t minus 10 days
Jan 26, 2023 17:44:19 GMT -5
Hollywood Horror, The Golden Idolo, and 1 more like this
Post by Sam Kidsgrove on Jan 26, 2023 17:44:19 GMT -5
Sam Kidsgrove and Zooey are both sitting in a lawyer’s office, one of the high class glitzy joints that the elite use to do all of their legal biddings, from celebrity divorces to SLAPP suits, these guys will do it all for the right fee. Zooey is sitting there uncomfortably, every now and then giving him a furtive glance as the lawyer reads over the documents.
“All seems in order.” The lawyer says, matter of factly. “I’ll go get these copied, you guys want a coffee while you’re waiting?
“No thanks.” Replies Kidsgrove, then looks at Zooey, who shakes her head.
“OK, I’ll be about 10 minutes.” With that the lawyer just waltzes out of the room. Zooey breathes a huge sigh of relief. Kidsgrove notices this and chuckles.
“What’s with you?” He asks.
“I hate lawyers. Absolutely hate the shifty bastards.”
Kidsgrove raises his eyebrows in surprise, it’s not often Zooey swears. She notices this.
“What? They give me the creeps.”
Kidsgrove gives a smile, with genuine warmth. “Yeah I don’t like them either, this is the shittest timing.”
“Yeah, you’re tellin’ me. Nice of Pasternak to set us up with this guy though.”
Kidsgrove grunts.
“If he’s any good. Flashy, rich, gaudy types freak me out too. It all just seems so fake, when someone tries to impress you with wealth and shit, it screams to me “You can’t trust me, I’m not serious.” I don’t get the obsession the likes of Park and Angelo have with material shit. It’s just fucking…Weird. But then again the two of them represent the worst of humanity after all."
He sighs as he looks at his watch.
“You wanna be in the gym don’t ya?”
“That obvious?”
“Yeah, it’s a big match you got.”
“I should be on a punching bag right now with Angelo’s stupid fucking face on it. I should be building up the anger to take everything out on that absolute fucking bullshit artist, so by the time I’m done with him he won’t ever get in my shit again.
You know he’s blaming Tort, Park, Paul and whoever the fuck he can to hide the fact that he fucked up, he thinks he was slighted, the fucker genuinely thinks he got screwed.
Karma is a bitch.
We’re talking the guy who screwed me in every fucking venture in 2022. We’re talking the guy who clocked me with the US belt whenever he looked like he was gonna get beat, we’re talking about the dick who used every dirty trick in Hollywood to take my projects and try to end both my fucking careers. And he’s complaining because Tort realised that his company was being flushed down the pan with this twat as their champion? Don’t make me fucking laugh, he’s the biggest damn hypocrite in Hollywood, he’s the most horrid shithouse in the whole of AW - hell he’s worse than Dandy, an absolute horrorshow. At least Dandy had some vague reasoning for him being scum, usually meth. But this fucker? Man he’s got nothing other than pure jealousy.
That’s what fuels him, that’s what motivates him. He looks at people like me and it eats away at him inside that he won’t ever have the career I’ve had. He looks at my box office successes, he looks at the long career, he looks at all of my fans and the people who love my work and can’t comprehend in his tiny fucking brain that he’s never going to surpass me. He’s always going to be in my shadow.
I know, I know, it’s a bit weird to say that considering he’s won the only title stopping me from getting a grand slam, but it’s the only one he will win.
The fucker is a one and done.
You know why he's one and done?
Because I have Two priorities in this business.
1: WIn that world title, take it away from the shit show that is the Jill Park, Gerard Angelo and Tort nonsense. Cement myself as one of the greatest superstars of our time and ensure that Angelo never gets to sully his name on this company as the “top guy” ever again.
1.5: End Gerard Angelo. End him as a thing in AW, finish him in Hollywood. Dismantle his entire empire brick by brick and make sure that he never comes back from it. He made me an enemy, he tried to finish me but better people have tried and I’m still here. Everyone who messed with me, well, they’re not. I’m going to give him what he wanted for me, but tenfold. Poor fucker is gonna have to go back home and live with his daddy in more awkward family reunion than if Woody Allen and his Step Daughter Wife went to Mia Farrow’s house for Thanksgiving.
At the end of the day, Angelo has had the upper hand far too often and far too long for me to let it go. He’s affected my life and career far too much for me to drop it and let it die. The man is abhorrent, he’s evil and he has to be dealt with.
