Post by harvey on Oct 27, 2023 15:32:16 GMT -5
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
October 13, 2023
1:17am
“Is the contract stipulation for a fourth team legally binding?”
Marx: I’ll leave the details to the attorneys. The Big Ticket’s about the big picture. We had 12 elite names under the season two banner after the draft and now we have 16. More talent and more match possibilities? YES! Besides, every story needs a villain.
“And the obscene image that was posted of you?
I’ve been a fight promoter for a long time. I’ve seen a lot of colorful images. My dry cleaner finds that one more offensive than I do.
“Do you have any theories about the identity of the hacker?”
No. But something tells me they are enjoying all this attention.
Marx is certain Ani Swan is enjoying herself. If he gave these reporters the name of the Monday Night STARtender, he’d be asked how he connected her with the hack. His source is efficient and reliable. Oz isn’t alive by most definitions, and certainly not legal in any sense of the word.
“Where is Marcus Welsh?”
Scouting exotic lands and forbidden treasures.
That’s true enough. Notepad is probably laying low in Barbados with Sahara Duke.
“Is your role as both participant and promoter in this competition a conflict of interest?”
Conflict of interest? Pretty close. I have an interest in conflict. I’ve been coming to Cambodia for the last few months helping to build an event worthy of the competitors’ reputations and the people’s expectations.
"Why have you spent so much time here? You weren’t as active in the Caribbean for the Bravery Trails."
This a different situation with different challenges. It turns out wrestling in the middle of the ocean is easier to sell than wrestling next to temples with such cultural historical importance. This isn’t something I would trust to anyone else. Last question!
Sid Buckley labeled you a reach in the third round, citing your lack of experience. Care to respond?
Marx is an experienced fighter. He’s just a little short on the kind that involve referees and record books. There’s a story there, but it won’t be the story today.
That pretentious prognosticator is entitled to his opinion. I’m entitled to ignore it. Team PIC is full of guys who probably don’t fit the image of a wrestler, but we aim to redefine that image. Dionysus marches loudly to his own drum, but has size, style, and 2 reigns as XWF Television champ. ALIAS was the top draft choice after the Nickleman won his way in. Depending on who you ask, this guy is a time traveler, a spaceman, a post-universal being who’s been beyond death at least once…Which legend do I believe? The one he built in XWF. The phenom known as Dadbod must be seen to be believed, folks! Woke up one day and decided to get in the ring instead of just talking about it! He’s got kids, he’s got goals, and he’s got balls. Be more like Dadbod, Buckley.
Marx throws up powerful, presidential peace signs and turns on his heel and struts into the hotel. He keeps the spring in his step though the lobby. The midnight clerk and three drunk businessmen are another audience. The revelers salute the hotel’s most recognizable resident. Harvey Marx was a name that meant nothing in this part of the world a few months ago. He made it his mission to change that when he first arrived in May. He knew building his connection with the most exclusive hotel in the country would be a slow process. TRIAD sent him here to lay the groundwork for expansion onto a second continent. Culture and geography are formidable barriers. Marx will bridge them by being what the people need him to be.
He returns the greeting in stride, twirling his cane and bouncing breezily into the first empty elevator. He is leaning on the cane and whistling the chorus to Laura Brannigans Self Control until the doors ding closed.
The next sound we hear is the sharp crack of the cane breaking over Marx’s knee, then a string of Russian curses. He steps off the elevator and jerks open a door he doesn’t notice is no longer locked.
The apartment that greets him is a retro beach dream that would make the set designer for Miami Vice jealous. That it is nowhere near the ocean and looks 35 years out of date is no problem. Big Ticket energy flows nicely here. The crown jewel is a huge impressionist style painting of Angkor Wat in neon hues. TRIAD pays Marx well, but it doesn’t put in the right tax bracket to even look at this place in a magazine. Good thing Blood Mon3y spends as easy as any other kind. Marx has owned this place since shortly after The Most Exclusive Event of the Year set PPV records. Marx doesn’t know the final terms of the deal between BTE and Demi Stratford. Miss Albright has kept them to herself. That’s the boss’s prerogative. She’s unable to fly the distance to Cambodia. She’s fine not being in charge here, but Marx would be insulted if The Big Ticket’s high-class hideaway wasn’t bugged by now. A voice calls him back to the moment.
Frank: I brought your suits for the matches. I can alter them here. Who decorated this artfully tacky time warp?
Marx turns around and smiles at a strategically overdressed young man in a red vest and tie. A large suitcase rests on the floor in either side of him. Marx lets both halves of the cane fall and embraces his tailor.
Marx: Shazzah Nasty. She gets me. How’d you get in, Frank?
Frank: You left a key for me downstairs.
