoy your flight, and I will see you tomorrow night before your match!”
Wyatt nodded and got up from his seat. As he made his way toward the door he realized exactly what Mr. Bennington had just said to him. He wondered if he really would see him tomorrow night. For his own sake, he hoped not. A cloud of dark thoughts obscured his consciousness. Would this really be the end of his career if he didn’t take that awful advice?
He couldn’t help but let these thoughts get in the way of what he knew he should be focusing on. His match with Jerry Matthews. A man who had placed fear in the eyes of many of APW’s wrestlers. Wyatt knew that he was capable of taking this man down. He knew that this man’s tricks were useless against him. No one could place fear in the heart of Wyatt Crash.
No God, no manager, no image consultant, and no wrestler, could ever make Wyatt feel afraid. Jerry Matthews was going to come to this painful realization tomorrow night. For once, Jerry Matthews would be forced to put his faith aside, and look into the eyes of someone who fears no maker. Someone who is willing to die for one thing and one thing only. Professional Wrestling.
Wyatt sat at the opposite end of the beautifully stained table, also sporting a nice suit. His beard had been combed, his hair had been nicely slicked over to one side, and his eyes were fixated on the gentleman across from him. He had no idea why he had been called to join some of the APW staff in a conference, only a day before his match against Jerry Matthews. Was he going to be getting the push that he always wanted? Wyatt had no idea what was in store.
A few of the staff around the perimeter of the table shuffled through papers, others scrolled through pages on their tablets, only a few sat entirely still waiting for the conference to begin. Finally, the silence was broken. The man opposite from Wyatt cleared his throat, looked around the table at the ten or so other individuals who joined them, and then began to speak loudly in order to grab everyone’s attention.
“Good afternoon. I hope everyone enjoyed this heat wave we have been having lately. I find it quite nice, I must say. What I can’t stand.. is this traffic!”
A few men around the table snickered. Wyatt kept his typical stone faced glare. It was obvious that those who laughed were trying to kiss their’ bosses ass as much as possible. He could tell that they didn’t really find what he said all too amusing. However, his didn’t stop him from continuing on.
“This traffic truly has been horrible. Fortunately for us, this hasn’t stopped anyone from driving out to see OverDrive live! Yes, in fact the ratings have been great. But! They could always improve! Enough of the small talk. Let’s get down to business, shall we? Wyatt, I was asked to invite you to this conference on behalf of the OverDrive General Manager, and a few other higher ups here at APW.
I figured it would be nice to bring you into the conversation that most of us have been having backstage lately. It most definitely involves you. Mr. Crash, we, Action Packed Wrestling, only accept the best of the best! Those wrestlers who can go out there and really get the crowd jumping up and down screaming for blood or whatever it is they scream for.
APW only accepts those wrestlers who can captivate the fans, and keep their attention for an incredible amount of time. We are only interested in those wrestlers who are willing to be loyal to the brand, and want to live out long careers as a professional wrestler. The thing is Wyatt, we all think you are just the kind of wrestler that we are looking for...”
Wyatt’s mind was racing, he couldn’t believe that this might actually be the moment he had been waiting for all along. He did his best to keep his composure, barely moving at all in the black leather chair that they had seated him in earlier. Was he going to get a title shot? Were they about to tell him that he was destined to be the face of APW? These things were important to Wyatt, however they weren’t exactly what he was all about.
He couldn’t sit still any longer, Wyatt leaned forward in order to make sure he heard exactly what the man across from him was about to say. This was quite nerve wrecking for Wyatt. He had no idea whether what he was about to feel was going to be great or not, he just knew that he wanted to hear it… and that he was ready to hear it.
“…but! There is definitely one thing that we as a company think is hurting you. No offense Mr. Crash but we all think that you could use a bit of tweaking to your image before you really take off here in the APW! Which is why we hired some of the men around you to help you with that! Specifically one man in particular, this man to my right. Meet Baxter Bennington he is going…”
Wyatt only had one thing on his mind. What the hell? After hours of traffic, an awful diner style breakfast, and the fact that he was missing a day of training, this was last thing he ever wanted to hear. What exactly did they mean by, “tweaking to your image”? Wyatt had to stop this talk before it went to far.
“Hold on, just a minute. What do you mean tweak my image? If you don’t like how I do things, or how I look, I mean… I’m sorry. It is what it is, and I am not willing to change any of how who I am.”