I used to think that the best way to deal with a jealous child like him was to starve him of attention, to just ignore him, and take the higher ground. But I’ve come to realise that just doesn’t work because the obnoxious prick just doesn’t get it, he’s too far gone. He has the unfortunate cocktail of massive jealousy and an enormous fucking ego. So ignoring him just meant he took it to a different platform.
So now? Well the best thing to do is shut him down. Deplatform his ass and make it so he can never bring his particular brand of bullshit to bear on the AW roster ever again.
He wants to be famous? Well how about I make him infamous by kicking the ever loving piss out of him and pinning him to win the grand slam?
His star would never shine so bright. I should have had it in December, but I dropped the ball. This is my redemption story though, I guess that was the little wrinkle at the start of the third act ready for the protagonist to redeem it at the last moment.
The only thing that frustrates me is Jill got there first. I wanted to be the guy to dethrone that twat, I wanted to stand over his lifeless body holding the thing he’s been hanging onto like Gollum. I wanted to be the guy who wiped Angelo’s rancid stench off of the belt and destroyed his name in the process.
For this, I’ll never forgive her.
Angelo’s scalp wasn’t hers to take. It was mine. She just happens to be the lucky person who Tort hand picked to do it. Maybe that’s what it was, maybe Tort was so terrified about me taking it off Angelo that he had to fabricate this shit - after all he’s been holding me back for 5 years, he’s been keeping me away from that title, dangling the carrot of immortality over my head, telling me “Oh yeah you’re almost there, you just need to ditch the Hollywood Elite, oh you’re almost there you just need to rest up because you took a hell of a beating, maybe in the summer, oh you’re almost there but I promised that spot to Spence, keep working at it.” And so on and so on.
Now it’s her turn to be hand picked, chosen, given every opportunity that I never had on a silver platter because Tort only wants what Tort wants, and that’s compliant bitches who will smile, do the thumbs up thing to him and do whatever he wants. That’s what Jill is, hell that’s what Spence was to him. Just a compliant little worker bee who won’t say no, who won’t do anything but his will.
He found the perfect one in Jill at least. Jill is one of the most vacuous, air headed nothings of a person that’s ever graced the ring. She’s perfect for his project. After all, she built a career on not thinking for herself. She’s a user, a parasite, a nothing who just lives to stand on the shoulders of others and take the spotlight intended for someone else.
We saw that in the summer, At Glory, I went through hell to win that title back off that Adler dickhead and went through hell in the final against Park only to come up short. I can be a man and accept that on the night, she was inspired.
Since then though? Whenever the spotlight is there for me? Well let’s just say Angelo isn’t the only one who needs a punch in the mouth. My summer has been a two pronged attack from two of the most horrible twats in the company.
Meltdown. I was 100% fit, she was 100% fit. I had that fight won. She gave me everything, she had nothing left and she knew it. The Frankle lock didn’t work, she was one step away from me turning around and smashing her with the biggest box office smash of my career.
Then Regan interfered and again, I was down for the count. Even worse is that was the night Angelo was fucking crowned. A turning point in my year, I’ve never felt so fucking low as that night. Knowing, not only that I was screwed again by Park and, well, presumably Tort, knowing that they made this fucking deal to make her the champ.
That was when I vowed to do whatever it takes and take as long as it takes to beat both these fuckers at their own game and take the only thing that matters to them. For Angelo it was the world title, for Park it was her relevancy.
She craves the spotlight, regardless of morals or consequences. She literally did a deal with the devil to win the World Title - this is after winning All in by the way by yet again snatching away my spot at the very last minute.
I had that match won, the briefcase was unlatched. The fucking thing was off the hook and there was that poison witch again, just in time to fuck my life up.
And the worst crime?
When it was my job to stand triumphant over that wastrel Angelo, she was given that spot instead.
So yeah, my year has been defined by Jill Park and Angelo. Every where it was my time I saw those fuckers, cheating their way to my win. Every. Single. Time.
And Tort then had the temerity to try and take me out of the match? He tried to promise me the world, give me shit that he’s got no control over only to deny the one thing I’ve wanted for 5 years? To give me that same false carrot of shit? Well, beating Park is as much about poking a fucking thumb in his eye as it is getting revenge on her ass for helping me go through hell all year with nothing to show for it. 2023 is the year. Contract or no contract I’m going to reach my mountain top, not by standing on the shoulders of others, not by manipulating those who you pretend to call a friend into bailing you out, not by making deals with dickheads, not by screwing other people over.