Marx: Oh, yeah. I’ve been a bit distracted. TRIAD is run by a boy scout, a hippie, and whatever Welsh is. The leave me to roll with the punches on the other side of the globe when things go to hell.
Frank: You’re exactly where you want to be. You always did do your best work on the ropes, big man. Save it for the promo.
Marx: I like the way you think.
Frank: Promo, take one!
Marx: The loudest lefty in the business is ready to return to the ring and burn it down at Bayon! I hope you brought your Bravery with you, because it’s time for The Trial of Strength! This is the hoss trial, the heavy lifting, hide the kids and bring the thunder trial. The Big Ticket makes his debut in a field of fifteen other TRIAD titans…with an average weight of 208 pounds!
Harvey’s smile wavers and then crumbles. He falls to the ground laughing and the camera cuts to static.
Frank: Take 18?
Marx: First is Cat Cortes
Your resume includes two world titles for promotions that literally couldn’t survive your departure. The fans respect that and so do your peers.
There’s nothing I respect more than the damage you can do at the buffet table. High performance machines like you and I need the right fuel. Do they really expect you to deliver all that high energy corkscrew madness on Brussels sprouts and kale? The difference between a chump and a champion is calorie intake, and you got a head start on the head games with the way you mowed through the competition and the kitchen at the draft party. It was a ritual challenge, and I except.
You love to play to the crowd. This Husky Hype Man can appreciate that. But you’ll go from attraction to adversary when you’re in the ring with The Big Ticket. You’ve been taking on opponents bigger than you your entire career. Most nights that says more about your size than it does about them. That changes on Halloween night when the little engine that could meets the brick wall that should.
Finally talking about hitting somebody has me in a good mood. Before I get to JB, I have to tell you guys the Strength Trials Draft was a great show. You even had the Big Ticket talk it up for weeks, had a swanky party and then…
WHAM!!
Three captain’s go on the clock and off their rocker in the greatest two hours of comedy performance art ever seen on live television!
Tonight, I sold a field of sixteen to the media. A bold new unified vision for a tougher and more inclusive future for the brand. Because otherwise people might think you snubbed last season’s winner and 3 other huge stars against TRIAD’s commercial and competitive interest to teach them some kind of lesson. There’s NO WAY anyone would do THAT! That would be crazy. This is professional wrestling, not an after school special. You put personalities before your pocket book, played it out in front of the press and all it took was Marcus Welsh’s bungled backstabbing to put the roster right? Getting screwed by Triumvirate is about as shocking as The Big Ticket forcing the words “Cuban sandwich" into a promo. It’s a good there's time before the Wit Trials, because you guys aren’t so sharp.
Now to the rebel champion of the evil empire. I’ve introduced you a few times in the past few months for the WGWF, and the fans aren’t cheering quite as much as they used to Johnny. I don’t blame them. They don’t know you behind the curtain like I do. I get it. The ends justify the means for any true revolutionary. But I’m just a businessman and I wonder if the ends justify the costs. I respect you following your own path to get here. That’s easier for most people at 25. I had to choose between a longer career in the ring and a longer life when I was about that age.
This arrangement with Triumvirate isn’t an alliance to you. More of a transaction. I’ve been a mercenary for a long time. I know how well Stratford pays, so you’re ahead right now. You’re the survivor of the world’s most Exclusive escape room. You’ll be able to handle your teammates’ sudden and inevitable betrayal. It isn’t your safety I worry about. It’s your future. There isn’t much you won’t do when you have your eye on something. You nailed your ex to a cross for a belt. A piece of the TRIAD isn’t just another trinket. I’m in this trial because I know something about power. This kind of power almost always sets you back a lot more than you thought you’d have to pay. 2023 might be your year, so I won’t try to take you out when I throw you around the ring. I’ll be trying to wake you up.
Power and business. Do I have your attention, Mr. Mancini? We’re just two international men of mystery having a nice, honest chat. We run in similar circles, and I’ve heard plenty about the way you run your operation. I can understand wanting to do the important jobs yourself. But have you ever wondered why you have to do everything yourself? That feeling you’re surrounded by morons is about the guy doing the hiring. Fear and respect are both tools for guys like us. Fear you understand, muscle can get you pretty far. But there’s one problem with being that kind of one trick wise guy.
Sooner or later, there’s going to be someone bigger. The Big Ticket is about to teach you some respect.
Wins are great. Titles are nice. Money is important. A piece of the TRIAD is very important… mostly because it’s worth a LOT of money. But in our line of work, reputation is everything. You won’t be the first to try to make yours by taking me down, and I can’t have some mid card Machiavelli ruining my coming out party. Before I forget, I don’t give a damn about the mask. I wear one too, in a way. The difference? I’m still a handsome devil.
