Post by Zack Fantana on Feb 3, 2017 2:26:40 GMT -5
A set of double doors creak open and in shines a bright light from the AWE headquarters corridor, where Zack Fantana had apparently been holding court with several journalists. AWE staffers hold the doors open for him and quickly close them as all the clamor from the corridor fades. Zack sighs as he sees one more camera creeping up on him.
"You might have noticed that I've been hitting the campaign trail hard lately. Of course, I wouldn't have had to if my opponents didn't feel the need to rewrite history, not only in terms of T.S. Elliot, but myself as well. Allow me to step out of spin alley and address some of these fabrications."
Fantana plucks the 'T.S. Elliott for COO' button off his lapel and stuffs it into his back pocket. He walks down the hallway a bit before stepping into an unoccupied conference room. He then sheds his jacket entirely, hanging it up on a coat hanger before taking his place at the conference table and plopping his trusty AWE briefcase down on the tabletop.
"Caution! You're about to enter the No Spin Zone."
Zack cracks a smile briefly before his eyes dart off screen with sudden concern.
"Is that copyrighted?"
After receiving an answer from someone out of frame, Zack waves his hand and mutters "Fuck Bill O'Reilly" before he grabs a stack of papers which he begins to thumb through.
"At Executive Action, we will finally see the conclusion of the Alpha Cup tournament. Let's get directly to the elephant in the room; I lost for the first time in my AWE career. It's true. But despite what Austin Gale may think, that loss hasn't rattled me, although I am flattered by the implication - the implication being that I've suffered so few losses over the course of my career that this one will really throw me for a loop. Like I'm some prodigy that just hit the ground running in the AWE. Yeah, Bobby Benson thought that too."
Zack clears his throat.
"I'm sorry, I meant 'James Radford'. He thought that too. It's a patently false assumption, but people make that mistake a lot with me. I guess my exfoliating cream deserves a lot of credit. But by all means, folks, feel free to ignore the last decade and change of my career if it makes you feel more comfortable. Discount the dirt under my fingernails and pretend what I hold in my hands has been given to me instead of earned."
He taps on the briefcase before moving on.
"But this is the No Spin ----."
The final word is bleeped out as the AWE lawyers are busy enough these days.
"And that means you get the truth. The truth is that I've been in this game too long to be spooked by a single defeat. Would I love to be fighting Anastasia Hayden in the finals of the Alpha Cup tournament? Absolutely. But that loss to Radford hasn't broken my psyche, because ultimately the Alpha Cup was an exercise in vanity for me. I didn't need the validation and I didn't need that Paramount title shot. Did I want it? Of course I did. Dare Clemmens may think that I believe the Paramount division is beneath me, but I never said that, so who's the conspiracy nut now? Really, would I have spent the past two months chasing that dream if I didn't think it was worth it? See, what I said was that being the Resilience Champion is the toughest gig in the company, something that I still believe and something that's evident with the match I have at Executive Action."
While I may not have a shot at a new gold trophy at Executive Action, I've found a silver lining in defeat. Because I believe chasing that dream for double gold would have ultimately shattered my focus and cost me both championships. It was a side project. Everyone has their hobbies, right? Bindy Trent has meditation and her cat ventriloquism act. Dare Clemmens patronizes gay bars and hangs dong. And Austin Gale plays grab-ass with Brazilian children and stars in puppet shows with big brother. Well, I have hobbies as well. My hobbies just happen to be more career oriented than the rest, but everyone should know that the Resilience division is where I've made my home and it's where I'll be staying."
Fantana stacks the papers in order once more and slides them off to the side.
"So now you know me and you know what I'm about. But what of my opponents?
Clemmens - that name carries a lot of clout in this business, but do we even know who the real Dare Clemmens is? I don't want to hear 'Shane's nephew' or 'Shyla's brother'. This guy plays dress-up so often, I don't even know who the fuck he is anymore. What I do know is that he couldn't give less of a shit about the fate of this company. That's dangerous given the fact that Bindy Trent has been publicly attempting to collude with him. And given that those two are clearly infatuated with one another, it just might happen. He got deep into that Bindy impression, like Buffalo Bill deep. I'm talking 'Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me' deep. Then he serenaded her with a musical number. Now they're sharing the same ring with the fate of the company and my championship at stake. This is beginning to become a farce. I suppose I should take the collusion as a compliment though. And at least I can take solace in the fact that Austin Gale is still stupid enough to believe he'll be running the company when this is all over."
Zack shakes his head with an uneasy smile.
"It's funny. You all should be thrilled to have T.S. as the COO. This is a man who threw me to the wolves in my first Resilience title defense. He clearly doesn't deem his champions precious. The AWE is the land of opportunity right now, but here you three are, attempting to take it to ruins.
