Post by Amok on May 24, 2016 3:29:20 GMT
May 19, 2016
24 Hour Fitness
Las Vegas, Nevada
Things did not go according to plan.
On Tuesday Amok had faced the two next contenders for the VWS World Title in a tag match. His goal was to win in dominating fashion. Instead the reverse occurred, and it was Avery Miles and Johnny Gillmen picking up the deuce at Tenacity. The fact it was his partner Night Rider that was pinned and not him offered little comfort for the Wyoming born big man. Amok wanted to make a statement with that match; to impress the right people by destroying the pair who challenged them. By that standard he had failed.
Amok couldn’t let this setback deter him, however. There was no time to sulk. He had a regimen to maintain, and another fight to prepare for. He was back in singles competition, but still facing two opponents. His next scheduled match was a Triple Threat against a newcomer and a current VWS Title Holder. Dylan Black and Velocity Champion Landen Dalmon were his latest adversaries, and the ones he had to focus on now. Next Tenacity would be the first time Amok had wrestled either man. He would need to spend some time learning about them; how they fought; how they acted. But before he worked on ways to tear Black and Dalmon down the garrulous giant wanted to build his body up. Given Thursday was Chest and Arms Day for him, Amok was stationed at the gym’s free weight area. He was on a flat bench doing chest presses with a three hundred fifty pound weight when he heard his phone buzzing. After completing his reps he wiped down his huge, callused hands with a towel and checked his messages. He had a voicemail from a number he did not recognize. When Amok played it his mood improved vastly.
“Hey, big man, this is the Champ…. Alex Jones. Call me back.”
Amok did immediately. After greetings were exchanged, Jones got right to the heart of the matter.
“I’m out on the town now doing some stuff. You free to meet? Won’t take long,” The VWS World Champion asked.
“Yeah. Where?”
“I’m driving right now. Where are you?”
Amok told him the gym’s address.
“That’s like ten minutes from me. Be outside, brah.”
It was closer to twenty minutes before Alex Jones was pulling up in his 2016 Lincoln Navigator and parking it in a handicap space. He opened the door and let Amok in.
Jones was dressed casually, but even a country boy like Amok could tell the polo shirt and chinos weren’t cheap. The Oxford Vaughn aviators he had on were definitely out of the big man’s price range.
“Hey, thanks for meeting with me on such short notice,” Alex told him, “I just wanted to tell you I’ve loved what you been doing in VWS so far. You’re making your presence felt, and the right people recognize it.”
Amok nodded, “Nice to hear. I’ve tried to be a team player in Valentine Wrestling. You know, help when I can.”
“And you have. Throwing out some trash for my wife at Uprising. Putting that big goon Gabriel Ellis in his place the same night. Me and Ana really appreciate what you’ve done so far,” was how Alex described Amok tossing Justin Harmony from the Pay Per View’s Battle Royal and injuring one of Alex’s challengers for the World Title during the show’s main event.
“I can do more,” Amok said bluntly.
The champ grinned, “Great. That’s what we need in VWS, Amok: wrestlers willing to put the company ahead of themselves. Men and women we can count on to honor it’s credo of ‘Valor, Vanity, and Victory’.”
“If that’s what’s called for, then I’m your guy.”
“I figured,” Jones held up his fist for some dap, which Amok awkwardly delivered, “Now, about next week: you got Landon Dalmon and that new kid, uh, what’s his name?”
“Dylan Black,” Amok identified the third man in his Tenacity match.
“Right,” Alex smirked, “It’s a good opportunity for you, facing those guys. Both of them have been talking smack about how Valentine Wrestling does business. Dalmon’s taken some potshots; he seems to think that consolation prize he wears around his waist puts him at a higher level than yours truly.”
Jones was talking about the Velocity Title that Landen had won at Uprising against Avery Miles.
