Alright (2/3): An AW Network Original
Nov 10, 2019 21:22:05 GMT -5
Lissie Hope and Quixote Della Torre like this
Post by Spencer Adams on Nov 10, 2019 21:22:05 GMT -5
Part 1: (We gon’ be) A’ight
Andre: Sometimes we just be lookin’ at shit wit’ the blinders on, right? I was in one spot, he was in another, we both had the same destination in mind on top’uh that throne. Once you take a step back though and start actually observin’ who muhfuckers actually is, it’s sorta just that eye openin’ experience. That’s when I found out that we ain’t so different. It ain’t just a case of the straight laced wrestlin’ purest and the nigga comin’ in from the frat lifestyle, it’s just two people who both really been through some shit in they lives.
Mark Duplass: Speaking of that fight, how do you see the landscape in AW at this point in time and where do you feel people like yourself and KOS fit in?
Andre: AA and KOS? You mean like, cause some niggas, right?
Mark Duplass: Not exactly..
Andre: You set ya’self up for that one, my guy.
Mark Duplass: Fair enough.
Andre: When you talkin’ ‘bout the landscape though, people are gonna try to tell you that shit always be changin’. It doesn’t really though. I mean, you got niggas that come and go, but when you talkin’ Andre Aquarius and KOS, we’re signature...we stood the test’uh time and are still here wit’ the same fire we had when we first broke through into the mainstream in this business. I’ve stayed quiet when I felt it necessary and struck when I chose on some self preservin’ shit.
Mark Duplass: With KOS having faced early elimination from this year’s Wrestler of the Year tournament, he’ll be competing next week against Kennedy Matthews where he’ll surely be looking to regain momentum. Any thoughts as we wrap this up?
Andre: That’s a KOS clone wit’ a pussy. You talkin’ ‘bout a computer bein’ forced to learn about the life and times of Spencer Adams and write a screenplay about what it saw. KMatt be that result, ya dig? I wouldn’t worry about my boi’s chances of handlin’ the bidness against someone bitin’ steez.
Mark Duplass: Anything else to add about the matter?
Andre: He gon’ be a’ight.
Part 2: Evolution
The sound of brittle bones crunching lingers in the background of the feed as Mark Duplass walks alongside KOS on the shore of the Salton Sea.
KOS: Not really.
Mark Duplass: Now I’m curious as to why you asked to speak to me out here. I like to think of myself as being a pretty open minded person, but this is definitely something else.
KOS: It’s unique. That’s what AW wanted you to come to Slabs for, right? To see something different.
Mark Duplass: Absolutely.
KOS: Well, that’s what this is to me. You’d be hard pressed to find another phenomena like it.
Mark Duplass: You mean all the dead fish, right?
KOS: Well, partially. This used to be a hot spot for tourism, but it’s construction was artificial in execution and the upkeep became non-existent. Right now, it’s just us out here and the area is absolutely toxic, but in decades past..it was a different story.
Mark Duplass: Interesting. Why leave everything to rot if it was such a popular locale?
KOS: Not everybody wants to put in the work, but some of us did..just not in this exact spot.
Mark Duplass: With Slabs?
KOS: The longer you spend in the area the more you start to realize how much it’s grown over the course of its history as a community. The Salton Sea looks like another radically decayed part of the desert and on a surface level, but to our community, it serves as a reminder of life from death. People, things, places...idea..all of this dies out eventually, but there’s always room for something new and beautiful and unique to come out of it all and well, here we are building a new world through peace and creativity.
Mark Duplass: Do you see similar change in yourself then?
KOS: I’ve always prided myself on finding that next thing. Some people view Salton as a wasteland, but I find an energy and solace in this place. That’s the mindset I’ve had in the entirety of my professional career, looking for that new life out of old. Whenever I feel that an older me has died, I look forward and seek out the new.
Mark Duplass: KOS and Slab City is the new that you needed to embrace after everything that happened in your personal life?
KOS: My professional life as well. I let myself become blind to the importance of community energy in my ability to prosper as a human being. I don’t want to ever make the mistake of losing sight of that fan following again and all of this and those people chanting your name the way they do is just something necessary to me. Embracing that and letting that happen rather turning bitter in the face of the ups and downs that the business presents its competitors feels like the right thing to do.
Mark Duplass: Do you see a “next thing” for KOS or Spencer Adams and if so, do you have any sort of idea of what that may be?
KOS: These things sort of happen as I go along, so I don’t think it’s fair to try to reach into thin air and tell you who I might become. It would just feel like bullshit, you know? For years, my mindset has been to keep my chin up and stay primed for competition. As long as I can just always focus on maintaining that mindset, I think it will help me navigate whatever comes next.
