Post by Tommy Bennett on Jun 21, 2016 14:18:57 GMT -6
.::OFF CAMERA::.
Memorial Day Weekend, 2016
“Another pitcher of Long Island Ice Teas?”
“Please.”
As the scene opens up we find ourselves inside of a sunshine flooded country club. People are scattered about at tables and walking around in their polo shirts with sweaters wrapped over their shoulders or around their waists. Our focus, however, is on a very particular table. Because at this table sits some folks who may be recognizable to some. In a pair of tan slacks and a red St. Louis Cardinals polo is former ICWA Commentator and Stevenson academy trainer Burt Busch (Picture Ron White). Beside him at the round table is the big burley Taylor “WallStreet” McCallister (Picture long haired Triple H) in a black Nike polo with black and white patterned golf shorts. Beside him in a navy blue Cowboys polo with jean shorts is Christian Michaels. Not quite next but next after that in his “Taylor Made” polo shirt and golf shorts is Duke Andrews and between Duke Andrews and Burt Busch is an empty chair.
….
What?
Oh right, the chair between Christian Michaels and Duke Andrews…
Well between them in a pair of black slacks and a dark purple Under Armor polo with his hair drawn back neatly in a pony tail is former ICWA and PWT World Heavyweight Champion Tommy Bennett.
All five men have empty glasses that have clearly been drank from and empty plates that have clearly been ate from in front of them as the waiter approaches with a big glass pitcher of what looks like lemon ice tea. He begins refilling the glasses as Burt glances at his watch.
Burt Busch, “If he don’t get here soon we’re gonna miss our Tee time.”
Duke Andrews, “I sent him a text, he said he’s on his way.”
Taylor McCallister, “When I broke in I used to hear people talk about Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. They called him “Turtle” because he always went at his own pace. He was always late…”
Burt Busch, “Would explain why he never did much work for Watts… He’d have been bankrupt.”
Taylor laughs, “Yeah… Bill Watts would have fined him out of his trunks. Anyway, I think our buddy here must have trained under the expert tutelage of the ol’ Hammer because he’s always been a man whose kept his own pace as well.”
Duke Andrews, “Slow bastard.”
Burt Busch, “You haven’t been the most punctual fella yourself since I’ve met ya Duke.”
Duke Andrews, “Hey… Being late to an arena or to cut a promo is one thing; Being late to the links, however, is borderline sacrilegious. When there’s a golf ball waiting to be smacked or a buck with a big ol’ rack waiting to be mounted on the wall ya show up early or at worst on time but NEVER EVER late.”
Christian Michaels, “That rule also applies to Cowboy games and Diet Dr. Pepper sales.”
Burt Busch, “I’d ply that to a good ol’ barbecue or calling play by play whether it be for wrestling or football or baseball.”
Taylor McCallister, “While I don’t agree with being late to a show, I’d say for me that would most apply to getting to the gym.”
Burt Busch, “You ply that logic to everything. You’re always early.”
Duke Andrews, “Not always. You may not agree with being late to a show but the last time I looked I’m still waiting to work a show for you that ya booked in June of twenty fifteen… I’d say that’s pretty damn late.”
Christian Michaels, “Heh-hmm… BUUUUUUURN!”
WallStreet shoots Michaels a slight glare as Michaels sheepishly replies, “Well it was…”
WallStreet, “Yeah, Yeah… Alright Ashton… So admittedly I may have my punctuality issues in one area of my life.”
Christian Michaels, “That sucks too. I was gonna go over for the strap on that show.”
WallStreet perks an eyebrow, “You were?”
Christian Michaels nods, “Yep.”
WallStreet, “Huh… I don’t remember having plans to have you go over for the strap…”
Christian Michaels, “Oh you know you wanted me back on top! The ICWA’s at its best with yours truly on top.”
Tommy finally speaks up, “I’m going to have to kindly disagree.”
Christian Michaels, “That’s because you weren’t there for my previous run on top. Easily the ICWA’s best days.”
Tommy Bennett, “Weren’t you guys running two thousand seat convention centers back then?”
Christian Michaels, “Yeah, but man… You just had to be there. I know I’m biased but to me that ranks right up there with early W2K and late 2005 to early 2006 PWT as the best times and places you could have ever been in our business.”
Duke Andrews, “The travesty of that season much like the travesty of all ICWA seasons is that at no point was I ever world champion or even booked in a world championship match. Had the bossman over here put me on top we’d still be running strong.”
WallStreet smirks, “If you were more punctual that might have happened. Guess ya should have pretended we were playing golf or hunting.”
Tommy Bennett, “I don’t suppose you’ve put any thought into a comeback anytime soon?”
WallStreet shakes his head, “No. I mean yeah, I’ve put some thought in. I’m always thinking about one more season… One more shot at capturing that feeling… That vibe we’ve had in the past. But honestly, ICWA was never a money project for me. I mean, I’m a business man so sure, any time I go into business I want to make money but, I have more than enough stuff under my belt right now to see me well into retirement and, if I continue to handle things correctly, well into my grandchildren’s grandchildren’s retirement. It was never about that. It was about loving what I did, what we were doing and being the best in the world at what we did. At one time or another we accomplished all of that but after a while I just realized I didn’t care enough anymore to manage the personalities backstage. I used to enjoy taking the time to field guys’ complaints and then explain to ‘em why they were wrong and why they needed to just trust the direction I was taking them…”
Christian Michaels, “You were certainly good at that. More than once I came in to ya to gripe and walked out thinking the whole angle wasn’t just great but was kinda my idea.”