I’m going to reach that mountain top by razing Park’s to the ground. I’m going to reach it by destroying everything she holds dear. This little thing she has with Tort will end before it really begins and he’ll go back to giving Hand jobs to Spence before Evolution.
People ask me all the time “Oh how can you keep going because you keep having set back after set back? It’d destroy me.” I had it the other day at a fan signing for fuck sake. They literally asked me while I signed their DVDs. Like that’s a question you just ask a fucking dangerous guy who’s known to be pissed off.”
“What did you say?”
“Oh you know, the usual, “It’s not about the wins and losses at the end of the day, but about the journey, one day I’ll get mine.” You know, that kinda shit.
I wanted to tell him how I really felt, I wanted to tell him that every single waking moment I repeat my 2022 through my head and see Jill Park and Gerard Angelo taunting me and torturing me.
I wanted to say that they made my life a living hell enough that I am not fueled by a desire to do what’s good for the fans, or solely because of glory, that I’m fuelled mostly by rage and bitterness at the two assholes that ruined my life in 2022.
I wanted to say that I have an overwhelming desire to burn their empires and destroy everyone who ever helped to prop them up, that Angelo deserves to have his head caved in by the World Championship Belt with my name on it.
I wanted to say that next time I see Jill Park I would take her scrawny little neck, choke the life out of it until her eyes gloss over and I see nothing in it.
But you wouldn’t tell the fucking difference anyway, she’s as vacant as the US title is right now.
The most important thing I can do right now to kill both these bastards with one stone is to go into Gold Rush and win that fucking title. Watch them both fume and rage with a huge shit eating grin on my face as I become a grand slam winner and eclipse everything they did in 2022 in the first fucking month of 2023. Watch Tort writhe and squirm as the guy he’s written off for 5 years finally fucking does it, with a week left before he leaves the company because he’s still yet to give him the contract he deserves.
Watch him panic as the golden goose he’s sided with is sidelined with no cash in, no Regan to help, no friends and no prospects of ever taking that title off me again.”
Just then, the lawyer returns, with a stack full of documents in his hands, placed neatly in 3 files.
“Sorry that took so long, here are the papers - one for me, one for each of you. Now Zooey, I made you a copy because you are acting as the official agent of Mr Kidsgrove, yes?”
She slightly shifts, still uncomfortable. Takes a sip of water and composes herself. She really hates talking to Lawyers.
“Yeah, from now on anything related to Sam’s affairs, whether it be Wrestling related or Hollywood goes through me. I registered as his agent officially a couple weeks ago. Figured I may as well considering I do most of it anyway.”
She smiles at Kidsgrove, who smirks back, giving her hand a squeeze.
“You guys make a great couple, God only knows why you ain’t married.”
Neither Zooey or Sam respond to this, they just give a knowing smile to each other and the lawyer. He takes the hint and quickly moves on.
“So just to recap, these papers are a contract for our representation in the case of Kidsgrove v Kidsgrove.”
“I wanna stop you there, I just want him referred to as the Old Man” Says Sam, abruptly.
“That’s not how the court works, I can’t ask the judge to just call your uncle the Old Man.” Kidsgrove gives him a cold, hard stare. The lawyer gulps.
“But I can refer to him as that in our conversations.” He says as he realises what Kidsgrove wants.
“It’s going to be difficult to extricate yourself from him, I’ve got to be blunt with you. Your long standing history with the man as well as the fact that you have a contract signed by your representative will be a difficult hurdle to get past.”
“But you can do it, right?” Asks Zooey, earnestly.
“I don’t charge the money I charge for being Lionel Hutz.” Retorts the Lawyer, Kidsgrove looks at him blankly.
“From the Simpsons?” He offers to Sam.
“I don’t watch cartoons.” Comes the rather terse reply. “This means nothing to me, are you good or not? This is a serious matter to get this off my plate and get me away from his influence, I need the best on it.”
The lawyer measures Sam with a stare of his own.
“I’m the best in the business, I have a few ideas how we can go ahead with the case. As I said, it's difficult, but I’ll get it done. All you have to do is sign for my services, AW are already picking up the check, so we’re good.”
“How do I know you’re any good?”
“I’m the guy who kept Nightingale out of jail after his incidents with, er, you.” Says the lawyer, quite nervously, leading to Kidsgrove to look at him with pure hatred. Zooey puts her hand to her mouth in shock.
“Ah, I can see you didn’t know this, well I can only apologise but you know, business is business. It wasn’t personal. Look, you guys need to digest this and talk it through, I understand. I have a few calls to make so I’ll leave you here and go make those calls, when I come back if you don’t want the services of the best lawyer in the business then no hard feelings. If you do want to win this case, then I’ll be your guy. Deal?”
