Post by Cross Recoba on Jun 9, 2023 15:23:55 GMT
[8th June 2023]
[The Sands Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada]
“Everyone clear!” The foreman’s words carried themselves over the noise of the construction workers milling around.
Where previously stood the Tap Out Wrestling ring inside the Lansky Ballroom was now stripped down to bare concrete. Where previously there was the timekeeper’s table instead a dozen coolers each filled with water for the men working.
With a final effort, the wall that previously separated the crowd from backstage was torn down and forced the IPW cameraman to take steps back to avoid the dust that expanded from the debris.
Turning their back to the activity, the camera hones in on Cross Recoba as he goes through what we assume to be blueprints in the far corner, away from the noise and toil. The cameraman makes a beeline for them.
“-ity is if that if we don’t make this deadline because of something you’ve not already accounted for in your plan, we will be looking at you to carry some of the incurred costs. I don’t know about you but given that we’re underway, I’d rather not involve lawyers unless we really need to…think on it and get back to me when I’m back.” Cross kept his tone even, he wanted to keep the number of disgruntled contractors he was dealing with to no more than the man holding his title.
Recoba took the break to head over towards the camera and beckon them to some chairs set up in the other corner. He’d debated putting them forward for the next XHF Network Charity auction as part of the original Tap Out history but instead had formed them into a makeshift breakroom. As he walked he still felt the pain in his knee that had yet to completely subside from his failed attempt to take down the unwanted 2023 Club Kid revival that was MYŌJIN.
The camera panned to get the activity in the background as the men worked around the supports of the previously existing partition. Recoba took the opportunity, in turn, to raise a suited leg onto a chair as he sat down.
“It’d be easy to work in finite terms, wouldn’t it? Things are only black and white, it’s either good or bad, I lost to MYŌJIN but that would be slightly simplifying things. How things really work is that behind every fact are a million different data points that got you there. Was MYŌJIN the strongest wrestler all through the match? No, he just took his chances better than I did…but what I will take out of my loss is that next time we face off? He’s not going to think I’m like Bea Havertz or C or the other also-rans that want his belt…I’m on his level.”
He reached down to a part-finished bottle of water and took a sip.
“He can get a look close-up this weekend at what he knows is breathing down his neck, he can sit like I did when he faced Dani Anderson and commentate on my next match because while the next shot is my opponent’s, I can’t see that being the case when the final bell rings inside the Walter Pyramid.”
With a noticeable grimace, Recoba moved his leg down to fully face the camera.
“At the inaugural Paramount, I’m once again the Main Event and if my last opponent seemed overly sure of himself, the same can’t be said for who’ll be standing across from inside the ring in Long Beach…”
At least you don’t have to run interference anymore.
“Standing across from me is perhaps the most confused wrestler I’ve faced since Tommy Hate. Tell me, Jimi, how you don’t play well with others but you were a tag-team Indy darling? Explain to me, Cooldown, how you’re this new man after a whole one match where all you faced were people proven to be below the level where you now need to be because I’m just not seeing it. I’m not seeing what has changed besides, you’re now a fake New Yorker who grew up on a ranch like some bizarro Bon Jovi song.”
It’s all the same though, only the name has changed.
“Regale me with how you wanted to make your own way in wrestling because what have you actually done in Infinite Pro?”
Be the Pete Best of the Jamrockers? Although, given your 'roots', maybe the Etta Place.
“Sure, you can interrupt a match for someone like none other in the business. You can make merch at a rate that sells faster than Hot Topic can stock it but between those two bells, Jimi - what is there to you? The fact that you picked who you faced in your last match? How’s that going to shake out for you this time? I’ve been watching your highlights and even with my knee-”
He stretched it out once more, testing the mobility.
“-still not back to full condition after my war with MYŌJIN, I’m missing what to fear. All I can really see is the hilarity in a man who wanted to hide his wealth and pretend to be working class squaring up against someone who made all this happen-”
The camera pans around the Lansky Ballroom as it still remains.
“-yet came from next to nothing. This whole identity is a great example of it, the Jamrockers were dissolved and Touchdown has his title but what does Jimi have to keep him going and the answer’s nothing. You’re less irrelevant than when ‘Cooldown’ was slinging drugs to get through High School.”
Do you even know the truth about who you are?