Happy Halloween, Tony.
*Fade out*
October 13, 2023
1:17am
“Is the contract stipulation for a fourth team legally binding?”
Marx: I’ll leave the details to the attorneys. The Big Ticket’s about the big picture. We had 12 elite names under the season two banner after the draft and now we have 16. More talent and more match possibilities? YES! Besides, every story needs a villain.
“And the obscene image that was posted of you?
I’ve been a fight promoter for a long time. I’ve seen a lot of colorful images. My dry cleaner finds that one more offensive than I do.
“Do you have any theories about the identity of the hacker?”
No. But something tells me they are enjoying all this attention.
Marx is certain Ani Swan is enjoying herself. If he gave these reporters the name of the Monday Night STARtender, he’d be asked how he connected her with the hack. His source is efficient and reliable. Oz isn’t alive by most definitions, and certainly not legal in any sense of the word.
“Where is Marcus Welsh?”
Scouting exotic lands and forbidden treasures.
That’s true enough. Notepad is probably laying low in Barbados with Sahara Duke.
“Is your role as both participant and promoter in this competition a conflict of interest?”
Conflict of interest? Pretty close. I have an interest in conflict. I’ve been coming to Cambodia for the last few months helping to build an event worthy of the competitors’ reputations and the people’s expectations.
"Why have you spent so much time here? You weren’t as active in the Caribbean for the Bravery Trails."
This a different situation with different challenges. It turns out wrestling in the middle of the ocean is easier to sell than wrestling next to temples with such cultural historical importance. This isn’t something I would trust to anyone else. Last question!
Sid Buckley labeled you a reach in the third round, citing your lack of experience. Care to respond?
Marx is an experienced fighter. He’s just a little short on the kind that involve referees and record books. There’s a story there, but it won’t be the story today.
That pretentious prognosticator is entitled to his opinion. I’m entitled to ignore it. Team PIC is full of guys who probably don’t fit the image of a wrestler, but we aim to redefine that image. Dionysus marches loudly to his own drum, but has size, style, and 2 reigns as XWF Television champ. ALIAS was the top draft choice after the Nickleman won his way in. Depending on who you ask, this guy is a time traveler, a spaceman, a post-universal being who’s been beyond death at least once…Which legend do I believe? The one he built in XWF. The phenom known as Dadbod must be seen to be believed, folks! Woke up one day and decided to get in the ring instead of just talking about it! He’s got kids, he’s got goals, and he’s got balls. Be more like Dadbod, Buckley.
Marx throws up powerful, presidential peace signs and turns on his heel and struts into the hotel. He keeps the spring in his step though the lobby. The midnight clerk and three drunk businessmen are another audience. The revelers salute the hotel’s most recognizable resident. Harvey Marx was a name that meant nothing in this part of the world a few months ago. He made it his mission to change that when he first arrived in May. He knew building his connection with the most exclusive hotel in the country would be a slow process. TRIAD sent him here to lay the groundwork for expansion onto a second continent. Culture and geography are formidable barriers. Marx will bridge them by being what the people need him to be.
He returns the greeting in stride, twirling his cane and bouncing breezily into the first empty elevator. He is leaning on the cane and whistling the chorus to Laura Brannigans Self Control until the doors ding closed.
The next sound we hear is the sharp crack of the cane breaking over Marx’s knee, then a string of Russian curses. He steps off the elevator and jerks open a door he doesn’t notice is no longer locked.
The apartment that greets him is a retro beach dream that would make the set designer for Miami Vice jealous. That it is nowhere near the ocean and looks 35 years out of date is no problem. Big Ticket energy flows nicely here. The crown jewel is a huge impressionist style painting of Angkor Wat in neon hues. TRIAD pays Marx well, but it doesn’t put in the right tax bracket to even look at this place in a magazine. Good thing Blood Mon3y spends as easy as any other kind. Marx has owned this place since shortly after The Most Exclusive Event of the Year set PPV records. Marx doesn’t know the final terms of the deal between BTE and Demi Stratford. Miss Albright has kept them to herself. That’s the boss’s prerogative. She’s unable to fly the distance to Cambodia. She’s fine not being in charge here, but Marx would be insulted if The Big Ticket’s high-class hideaway wasn’t bugged by now. A voice calls him back to the moment.
Frank: I brought your suits for the matches. I can alter them here. Who decorated this artfully tacky time warp?
Marx turns around and smiles at a strategically overdressed young man in a red vest and tie. A large suitcase rests on the floor in either side of him. Marx lets both halves of the cane fall and embraces his tailor.
Marx: Shazzah Nasty. She gets me. How’d you get in, Frank?
Frank: You left a key for me downstairs.