Kidsgrove nods as he looks over at Zooey, who’s pale as a ghost.
“You OK?” He asks, softly.
“He helped let that monster go?” She baulks.
“To beat the Devil.” Kidsgrove muses.
“Sorry?”
“It’s a saying I heard a while back, to beat the Devil you gotta work with the Demons. I didn’t realise what it meant until recently. I think we have to do it, as much as it makes me sick to my stomach.
We’re not gonna get lucky like someone like Spence on this one. We’re not gonna get a clean break from the Old Man. He’s gonna make it difficult and horrendous for us unless we crush him immediately.
Spence and I are similar in that respect, I’ve been tied with my uncle since I was a fucking child, he took me in when my parents died and it’s because of him I ended up in Hollywood. He’s the meanest, toughest, most difficult man to negotiate with on this side of the world. Spence was tied with Tort. Everything Tort wanted, Spence was his willing lapdog. Doing everything he could to keep his spot, doing everything possible to make sure that everyone in the company has their own little tiers and that he was there on the top of them all. Sure every now and then Tort would give way to others, but Spence would be back there soon enough, taking the opportunities that should go the way of others. That’s fine, that’s how the game’s played. That’s business. I got no truck with that.
I had the same thing, but my experience was slightly different.
Tort made Spence the face of the company, Spence reaped the benefits. He had the plum matches, he had the title shots, he had the pick of any guy that came through those curtains and wanted to make a name for themselves, he had Tort’s ear when Tort would only listen to himself.
My uncle made me the face of Hollywood, that’s where the similarities end. He reaped the benefits, he decided what I did and did not do, he was the one who listened to himself and regardless of what I wanted, he did whatever made more money anyway. Hell this is why I was in rehab for the better part of a decade, this is why I have anger issues. He’s the reason for a lot of shit in my life.
Same as Tort is the reason for a lot of shit in Spence’s life. Good and bad.
Now I know Spence, Spence will be pacing around, channelling his anger at Tort into trying to win this title, he’s gonna expect the sympathy because his mentor, his father figure that he never really had, the one man who he considered a true friend and the guy who gave him a chance and an out when UCF failed turned on his ass. Dropped him like the last 5 years meant nothing. He’s going to expect sympathy and an answer to why, or a reason or something, hell anything to explain himself.
And so many people around the world are shocked, appalled, and sympathetic. I’ve seen the tweets, I’ve seen the instagrams, I’ve seen the outpouring of support for Spence with the Justice 4 Spence hashtags. I’ve seen all of this happen in real time while I have to deal with the Old Man coming back into my life.
And you know what? I have zero sympathy for Spence. None at all. I’ve tried to find some. Sure, Spence is a nice guy. Sure, Spence and I went to Hell and back at 13 last year and came out of it with respect for one another. Sure I’d love to get that scalp of his and when I win the title, he’ll be the first guy getting a shot.
But I have no sympathy, why? Because I don’t give a flying fuck if he’s just another one of the guys now. Spence has lost that protection, he’s lost that aura of “The guy who Tort protects.”
He’s just one of us poor saps who have to fight and claw their way up through the ranks for 5 fucking years only for Tort to say “Yeah I got nothing for ya, Spence has that slot.” Now he’s like the rest of us, on his own, with no help from the management and a massive fucking desire to prove himself again.
Maybe he thinks getting revenge on Tort will protect his slot, maybe he thinks he can be his own man now he’s free from the shackles of being the face of the company. We knew from UCF that Spence was never really comfortable in his own skin and Tort took advantage of it, moulding him into his perfect little wrestler, because weak men can be controlled.
If Spence had anything about him when AW opened the doors, he would never have been so close to Tort. He would have realised it was business with a businessman, not a friendship. He would have realised that Tort wasn’t family - he was his boss and would have absolutely no problem with replacing his ass at any point as soon as he was done with him.
That’s the difference between me and Spence. When I came out of rehab I dropped the Old Man, I realised he was bad for me, despite being the face of Hollywood. Spence wanted to ride that tail until the end though. Until he became expendable. I realised when I was being used, I was a man enough to change my situation and not wait until it came to me. I fixed shit.
So when Pasternak asked me to be his guy, I made it absolutely clear we’re not gonna have a Spencer and Tort relationship. It’s business. I do what I do for myself, my family and the fans. Anyone else can get fucked.