“He’s forgotten his place. I need you to remind him where he stands exactly in the pecking order. Do that, and hey, mayyyyybe later you can get a rematch with him where the stakes are a little higher. You know, assuming Landen doesn’t lose the strap at All In.”
All In was the next Pay Per View Valentine Wrestling Syndicate had planned. Dalmon was scheduled to face Cable Arcane for his title then.
“And as for that other punk- Black? He’s one of those guys who thinks he’s going to score points with the fans by being ‘anti-authority’. That if he stands up to Office they’re going to have no choice but to push him. I want him pushed alright; right out a ten story window. I want that punk defenestrated with extreme prejudice, know what I’m saying?”
“It’s doable. Triple Threats are no DQ. That means no count outs. How high up does the T Mobile Arena go?”
The VWS Champ wasn’t sure if Amok was making a joke or not, but chose to assume it was one, “Heh heh. Funny stuff. It’s good to have a sense of humor in this business.”
The big man smiled wolfishly, “Don’t worry, boss; I won’t hurt either of them too bad. Just enough so that they get that message you want sent.”
“Call me Alex. Boss is too formal. Uh, and anyways, I’m not the boss; my wife is,” Jones explained, “But Ana and I think alike on a lot of things. One of those is your spot in Valentine Wrestling. You’re a big man with a bigger upside. You help us keep order here in the company? There’s no limit to what you can achieve.”
Amok liked the sound of that, and kept smiling. For several moments the two stared at each other, smiling and nodding, not quite sure how to end the conversation. Finally Alex checked his Rolex.
“Yeah, well, I got to go. Reiki appointment at 2. But this was a good talk. Productive.”
“Yeah,” the newest stooge for Valentine Wrestling agreed as he opened the door and unfolded his massive frame from the Navigator, “Good luck with your thing. You think of anything else you need me for, just call.”
Alex Jones kept that in mind.
May 23, 2016
Athos Corp Recording Studio
Amok was in his ring gear and the sleeveless duster he wore during his entrance. He stood in front of a large model of the Valentine Wrestling Syndicate logo, his head down, as if deep in contemplation. When he looked to the camera his eyes glinted with a sinister, almost feral light. When he spoke he did in a calm, matter of fact manner that complimented his rural western accent.
“I grew up on a ranch run by family outside a little hick town called Ten Sleep, Wyoming. I hated it. It was a hard, dull, boring life. There were only two jobs that had even a little bit of excitement to them: breaking horses and hunting wolves.”
The giant’s face became somber, almost remorseful.
“The wolves… killing them… that was what you’d call a necessary evil. If we didn’t, they’d prey on our cattle. Even losing a couple of calves a year could mean the difference between the ranch being in the black or the red at the end of the year. So we tracked the wolves and shot them. Never enjoyed the work though. They were just being true to their natures. They were being predators.”
Amok paused briefly.
“Like me.”
“After that declaration the big man’s tone changed to one slightly more jovial, “Breaking horses, though? That was fun. I got a kick out of taking some ornery, ignorant animal and forcing it to obey. Busting broncos gave me the biggest thrills in my life until I discovered sex and wrestling; and, in full candor, sometimes those memories still trump them.”
“The reason I’m bringing this up now is because I’ve been tasked with doing a version of that work here in Valentine Wrestling. The fed is full of with ornery, ignorant animals that need to be reined in. To be made to understand there is a certain order to things, and that if they don’t respect that order, there are consequences.”
“Landen Dalmon and Dylan Black are two men who require my attention. Lucky for me, I am wrestling them both tomorrow at Tenacity. So, not only do I have justification to put them in their respective places, but I will have an audience of millions watching as I do so. They will learn, just like Dalmon and Black will, that defiance has a cost. And the man who has been set to collect it is me. I am the Wolf at the Door, and no bar or lock can keep me out. I will break my opponents this Tuesday, and their humiliation will serve as a message for all the other iconoclasts in VWS: don’t stray from the herd.”