WallStreet nods, “Yeah… But the last couple seasons I just found myself wanting to tell people “Oh, you’re not happy with what’s going on? That’s fine, go fuck yourself till you make like HBK and find your smile. That – not who was or wasn’t on top- is ultimately why you Duke, and whomever else, is still waiting to work that card that was booked last year. Because I just don’t have the patience for the egos anymore. Now will that change over time? It might. Who knows, maybe our best run of all time is still ahead. But, I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Tommy, “That’s rough… I’m getting tired of working in Japan.”
Burt Busch, “Is that where you’ve been since last season?”
Tommy, “Not the whole time. I’ll work indies when there’s a promoter who wants to shell out the money or do a shoot DVD if the price is right. But Japan pays the best so I’m over there a lot more often than I’m not.”
WallStreet, “You ever think about Wally Cargo Jr’s place up in British Columbia? They’re fair sized… Not global but national up there.”
Tommy Bennett, “Nah. I’ve talked to some guys from up there and I’ve talked to Wally… They don’t want to pay ya anything and then they want you to bust your ass going an hour a night doing that shooter slash strongstyle slash constant chain shit. I don’t mind working that style from time to time but I’m not gonna work like that for less than I can make headlining Joe Schmoe’s Indy in east bumfuck Carolina for ten minutes slapping around some local yokal.”
Duke Andrews, “You should think about MSW.”
Tommy Bennett, “MSW?”
Burt Busch, “Missouri State Wrestling… Or that’s what the call letters were representative of. They may have changed it since I was last there.”
Tommy Bennett, “I think I’ve heard of it.”
Duke Andrews, “It’s solid. It’s not global or even national but it’s getting there. And they’ve accumulated a fair budget. You’re not gonna make ICWA or PWT money… You may not even make Japan money but if you’re really tired of being overseas all the time you can make more there than you’re gonna make working any other indy and it’ll get your name back out there to increase your value for other Indy bookings.”
Tommy Bennett, “Hmm… Maybe…”
Christian Michaels, “It’s not a bad place. Simon and I are there right now and it’s treating us pretty fair. Nobody’s getting rich but like Duke said, it’s better than you’re gonna find at any other indy and it’s still climbing.”
Tommy Bennett, “Is this Danny Stevenson’s place?”
Burt Busch, “It was. He sold it to some other fella. I forget his name.”
Tommy Bennett, “I think they tried to get me a while back. I was out of the country at the time, never got the chance to get back with ‘em.”
Duke, “If you want, I’ll put in a word with Frank and Corney… I don’t know if they can offer you the money you’ll want but I’m sure they’d be happy to have your name if you’re willing to take a little less for the comfort of being home… Or well, home-ish since they’re based in Kansas City.”
Tommy Bennett, “Kansas City?”
Duke nods.
Tommy Bennett, “Ugh… What the fuck is there in Kansas City? Do they even draw a house?”
CM, “They seem to.”
Tommy Bennett, “In Kansas City? Well.. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. What else is there to do in Kansas City other than come out to the wrasslin’ show?”
WallStreet, “It’s not New York or LA, that much is for sure.”
Tommy Bennett, “I can’t move to Kansas City. It’d be like moving to Iowa or North Dakota…”
Burt Busch, “So move to St. Louis.”
Tommy Bennett, “That’s like a four hour drive!”
Burt Busch, “Sure, but it’s also a six hour drive or less to Chicago, Springfield, Peoria, Des Moines, Davenport, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Lexington, Jonesboro, Little Rock, far west Ohio and a bunch of other places.”
Duke Andrews, “And I’ve got a place out in Kansas City...”
Tommy Bennett, “Why on earth…”
Duke Andrews, “I’ve done a lot of work in that area over the years. Before MSW there was a place called KCW that I took regular bookings for. Anyway, Don’t judge where I’ve got property ya sum-bitch! I’m trying to offer ya a place to stay when you’re in town for shows so ya don’t have to pay for a room.”
Tommy Bennett, “Do they get enough visitors to have Hotels in Kansas City?”
Burt Busch, “Hey now… Kansas City is a fair sized city. We’re not talking about Ripley Tennessee here.”
Christian Michaels, “HEY… Eh… Yeah… That’s true. Ripley may lay host to Superman but it’s no Metropolis.”
WallStreet perks a sarcastic eyebrow, “Superman? Really?”
Christian Michaels, “I figured the table would be more likely to understand a Superman reference than a Green Lantern reference… Plus you know… It really didn’t apply with Hal Jordan being from Coast City, which of course was destroyed by a cyborg Superman and all…”
=| <-That was the expression on everybody’s face.
Christian Michaels, “What?”
Duke Andrews, “I feel like you spent a lot of time hanging from the flagpole by your underwear as a child.”
Christian Michaels, “Nah… I’ve always gone commando.”
=| ….
Michaels laughs, “I’m just playin playas………… Or am I?”
“Hey guys.”
Everyone turns as the chrome domed former multi time and place World champion David Van Dam (picture Kurt Angle) approaches in Hawaiian floral patterned summer button up and a pair of khaki shorts with his golf clubs slung over his shoulder.
WallStreet, “Talk about a welcomed interruption.”
The guys laugh and begin getting up from their seats.
As they do Duke looks back over at Tommy and says, “So do you want me to talk to the guys over there at MSW for ya? Let ‘em know you might be interested in taking some bookings?”
Tommy nods, “Sure. I just got back from a ten week tour and I haven’t set a return date yet… So if we can come to an agreement over the next couple of weeks I’ll stay here and I may just take Burt’s advice and start looking for an apartment here in St. Louis.”
Duke Andrews, “Cool.”
And with that the ball was put in motion. Over the course of a Memorial Day weekend conversation of some old friends who gathered together for Burt Busch’s annual Memorial Day Weekend get together the future of MSW was forever altered.