When I win that title at Gold Rush, that’ll be the ultimate vindication. 5 years of eating shit by AW management, watching people get opportunities that I’ve been denied time and time again, watching the worst kinds of people cheating me at every turn only for them all to realise it was all futile.
Because to spite their fucking faces, I did it anyway.”
“All seems in order.” The lawyer says, matter of factly. “I’ll go get these copied, you guys want a coffee while you’re waiting?
“No thanks.” Replies Kidsgrove, then looks at Zooey, who shakes her head.
“OK, I’ll be about 10 minutes.” With that the lawyer just waltzes out of the room. Zooey breathes a huge sigh of relief. Kidsgrove notices this and chuckles.
“What’s with you?” He asks.
“I hate lawyers. Absolutely hate the shifty bastards.”
Kidsgrove raises his eyebrows in surprise, it’s not often Zooey swears. She notices this.
“What? They give me the creeps.”
Kidsgrove gives a smile, with genuine warmth. “Yeah I don’t like them either, this is the shittest timing.”
“Yeah, you’re tellin’ me. Nice of Pasternak to set us up with this guy though.”
Kidsgrove grunts.
“If he’s any good. Flashy, rich, gaudy types freak me out too. It all just seems so fake, when someone tries to impress you with wealth and shit, it screams to me “You can’t trust me, I’m not serious.” I don’t get the obsession the likes of Park and Angelo have with material shit. It’s just fucking…Weird. But then again the two of them represent the worst of humanity after all."
He sighs as he looks at his watch.
“You wanna be in the gym don’t ya?”
“That obvious?”
“Yeah, it’s a big match you got.”
“I should be on a punching bag right now with Angelo’s stupid fucking face on it. I should be building up the anger to take everything out on that absolute fucking bullshit artist, so by the time I’m done with him he won’t ever get in my shit again.
You know he’s blaming Tort, Park, Paul and whoever the fuck he can to hide the fact that he fucked up, he thinks he was slighted, the fucker genuinely thinks he got screwed.
Karma is a bitch.
We’re talking the guy who screwed me in every fucking venture in 2022. We’re talking the guy who clocked me with the US belt whenever he looked like he was gonna get beat, we’re talking about the dick who used every dirty trick in Hollywood to take my projects and try to end both my fucking careers. And he’s complaining because Tort realised that his company was being flushed down the pan with this twat as their champion? Don’t make me fucking laugh, he’s the biggest damn hypocrite in Hollywood, he’s the most horrid shithouse in the whole of AW - hell he’s worse than Dandy, an absolute horrorshow. At least Dandy had some vague reasoning for him being scum, usually meth. But this fucker? Man he’s got nothing other than pure jealousy.
That’s what fuels him, that’s what motivates him. He looks at people like me and it eats away at him inside that he won’t ever have the career I’ve had. He looks at my box office successes, he looks at the long career, he looks at all of my fans and the people who love my work and can’t comprehend in his tiny fucking brain that he’s never going to surpass me. He’s always going to be in my shadow.
I know, I know, it’s a bit weird to say that considering he’s won the only title stopping me from getting a grand slam, but it’s the only one he will win.
The fucker is a one and done.
You know why he's one and done?
Because I have Two priorities in this business.
1: WIn that world title, take it away from the shit show that is the Jill Park, Gerard Angelo and Tort nonsense. Cement myself as one of the greatest superstars of our time and ensure that Angelo never gets to sully his name on this company as the “top guy” ever again.
1.5: End Gerard Angelo. End him as a thing in AW, finish him in Hollywood. Dismantle his entire empire brick by brick and make sure that he never comes back from it. He made me an enemy, he tried to finish me but better people have tried and I’m still here. Everyone who messed with me, well, they’re not. I’m going to give him what he wanted for me, but tenfold. Poor fucker is gonna have to go back home and live with his daddy in more awkward family reunion than if Woody Allen and his Step Daughter Wife went to Mia Farrow’s house for Thanksgiving.
At the end of the day, Angelo has had the upper hand far too often and far too long for me to let it go. He’s affected my life and career far too much for me to drop it and let it die. The man is abhorrent, he’s evil and he has to be dealt with.
I used to think that the best way to deal with a jealous child like him was to starve him of attention, to just ignore him, and take the higher ground. But I’ve come to realise that just doesn’t work because the obnoxious prick just doesn’t get it, he’s too far gone. He has the unfortunate cocktail of massive jealousy and an enormous fucking ego. So ignoring him just meant he took it to a different platform.