None of the men around the table even changed a single inch of their blank expressions. Except for one, Baxter Bennington, who sat to the right of the man across from Wyatt. He was now sporting a sinister grin, waiting to see exactly how his boss would respond to Wyatt’s reaction. Wyatt was prepared to stand up for himself, at all cost.
“Now, now, Mr. Crash. It isn’t all too bad! All we are asking is that you take a few of our suggestions into consideration! Mr. Bennington has flown all the way here from Martha’s Vineyard where he is a free-lance image consultant. And oh, what a successful image consultant he is I might add!
Mr. Bennington, please, tell Wyatt exactly what it is that we are all talking about here. If our plan is good enough for the president to approve, it has to be good enough for one of his wrestlers! After all Wyatt, you are quite new here in this promotion, and what a start you have had. Tough loss last week, tough lost indeed, but enough of that! Tell him, please, Mr. Bennington.”
Wyatt cleared his throat and loosened his neck tie slightly. Baxter Bennington leaned forward so that Wyatt could see him. He took a tablet out from his briefcase and swiped through the pages before brining up a slide show of sorts. Wyatt could barely make out what was on the screen. All he could think about was the incredible heat, and the jive he was being fed.
“Hi! Mr. Crash, Mr. Crash, what a pleasure it is to finally meet you! I can’t shake your hand now but as soon as I get the chance later I will! That is for certain! Well, I mean where do I start! There is so much that I have planned for you that you wouldn’t even begin to believe right now. The best part is, I get the opportunity to show you just a bit of it right now.
The bottom line is this, Wyatt. Your image, your gimmick, your whole spiel, we all think it’s pretty darn bland. Plain and simple, no one wants to see the whole tough guy on a mission to separate right from wrong thing anymore! Even if that is who you really are, it doesn’t help to do that while spicing it up with a bit of fantasy, does it?
Fortunately for you, APW has hired me to help you jazz up your career with a new look and deal that is going to get the fans roaring louder than you have ever heard them roar before, every single time you come through those curtains! Are you ready to see what kind of suggestions I have cooked up for you? I am sure you are, here we go…”
Wyatt’s jaw nearly fell to the floor. Suddenly, here he was being told that he needed to change who he was in order to please the fans and boost ratings, or whatever it was they were trying to do. If there was one thing Wyatt wasn’t, it’s anyone’s damn puppet. He was appalled at the fact that he was being told that the company which employed him wanted to take it into their own liberty to change him as a person.
No more Mr. Nice Guy, Wyatt was ready to give these penguins a piece of his mind. The fact is, he couldn’t stand their type to begin with. These golf playing on the weekends, three home buying, ivy league types. Most of the time they made him sick to his stomach, this was definitely one of those times.
“Listen, Mr. Bennington. It’s great that you have come all the way out from your cosy little island, and I appreciate the fact that you are so concerned about me, I really do. There is just one thing. No one, and I repeat, no one will ever change me in order to benefit themselves. That isn’t how I roll. That isn’t how any respectable wrestler in their right mind rolls, actually.
I don’t give a single damn what the fans want to see, if they don’t like me, then so be it. They are going to have to with deal it, and for a long time at that. I live by a saying, Mr Bennington. ‘No Gimmicks, No Masters’. I’m sorry but I won’t stand to see those who run a big part of the sport I love, trying to control their own athletes down to the way they carry themselves.
I thought APW wasn’t about that. I want to be the wrestler who I have been for the entirety of my career. Tomorrow night, when I go into the ring and wrestle Jerry Matthews, it is going to be the same damn Wyatt Crash that y’all have seen since day one, and are going to see until my final day between the ropes where I make my living. That’s that.”
The odd smile remained on Mr. Bennington’s face, while the man across from Wyatt was overcome by a look of shock. He couldn’t believe that Wyatt was deciding to act out this way. Why would any wrestler ever deny the requests of their superiors? Once the look of shock disappeared, the man running the meeting began to speak out loud after adjusting his glasses.
“Mr. Crash! Oh, at least give Mr. Bennington a chance! This is all for you! This is for the betterment of your fine career! We see big things for you and we just want to improve your chances of obtaining those goals. Just give the man a chance, I beg of you. After all, all of us here really do know what is best for our wrestlers, don’t we?