Marx: Oh, yeah. I’ve been a bit distracted. TRIAD is run by a boy scout, a hippie, and whatever Welsh is. The leave me to roll with the punches on the other side of the globe when things go to hell.
Frank: You’re exactly where you want to be. You always did do your best work on the ropes, big man. Save it for the promo.
Marx: I like the way you think.
Frank: Promo, take one!
Marx: The loudest lefty in the business is ready to return to the ring and burn it down at Bayon! I hope you brought your Bravery with you, because it’s time for The Trial of Strength! This is the hoss trial, the heavy lifting, hide the kids and bring the thunder trial. The Big Ticket makes his debut in a field of fifteen other TRIAD titans…with an average weight of 208 pounds!
Harvey’s smile wavers and then crumbles. He falls to the ground laughing and the camera cuts to static.
Frank: Take 18?
Marx: First is Cat Cortes
Your resume includes two world titles for promotions that literally couldn’t survive your departure. The fans respect that and so do your peers.
There’s nothing I respect more than the damage you can do at the buffet table. High performance machines like you and I need the right fuel. Do they really expect you to deliver all that high energy corkscrew madness on Brussels sprouts and kale? The difference between a chump and a champion is calorie intake, and you got a head start on the head games with the way you mowed through the competition and the kitchen at the draft party. It was a ritual challenge, and I except.
You love to play to the crowd. This Husky Hype Man can appreciate that. But you’ll go from attraction to adversary when you’re in the ring with The Big Ticket. You’ve been taking on opponents bigger than you your entire career. Most nights that says more about your size than it does about them. That changes on Halloween night when the little engine that could meets the brick wall that should.
Finally talking about hitting somebody has me in a good mood. Before I get to JB, I have to tell you guys the Strength Trials Draft was a great show. You even had the Big Ticket talk it up for weeks, had a swanky party and then…
WHAM!!
Three captain’s go on the clock and off their rocker in the greatest two hours of comedy performance art ever seen on live television!
Tonight, I sold a field of sixteen to the media. A bold new unified vision for a tougher and more inclusive future for the brand. Because otherwise people might think you snubbed last season’s winner and 3 other huge stars against TRIAD’s commercial and competitive interest to teach them some kind of lesson. There’s NO WAY anyone would do THAT! That would be crazy. This is professional wrestling, not an after school special. You put personalities before your pocket book, played it out in front of the press and all it took was Marcus Welsh’s bungled backstabbing to put the roster right? Getting screwed by Triumvirate is about as shocking as The Big Ticket forcing the words “Cuban sandwich" into a promo. It’s a good there's time before the Wit Trials, because you guys aren’t so sharp.
Now to the rebel champion of the evil empire. I’ve introduced you a few times in the past few months for the WGWF, and the fans aren’t cheering quite as much as they used to Johnny. I don’t blame them. They don’t know you behind the curtain like I do. I get it. The ends justify the means for any true revolutionary. But I’m just a businessman and I wonder if the ends justify the costs. I respect you following your own path to get here. That’s easier for most people at 25. I had to choose between a longer career in the ring and a longer life when I was about that age.
This arrangement with Triumvirate isn’t an alliance to you. More of a transaction. I’ve been a mercenary for a long time. I know how well Stratford pays, so you’re ahead right now. You’re the survivor of the world’s most Exclusive escape room. You’ll be able to handle your teammates’ sudden and inevitable betrayal. It isn’t your safety I worry about. It’s your future. There isn’t much you won’t do when you have your eye on something. You nailed your ex to a cross for a belt. A piece of the TRIAD isn’t just another trinket. I’m in this trial because I know something about power. This kind of power almost always sets you back a lot more than you thought you’d have to pay. 2023 might be your year, so I won’t try to take you out when I throw you around the ring. I’ll be trying to wake you up.
Power and business. Do I have your attention, Mr. Mancini? We’re just two international men of mystery having a nice, honest chat. We run in similar circles, and I’ve heard plenty about the way you run your operation. I can understand wanting to do the important jobs yourself. But have you ever wondered why you have to do everything yourself? That feeling you’re surrounded by morons is about the guy doing the hiring. Fear and respect are both tools for guys like us. Fear you understand, muscle can get you pretty far. But there’s one problem with being that kind of one trick wise guy.
Sooner or later, there’s going to be someone bigger. The Big Ticket is about to teach you some respect.
Wins are great. Titles are nice. Money is important. A piece of the TRIAD is very important… mostly because it’s worth a LOT of money. But in our line of work, reputation is everything. You won’t be the first to try to make yours by taking me down, and I can’t have some mid card Machiavelli ruining my coming out party. Before I forget, I don’t give a damn about the mask. I wear one too, in a way. The difference? I’m still a handsome devil.
Happy Halloween, Tony.
*Fade out*