Mark Duplass: Speaking of next, I had asked Andre about his thoughts on it earlier, but Kennedy Matthews-
KOS: Inevitable conclusion.
Mark Duplass: Nice to see you haven’t lost a step in the confidence department after last week.
KOS: We have life and death directly under our feet right now. We don’t need to seek them out so much, because they’re tangible to us. Being a top guy means knowing these things like the back of my hand. It is raw passion. These are things that Kennedy Matthews has yet to experience.
Mark Duplass: In one word, what is the advantage you hold over Kennedy Matthews?
KOS: Feeling.
Part 3: Baren
The scene is vibrant and changing, a man made sculpture of intertwined arches and grooves known as Salvation Mountain, an artistic display of spirituality and positive thinking. The camera’s view of a KOS led tour of the hand carved marvel is shaky at best as it’s handler struggles to keep up with KOS and Mark who more freely venture through the winding architecture.
KOS: It’s my job to believe in myself wholeheartedly, but how healthy would it be to sit here and obsess on a single loss. I understand the significance of what was placed in front of me, but at the end of the day, Frank got his win back and that’s fine. I hope that he can use that energy to carry him further. If the work I did while sharing the ring with someone can somehow inspire them to win the whole damn thing, then what does that say to you about the state of KOS in Action Wrestling? Obviously, the tournament is behind me. I’m more interested in looking ahead to the present and future since management hasn’t wasted any time in presenting me with the opportunity to make an example out of Kennedy Matthews.
Mark Duplass: You see some of those subtle similarities between yourself and Kennedy Matthews though, don’t you? I mean, when I force myself to compare the two of you, I see a lot of character evolution in both Kennedy Matthews and KOS.
KOS: This isn’t a character to me, Mark. What the people bare witness to in Action Wrestling and what you’re sitting in front of right now is Spencer Adams as he really truly is at this point in his life. I am who I am, because I’m a product of actual experiences. I am King of Slabs because that’s what empowers me and many others to live to fight another day. I went from a man tasked with handling personal struggle to something of an expert at navigating my own ups and downs as a person. Tell me, who is Kennedy Matthews? Answer that question without saying-
Mark Duplass: Mother of All Creation?
KOS: An ill-fitting nickname for someone still striking out in a seemingly never ending journey to find that definition of personal identity...that is Kennedy Matthews. Throughout my own evolution, I’ve been about succeeding in this business. I know who I am and I know who Kennedy is and that’s a bundle of desperation throwing one million and one poorly thought out marketing ideas at the wall in an attempt to see what sticks. When I ask you “Who is Kennedy Matthews?”..understand it’s because I know that she’s asking herself that same question every single time she has to stand in front of a camera for promotional obligations or step into the ring to earn a paycheck.
This is somebody who has gone from a caddy mean girl whose main focus in life was dropping social media #LOLGotem swerve attempts like a Suburbanite WorldStar wannabe only to be consistently met by the sound of crickets and head scratching..to a near parody of her own nationality and cultural roots that called herself royalty despite spending most weeks mucking it up on the streets of the lower card in search of a push as if it were an amphetamine..to a disingenuous redemption arch featuring the total absence of the previous cockney accent and the addition of trendy tribalesque face paint as if “warrior” and “jobber to the stars” are somehow synonyms?
Mark Duplass: So, do you take offense to the nickname then?
KOS: I take offense to bullshit and that’s what I perceive Kennedy Matthews to be in calling herself that. Her sense of identity will always fluctuate and shift to whatever she thinks will help take her further in this business. The Mother of All Creation is someone who will abort entire personas in the blink of an eye if it will get TMZ to raise a fucking eyebrow in her direction. So, yeah...I take offense to Kennedy Matthews and the notion that we are in any way one in the same. The mother I had taught me strength while Kennedy Matthews teaches the world what it looks like to be a bum with expensive taste and hypebeast fetishism. Big difference.
Mark Duplass: We can’t forget the fact that Kennedy Matthews is a former TV champion though.
KOS: Yes, we can.
Mark Duplass: I mean, holding a championship in Action Wrestling certainly isn’t something that everybody in the locker room has been able to accomplish.
KOS: What else is there?
Mark Duplass: What do you mean?
KOS: I can sit here and give you a laundry list of reasons as to why I’m not buying into any sort of Kennedy Matthews hype and that TV title is all there is to counter with, isn’t it? Give me one more thing, just one, man.