“I spent MONTHS beating fighter after fighter to get my shot at MYŌJIN and yet, like Tommy Hate, is now trying to take what I see as my place in the hierarchy of Infinite Pro. The first event of the company, where were we both? I was kicking Reckless Jack’s ass in the Main Event while you hawked t-shirts after the opener! You beat three people to get here in one night and as admirable as that is - I put on the Match of the Year in this company about a half-hour after people had stopped caring you were back!”
Another sip of water, the expression on Recoba’s face had grown darker.
“I’ll give you some form of respect IF you beat me, Jimi, but even though I’m not fully-fit I still wouldn’t put the odds in your favor and if you do get past me…you haven’t got it in you to beat MYŌJIN…”
You’d run a hell of a screen for him when he needed you though I bet.
“New name, new moves but the one thing you can’t change is the strength that lies between your ears. You didn’t know what to do after High School so you went and passed time working for Mom and Pop on the farm, you didn’t know what to do when Touchdown regarded you as surplus to requirements so you went away for a bit. If this doesn’t work out, I’d put a cool ten grand on you deciding that maybe running the estate is for you after all. Don’t need to engage with the ranch hands if you get a manager, don’t need to worry about a mule or cattle talking back unless you’re back dealing.”
I’d even bet you were mediocre at that.
“Want some easy differences between you and I? If you face MYŌJIN and lose, you’ll go after Touchdown and then, like I said, if that ends then you’ll be back in the saddle before the Summer’s out. I lost when I had my chance and now I’m determined to do everything I can to get back inside that ring and put right what I should have done the first time…”
Not all of us get infinite chances, Jimi.
“You’ll realize a few things when that first bell chimes. You’ll realize that once I get my mind set on something, I don’t stop until I get it. That I will take every opportunity to expose you for the glorified hack that you are. We’re pretty much the same size but I can out-think you, I can out-wrestle you and most importantly - I can go places in that ring you aren’t willing to go to.”
Like second gear.
“So, this weekend we’ll see if you can actually survive in an environment without a safety blanket, without someone there to have your back, and where the stakes actually matter…at least on one side of the ring. From the looks of it you don’t really know who you really are but by the end of the match? You’ll have full clarity on who you are, what business you have in the ring, and what you lack in being the de facto heir to the Infinite Pro Heavyweight Title!”
[The Sands Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada]
“Everyone clear!” The foreman’s words carried themselves over the noise of the construction workers milling around.
Where previously stood the Tap Out Wrestling ring inside the Lansky Ballroom was now stripped down to bare concrete. Where previously there was the timekeeper’s table instead a dozen coolers each filled with water for the men working.
With a final effort, the wall that previously separated the crowd from backstage was torn down and forced the IPW cameraman to take steps back to avoid the dust that expanded from the debris.
Turning their back to the activity, the camera hones in on Cross Recoba as he goes through what we assume to be blueprints in the far corner, away from the noise and toil. The cameraman makes a beeline for them.
“-ity is if that if we don’t make this deadline because of something you’ve not already accounted for in your plan, we will be looking at you to carry some of the incurred costs. I don’t know about you but given that we’re underway, I’d rather not involve lawyers unless we really need to…think on it and get back to me when I’m back.” Cross kept his tone even, he wanted to keep the number of disgruntled contractors he was dealing with to no more than the man holding his title.
Recoba took the break to head over towards the camera and beckon them to some chairs set up in the other corner. He’d debated putting them forward for the next XHF Network Charity auction as part of the original Tap Out history but instead had formed them into a makeshift breakroom. As he walked he still felt the pain in his knee that had yet to completely subside from his failed attempt to take down the unwanted 2023 Club Kid revival that was MYŌJIN.
The camera panned to get the activity in the background as the men worked around the supports of the previously existing partition. Recoba took the opportunity, in turn, to raise a suited leg onto a chair as he sat down.
“It’d be easy to work in finite terms, wouldn’t it? Things are only black and white, it’s either good or bad, I lost to MYŌJIN but that would be slightly simplifying things. How things really work is that behind every fact are a million different data points that got you there. Was MYŌJIN the strongest wrestler all through the match? No, he just took his chances better than I did…but what I will take out of my loss is that next time we face off? He’s not going to think I’m like Bea Havertz or C or the other also-rans that want his belt…I’m on his level.”
He reached down to a part-finished bottle of water and took a sip.