So now? Well the best thing to do is shut him down. Deplatform his ass and make it so he can never bring his particular brand of bullshit to bear on the AW roster ever again.
He wants to be famous? Well how about I make him infamous by kicking the ever loving piss out of him and pinning him to win the grand slam?
His star would never shine so bright. I should have had it in December, but I dropped the ball. This is my redemption story though, I guess that was the little wrinkle at the start of the third act ready for the protagonist to redeem it at the last moment.
The only thing that frustrates me is Jill got there first. I wanted to be the guy to dethrone that twat, I wanted to stand over his lifeless body holding the thing he’s been hanging onto like Gollum. I wanted to be the guy who wiped Angelo’s rancid stench off of the belt and destroyed his name in the process.
For this, I’ll never forgive her.
Angelo’s scalp wasn’t hers to take. It was mine. She just happens to be the lucky person who Tort hand picked to do it. Maybe that’s what it was, maybe Tort was so terrified about me taking it off Angelo that he had to fabricate this shit - after all he’s been holding me back for 5 years, he’s been keeping me away from that title, dangling the carrot of immortality over my head, telling me “Oh yeah you’re almost there, you just need to ditch the Hollywood Elite, oh you’re almost there you just need to rest up because you took a hell of a beating, maybe in the summer, oh you’re almost there but I promised that spot to Spence, keep working at it.” And so on and so on.
Now it’s her turn to be hand picked, chosen, given every opportunity that I never had on a silver platter because Tort only wants what Tort wants, and that’s compliant bitches who will smile, do the thumbs up thing to him and do whatever he wants. That’s what Jill is, hell that’s what Spence was to him. Just a compliant little worker bee who won’t say no, who won’t do anything but his will.
He found the perfect one in Jill at least. Jill is one of the most vacuous, air headed nothings of a person that’s ever graced the ring. She’s perfect for his project. After all, she built a career on not thinking for herself. She’s a user, a parasite, a nothing who just lives to stand on the shoulders of others and take the spotlight intended for someone else.
We saw that in the summer, At Glory, I went through hell to win that title back off that Adler dickhead and went through hell in the final against Park only to come up short. I can be a man and accept that on the night, she was inspired.
Since then though? Whenever the spotlight is there for me? Well let’s just say Angelo isn’t the only one who needs a punch in the mouth. My summer has been a two pronged attack from two of the most horrible twats in the company.
Meltdown. I was 100% fit, she was 100% fit. I had that fight won. She gave me everything, she had nothing left and she knew it. The Frankle lock didn’t work, she was one step away from me turning around and smashing her with the biggest box office smash of my career.
Then Regan interfered and again, I was down for the count. Even worse is that was the night Angelo was fucking crowned. A turning point in my year, I’ve never felt so fucking low as that night. Knowing, not only that I was screwed again by Park and, well, presumably Tort, knowing that they made this fucking deal to make her the champ.
That was when I vowed to do whatever it takes and take as long as it takes to beat both these fuckers at their own game and take the only thing that matters to them. For Angelo it was the world title, for Park it was her relevancy.
She craves the spotlight, regardless of morals or consequences. She literally did a deal with the devil to win the World Title - this is after winning All in by the way by yet again snatching away my spot at the very last minute.
I had that match won, the briefcase was unlatched. The fucking thing was off the hook and there was that poison witch again, just in time to fuck my life up.
And the worst crime?
When it was my job to stand triumphant over that wastrel Angelo, she was given that spot instead.
So yeah, my year has been defined by Jill Park and Angelo. Every where it was my time I saw those fuckers, cheating their way to my win. Every. Single. Time.
And Tort then had the temerity to try and take me out of the match? He tried to promise me the world, give me shit that he’s got no control over only to deny the one thing I’ve wanted for 5 years? To give me that same false carrot of shit? Well, beating Park is as much about poking a fucking thumb in his eye as it is getting revenge on her ass for helping me go through hell all year with nothing to show for it. 2023 is the year. Contract or no contract I’m going to reach my mountain top, not by standing on the shoulders of others, not by manipulating those who you pretend to call a friend into bailing you out, not by making deals with dickheads, not by screwing other people over.
I’m going to reach that mountain top by razing Park’s to the ground. I’m going to reach it by destroying everything she holds dear. This little thing she has with Tort will end before it really begins and he’ll go back to giving Hand jobs to Spence before Evolution.
People ask me all the time “Oh how can you keep going because you keep having set back after set back? It’d destroy me.” I had it the other day at a fan signing for fuck sake. They literally asked me while I signed their DVDs. Like that’s a question you just ask a fucking dangerous guy who’s known to be pissed off.”