Mark Duplass: You don’t see the possibility for bigger accomplishments or newly unearthed potential in the future for Kennedy Matthews?
KOS: Kennedy spent her fair share of time trying to get her feet wet in WCF with results that were mixed at best. It’s been more than a year in Action Wrestling and all that can be said is “Well, she held the TV title for a half a second.” It all comes right back around to what I’ve been telling you, Kennedy Matthews is still trying to figure out who Kennedy Matthews is and that’s a hell of a limitation to have when we’re talking about trying to make something of yourself in the biggest promotion touring the world today.
Mark Duplass: So, you just think it’s a matter of identity crisis with her?
KOS: Part of it is confidence as well. The previous versions of what Kennedy presented herself to be gave us this veil of confidence that she took pride in trying to uphold, but at the same time it was all an acting gig and that’s become apparent if you take even a surface level look into KMatt 3.0. That woman who once conducted herself as a giant smirk seems infinitely more “off” nowadays if you haven’t noticed. You can see it in her face and her body language, the way she seems to tell herself to hang in there after failing to actually climb the ladder and throw her name into the hat as an upper card mainstay.
The confidence is not there. This isn’t a competitor that is able to look in the mirror and tell themselves “I know I am” when it comes to being one of the best in that locker room, it’s somebody who more honestly seeks to muster up the character to tell herself “I think I can” when faced with an uphill battle such as facing KOS in a match that not one fucking person is going to be willing to gamble against me in. That’s something she tells herself with a shrug and a half-hearted nod and it’s something I can say with the very confidence that still eludes Kennedy as she kicks off her sophomore year in the company.
What I see in KMatt is Ash Ketchum come to life, a self defeatist and glorified loser who is only slightly held up on a bronze level pedestal by a booking committee who is determined to try to finally make Torture some money off an employee who more often than not looks like little more than an occupied spot on the active roster. They’ve been trying their damndest to unearth potential that doesn’t exist, because Kennedy handicaps her own growth with competitive efforts at the big time that feel more like a roll of the dice with anxiously crossed fingers than any real smidge of belief.
Mark Duplass: Do you feel that her connection to Lissie Hope is something that might be counterproductive to her own projection in the pecking order?
KOS: When it comes right down to it, you don’t play second fiddle to anyone when it comes to that one on one lane. THIS is it...I am it for Kennedy Matthews and there’s no getting past that when you’re sidekick to the person whose claim to fame is that they have a title shot and might...maybe...possibly knock Dandy DiVito off his high horse if everything goes according to plan. There’s a certain irony there, you know? A self-described choke artist serving as lead role with a much bigger choke artist playing her less impressive number two. It’s sad, really.
Mark Duplass: Do you see this as any sort of opportunity for you? What do you feel you have to gain from the matchup?
KOS: This isn’t where Kennedy gets her chance to prove her merit to the wrestling world, but rather my chance to prove to Kennedy that everything I just told you has legs and that everything they say about my status in Action Wrestling and in this industry is damn true. If Kennedy or anyone else views me as the gatekeeper for her latest attempt at a rise to superstardom, please note that this is not a winnable situation. As usual, when Kennedy looks up at that proverbial glass ceiling that she absolutely cannot break through, she will be greeted by somebody bigger and badder falling through the sky like a fucking anvil that shatters that ceiling for her and flattens all hope of panning out in this company. So, Mark...I thank you for your time and Kennedy, if you happen to see this..going one on one with KOS is not your boss battle, it’s game over.
Part 4: So below
The night was still as always, interrupted only by the occasional barking from the camp in the far distance.
He rustles around in the driver’s seat at the sound of the passenger door creaking open.
Mark nods and turns back over, reclining his seat back as far as it will go as the door slams shut again. The sound of gentle footsteps drags along the ground as he’s careful not to cause a disturbance. Still hesitant, he rounds a corner and stumbles wearily over to a Joshua tree and unzips. He leans back and is quick to turn and head back to the car as he finishes relieving himself.
Cameraman: FU-!
There’s no prolonged struggle as it happens instantly. He feels himself sinking into the Earth and falling under its surface. The fall is short and he hits another layer of solid ground with a clumsy thud. Gone is the familiarity of night, replaced with a more artificial black that is quickly castaway by the flicker of an automated light, his fall having tripped its censors. He stumbles backward in an attempt to get back to his feet, looking forward at a row of steel bars.
His voice echoes but is met without response.
?: You don’t want to be yelling right now, trust me.
He spins around, nearly jumping out of his skin at the sound of another human being. The muscular figure sits up from a barebones cot attached to the left wall and turns to face him.