“He can get a look close-up this weekend at what he knows is breathing down his neck, he can sit like I did when he faced Dani Anderson and commentate on my next match because while the next shot is my opponent’s, I can’t see that being the case when the final bell rings inside the Walter Pyramid.”
With a noticeable grimace, Recoba moved his leg down to fully face the camera.
“At the inaugural Paramount, I’m once again the Main Event and if my last opponent seemed overly sure of himself, the same can’t be said for who’ll be standing across from inside the ring in Long Beach…”
At least you don’t have to run interference anymore.
“Standing across from me is perhaps the most confused wrestler I’ve faced since Tommy Hate. Tell me, Jimi, how you don’t play well with others but you were a tag-team Indy darling? Explain to me, Cooldown, how you’re this new man after a whole one match where all you faced were people proven to be below the level where you now need to be because I’m just not seeing it. I’m not seeing what has changed besides, you’re now a fake New Yorker who grew up on a ranch like some bizarro Bon Jovi song.”
It’s all the same though, only the name has changed.
“Regale me with how you wanted to make your own way in wrestling because what have you actually done in Infinite Pro?”
Be the Pete Best of the Jamrockers? Although, given your 'roots', maybe the Etta Place.
“Sure, you can interrupt a match for someone like none other in the business. You can make merch at a rate that sells faster than Hot Topic can stock it but between those two bells, Jimi - what is there to you? The fact that you picked who you faced in your last match? How’s that going to shake out for you this time? I’ve been watching your highlights and even with my knee-”
He stretched it out once more, testing the mobility.
“-still not back to full condition after my war with MYŌJIN, I’m missing what to fear. All I can really see is the hilarity in a man who wanted to hide his wealth and pretend to be working class squaring up against someone who made all this happen-”
The camera pans around the Lansky Ballroom as it still remains.
“-yet came from next to nothing. This whole identity is a great example of it, the Jamrockers were dissolved and Touchdown has his title but what does Jimi have to keep him going and the answer’s nothing. You’re less irrelevant than when ‘Cooldown’ was slinging drugs to get through High School.”
Do you even know the truth about who you are?
“I spent MONTHS beating fighter after fighter to get my shot at MYŌJIN and yet, like Tommy Hate, is now trying to take what I see as my place in the hierarchy of Infinite Pro. The first event of the company, where were we both? I was kicking Reckless Jack’s ass in the Main Event while you hawked t-shirts after the opener! You beat three people to get here in one night and as admirable as that is - I put on the Match of the Year in this company about a half-hour after people had stopped caring you were back!”
Another sip of water, the expression on Recoba’s face had grown darker.
“I’ll give you some form of respect IF you beat me, Jimi, but even though I’m not fully-fit I still wouldn’t put the odds in your favor and if you do get past me…you haven’t got it in you to beat MYŌJIN…”
You’d run a hell of a screen for him when he needed you though I bet.
“New name, new moves but the one thing you can’t change is the strength that lies between your ears. You didn’t know what to do after High School so you went and passed time working for Mom and Pop on the farm, you didn’t know what to do when Touchdown regarded you as surplus to requirements so you went away for a bit. If this doesn’t work out, I’d put a cool ten grand on you deciding that maybe running the estate is for you after all. Don’t need to engage with the ranch hands if you get a manager, don’t need to worry about a mule or cattle talking back unless you’re back dealing.”
I’d even bet you were mediocre at that.
“Want some easy differences between you and I? If you face MYŌJIN and lose, you’ll go after Touchdown and then, like I said, if that ends then you’ll be back in the saddle before the Summer’s out. I lost when I had my chance and now I’m determined to do everything I can to get back inside that ring and put right what I should have done the first time…”
Not all of us get infinite chances, Jimi.
“You’ll realize a few things when that first bell chimes. You’ll realize that once I get my mind set on something, I don’t stop until I get it. That I will take every opportunity to expose you for the glorified hack that you are. We’re pretty much the same size but I can out-think you, I can out-wrestle you and most importantly - I can go places in that ring you aren’t willing to go to.”
Like second gear.
“So, this weekend we’ll see if you can actually survive in an environment without a safety blanket, without someone there to have your back, and where the stakes actually matter…at least on one side of the ring. From the looks of it you don’t really know who you really are but by the end of the match? You’ll have full clarity on who you are, what business you have in the ring, and what you lack in being the de facto heir to the Infinite Pro Heavyweight Title!”