“What did you say?”
“Oh you know, the usual, “It’s not about the wins and losses at the end of the day, but about the journey, one day I’ll get mine.” You know, that kinda shit.
I wanted to tell him how I really felt, I wanted to tell him that every single waking moment I repeat my 2022 through my head and see Jill Park and Gerard Angelo taunting me and torturing me.
I wanted to say that they made my life a living hell enough that I am not fueled by a desire to do what’s good for the fans, or solely because of glory, that I’m fuelled mostly by rage and bitterness at the two assholes that ruined my life in 2022.
I wanted to say that I have an overwhelming desire to burn their empires and destroy everyone who ever helped to prop them up, that Angelo deserves to have his head caved in by the World Championship Belt with my name on it.
I wanted to say that next time I see Jill Park I would take her scrawny little neck, choke the life out of it until her eyes gloss over and I see nothing in it.
But you wouldn’t tell the fucking difference anyway, she’s as vacant as the US title is right now.
The most important thing I can do right now to kill both these bastards with one stone is to go into Gold Rush and win that fucking title. Watch them both fume and rage with a huge shit eating grin on my face as I become a grand slam winner and eclipse everything they did in 2022 in the first fucking month of 2023. Watch Tort writhe and squirm as the guy he’s written off for 5 years finally fucking does it, with a week left before he leaves the company because he’s still yet to give him the contract he deserves.
Watch him panic as the golden goose he’s sided with is sidelined with no cash in, no Regan to help, no friends and no prospects of ever taking that title off me again.”
Just then, the lawyer returns, with a stack full of documents in his hands, placed neatly in 3 files.
“Sorry that took so long, here are the papers - one for me, one for each of you. Now Zooey, I made you a copy because you are acting as the official agent of Mr Kidsgrove, yes?”
She slightly shifts, still uncomfortable. Takes a sip of water and composes herself. She really hates talking to Lawyers.
“Yeah, from now on anything related to Sam’s affairs, whether it be Wrestling related or Hollywood goes through me. I registered as his agent officially a couple weeks ago. Figured I may as well considering I do most of it anyway.”
She smiles at Kidsgrove, who smirks back, giving her hand a squeeze.
“You guys make a great couple, God only knows why you ain’t married.”
Neither Zooey or Sam respond to this, they just give a knowing smile to each other and the lawyer. He takes the hint and quickly moves on.
“So just to recap, these papers are a contract for our representation in the case of Kidsgrove v Kidsgrove.”
“I wanna stop you there, I just want him referred to as the Old Man” Says Sam, abruptly.
“That’s not how the court works, I can’t ask the judge to just call your uncle the Old Man.” Kidsgrove gives him a cold, hard stare. The lawyer gulps.
“But I can refer to him as that in our conversations.” He says as he realises what Kidsgrove wants.
“It’s going to be difficult to extricate yourself from him, I’ve got to be blunt with you. Your long standing history with the man as well as the fact that you have a contract signed by your representative will be a difficult hurdle to get past.”
“But you can do it, right?” Asks Zooey, earnestly.
“I don’t charge the money I charge for being Lionel Hutz.” Retorts the Lawyer, Kidsgrove looks at him blankly.
“From the Simpsons?” He offers to Sam.
“I don’t watch cartoons.” Comes the rather terse reply. “This means nothing to me, are you good or not? This is a serious matter to get this off my plate and get me away from his influence, I need the best on it.”
The lawyer measures Sam with a stare of his own.
“I’m the best in the business, I have a few ideas how we can go ahead with the case. As I said, it's difficult, but I’ll get it done. All you have to do is sign for my services, AW are already picking up the check, so we’re good.”
“How do I know you’re any good?”
“I’m the guy who kept Nightingale out of jail after his incidents with, er, you.” Says the lawyer, quite nervously, leading to Kidsgrove to look at him with pure hatred. Zooey puts her hand to her mouth in shock.
“Ah, I can see you didn’t know this, well I can only apologise but you know, business is business. It wasn’t personal. Look, you guys need to digest this and talk it through, I understand. I have a few calls to make so I’ll leave you here and go make those calls, when I come back if you don’t want the services of the best lawyer in the business then no hard feelings. If you do want to win this case, then I’ll be your guy. Deal?”
Kidsgrove nods as he looks over at Zooey, who’s pale as a ghost.
“You OK?” He asks, softly.