See, a single loss isn't going to spook me, but if I lose this match, it could very well haunt the AWE for the rest of its days."
"You might have noticed that I've been hitting the campaign trail hard lately. Of course, I wouldn't have had to if my opponents didn't feel the need to rewrite history, not only in terms of T.S. Elliot, but myself as well. Allow me to step out of spin alley and address some of these fabrications."
Fantana plucks the 'T.S. Elliott for COO' button off his lapel and stuffs it into his back pocket. He walks down the hallway a bit before stepping into an unoccupied conference room. He then sheds his jacket entirely, hanging it up on a coat hanger before taking his place at the conference table and plopping his trusty AWE briefcase down on the tabletop.
"Caution! You're about to enter the No Spin Zone."
Zack cracks a smile briefly before his eyes dart off screen with sudden concern.
"Is that copyrighted?"
After receiving an answer from someone out of frame, Zack waves his hand and mutters "Fuck Bill O'Reilly" before he grabs a stack of papers which he begins to thumb through.
"At Executive Action, we will finally see the conclusion of the Alpha Cup tournament. Let's get directly to the elephant in the room; I lost for the first time in my AWE career. It's true. But despite what Austin Gale may think, that loss hasn't rattled me, although I am flattered by the implication - the implication being that I've suffered so few losses over the course of my career that this one will really throw me for a loop. Like I'm some prodigy that just hit the ground running in the AWE. Yeah, Bobby Benson thought that too."
Zack clears his throat.
"I'm sorry, I meant 'James Radford'. He thought that too. It's a patently false assumption, but people make that mistake a lot with me. I guess my exfoliating cream deserves a lot of credit. But by all means, folks, feel free to ignore the last decade and change of my career if it makes you feel more comfortable. Discount the dirt under my fingernails and pretend what I hold in my hands has been given to me instead of earned."
He taps on the briefcase before moving on.
"But this is the No Spin ----."
The final word is bleeped out as the AWE lawyers are busy enough these days.
"And that means you get the truth. The truth is that I've been in this game too long to be spooked by a single defeat. Would I love to be fighting Anastasia Hayden in the finals of the Alpha Cup tournament? Absolutely. But that loss to Radford hasn't broken my psyche, because ultimately the Alpha Cup was an exercise in vanity for me. I didn't need the validation and I didn't need that Paramount title shot. Did I want it? Of course I did. Dare Clemmens may think that I believe the Paramount division is beneath me, but I never said that, so who's the conspiracy nut now? Really, would I have spent the past two months chasing that dream if I didn't think it was worth it? See, what I said was that being the Resilience Champion is the toughest gig in the company, something that I still believe and something that's evident with the match I have at Executive Action."
While I may not have a shot at a new gold trophy at Executive Action, I've found a silver lining in defeat. Because I believe chasing that dream for double gold would have ultimately shattered my focus and cost me both championships. It was a side project. Everyone has their hobbies, right? Bindy Trent has meditation and her cat ventriloquism act. Dare Clemmens patronizes gay bars and hangs dong. And Austin Gale plays grab-ass with Brazilian children and stars in puppet shows with big brother. Well, I have hobbies as well. My hobbies just happen to be more career oriented than the rest, but everyone should know that the Resilience division is where I've made my home and it's where I'll be staying."
Fantana stacks the papers in order once more and slides them off to the side.
"So now you know me and you know what I'm about. But what of my opponents?
Clemmens - that name carries a lot of clout in this business, but do we even know who the real Dare Clemmens is? I don't want to hear 'Shane's nephew' or 'Shyla's brother'. This guy plays dress-up so often, I don't even know who the fuck he is anymore. What I do know is that he couldn't give less of a shit about the fate of this company. That's dangerous given the fact that Bindy Trent has been publicly attempting to collude with him. And given that those two are clearly infatuated with one another, it just might happen. He got deep into that Bindy impression, like Buffalo Bill deep. I'm talking 'Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me' deep. Then he serenaded her with a musical number. Now they're sharing the same ring with the fate of the company and my championship at stake. This is beginning to become a farce. I suppose I should take the collusion as a compliment though. And at least I can take solace in the fact that Austin Gale is still stupid enough to believe he'll be running the company when this is all over."
Zack shakes his head with an uneasy smile.
"It's funny. You all should be thrilled to have T.S. as the COO. This is a man who threw me to the wolves in my first Resilience title defense. He clearly doesn't deem his champions precious. The AWE is the land of opportunity right now, but here you three are, attempting to take it to ruins.
See, a single loss isn't going to spook me, but if I lose this match, it could very well haunt the AWE for the rest of its days."