I mean, plenty of other superstars have taken advice from imaging consultants. Oh, Mr. Crash, you would be surprised to see how many of your fellow wrestlers have come into meetings just like this and taken some advice that has lead to title reigns and more! That could be you, Mr. Crash! Just keep that in mind as you listen.
“Thank you, sir. Now where was I? Oh, yes, I was about to show Mr. Crash what sort of ideas that I have developed for him, so far. Yes, here is one that I particularly am proud of. Now, Wyatt, you already have the beard and frizzy wild hair. Why not just add a flannel shirt, overalls, hiking boots, a red hat, and an axe! You could call yourself, ‘The Amazing Lumberjack’! How do you like the sound of that?
Or, how about this one, keeping on the topic of the hideous beard which could completely end up working for you. We give you a set of disgusting tattered rags to wear, cover your face in a bit of dirt, black out some of your teeth, and give you a shopping cart full of tin cans and different odds and ends to push around. You would be, ‘The Homeless Hitman’ and your signature move could be the ‘Shopping Cart Massacre’?
Sounds great doesn’t it? Just mull those two over for a bit. Imagine how the fans would react if tomorrow night they didn’t see boring old Wyatt Crash facing off with Jerry Matthews. Imagine if they saw one of this fantastic new images squaring off in the ring, doing it for the great outdoors or any one who has ever lived in a cardboard box anywhere! Just imagine, Mr. Crash!”
This last stretch of dialogue was the straw which broke the camel’s back. Wyatt had now officially had enough of this insane banter. A lumberjack and a homeless man? Who in God’s name did they think he was? Wyatt Crash is no one would simply bend of backwards for company heads in order to change his entire image.
In fact, Wyatt Crash was someone who wasn’t planning on changing his image at all. Stubbornness was one of Wyatt’s most noticeable qualities. His incredible conditioning was the result of that exact same stubbornness. These people around the table were now about to get a taste of that stubbornness.
“Everyone stop. Please, just stop this insanity. None these suggestions are ever going to be taken on by me. Are you folks sure you even called the right person to this conference? I’m not the kind of wrestler who wants to have other people make a name for him based off of a lousy fake image. I’m sorry, folks. That just isn’t going to happen.
I think it’s time for me to leave. I have some more training to get to before my match tomorrow, and it is a long drive back to airport. Once again, thanks but no thanks. Try some other wrestlers on the roster, maybe one of them will be okay with Mr. Bennington’s suggestion and y’all can get exactly what you want. Unfortunately, Wyatt Crash is not your man for this job.”
The grin on Mr. Bennington’s face finally faded, and was replaced by a cold glare directed toward Wyatt. The man next time him wiped a bit of sweat from his brow with a light pink handkerchief before adjusting his glasses once more, letting out an exaggerated sigh. Wyatt knew from that sound that he wasn’t going to enjoy what he was about to hear.
“Now, Mr. Crash. You aren’t necessarily required to take the advice that Mr. Bennington has so graciously offered you. But, I will tell you one thing however, it very well may be that you are putting your career on the line by not accepting this wonderful advice. Keep that in mind Mr. Crash, you might want to reconsider what you have just told all of us.”
“…oh! Mr. Crash, before you leave, I Bennington Baxter would just like to say thank you for hearing out my suggestions. I can assure that eventually you will try some of them out. All of my projects have at one time or another. Enjoy your flight, and I will see you tomorrow night before your match!”
Wyatt nodded and got up from his seat. As he made his way toward the door he realized exactly what Mr. Bennington had just said to him. He wondered if he really would see him tomorrow night. For his own sake, he hoped not. A cloud of dark thoughts obscured his consciousness. Would this really be the end of his career if he didn’t take that awful advice?
He couldn’t help but let these thoughts get in the way of what he knew he should be focusing on. His match with Jerry Matthews. A man who had placed fear in the eyes of many of APW’s wrestlers. Wyatt knew that he was capable of taking this man down. He knew that this man’s tricks were useless against him. No one could place fear in the heart of Wyatt Crash.
No God, no manager, no image consultant, and no wrestler, could ever make Wyatt feel afraid. Jerry Matthews was going to come to this painful realization tomorrow night. For once, Jerry Matthews would be forced to put his faith aside, and look into the eyes of someone who fears no maker. Someone who is willing to die for one thing and one thing only. Professional Wrestling.