“He helped let that monster go?” She baulks.
“To beat the Devil.” Kidsgrove muses.
“Sorry?”
“It’s a saying I heard a while back, to beat the Devil you gotta work with the Demons. I didn’t realise what it meant until recently. I think we have to do it, as much as it makes me sick to my stomach.
We’re not gonna get lucky like someone like Spence on this one. We’re not gonna get a clean break from the Old Man. He’s gonna make it difficult and horrendous for us unless we crush him immediately.
Spence and I are similar in that respect, I’ve been tied with my uncle since I was a fucking child, he took me in when my parents died and it’s because of him I ended up in Hollywood. He’s the meanest, toughest, most difficult man to negotiate with on this side of the world. Spence was tied with Tort. Everything Tort wanted, Spence was his willing lapdog. Doing everything he could to keep his spot, doing everything possible to make sure that everyone in the company has their own little tiers and that he was there on the top of them all. Sure every now and then Tort would give way to others, but Spence would be back there soon enough, taking the opportunities that should go the way of others. That’s fine, that’s how the game’s played. That’s business. I got no truck with that.
I had the same thing, but my experience was slightly different.
Tort made Spence the face of the company, Spence reaped the benefits. He had the plum matches, he had the title shots, he had the pick of any guy that came through those curtains and wanted to make a name for themselves, he had Tort’s ear when Tort would only listen to himself.
My uncle made me the face of Hollywood, that’s where the similarities end. He reaped the benefits, he decided what I did and did not do, he was the one who listened to himself and regardless of what I wanted, he did whatever made more money anyway. Hell this is why I was in rehab for the better part of a decade, this is why I have anger issues. He’s the reason for a lot of shit in my life.
Same as Tort is the reason for a lot of shit in Spence’s life. Good and bad.
Now I know Spence, Spence will be pacing around, channelling his anger at Tort into trying to win this title, he’s gonna expect the sympathy because his mentor, his father figure that he never really had, the one man who he considered a true friend and the guy who gave him a chance and an out when UCF failed turned on his ass. Dropped him like the last 5 years meant nothing. He’s going to expect sympathy and an answer to why, or a reason or something, hell anything to explain himself.
And so many people around the world are shocked, appalled, and sympathetic. I’ve seen the tweets, I’ve seen the instagrams, I’ve seen the outpouring of support for Spence with the Justice 4 Spence hashtags. I’ve seen all of this happen in real time while I have to deal with the Old Man coming back into my life.
And you know what? I have zero sympathy for Spence. None at all. I’ve tried to find some. Sure, Spence is a nice guy. Sure, Spence and I went to Hell and back at 13 last year and came out of it with respect for one another. Sure I’d love to get that scalp of his and when I win the title, he’ll be the first guy getting a shot.
But I have no sympathy, why? Because I don’t give a flying fuck if he’s just another one of the guys now. Spence has lost that protection, he’s lost that aura of “The guy who Tort protects.”
He’s just one of us poor saps who have to fight and claw their way up through the ranks for 5 fucking years only for Tort to say “Yeah I got nothing for ya, Spence has that slot.” Now he’s like the rest of us, on his own, with no help from the management and a massive fucking desire to prove himself again.
Maybe he thinks getting revenge on Tort will protect his slot, maybe he thinks he can be his own man now he’s free from the shackles of being the face of the company. We knew from UCF that Spence was never really comfortable in his own skin and Tort took advantage of it, moulding him into his perfect little wrestler, because weak men can be controlled.
If Spence had anything about him when AW opened the doors, he would never have been so close to Tort. He would have realised it was business with a businessman, not a friendship. He would have realised that Tort wasn’t family - he was his boss and would have absolutely no problem with replacing his ass at any point as soon as he was done with him.
That’s the difference between me and Spence. When I came out of rehab I dropped the Old Man, I realised he was bad for me, despite being the face of Hollywood. Spence wanted to ride that tail until the end though. Until he became expendable. I realised when I was being used, I was a man enough to change my situation and not wait until it came to me. I fixed shit.
So when Pasternak asked me to be his guy, I made it absolutely clear we’re not gonna have a Spencer and Tort relationship. It’s business. I do what I do for myself, my family and the fans. Anyone else can get fucked.
When I win that title at Gold Rush, that’ll be the ultimate vindication. 5 years of eating shit by AW management, watching people get opportunities that I’ve been denied time and time again, watching the worst kinds of people cheating me at every turn only for them all to realise it was all futile.
Because to spite their fucking faces, I did it anyway.”
