Nothing Nice to Say- Episode 3

Eric: Welcome to Nothing Nice to Say, episode III. I’m the “Bastard Icon,” Eric Dillinger, current WTF US and Tag Team Champion and Hall of Famer. Next to me as always is Michael Albertson.

Michael: Hi, Folks.

Eric: Tonight, well, I wish we could say that we come to you with better news and better segments but I’m sad to announce that this is going to be, more or less, a depressing show for all of us involved. Our big stories tonight are the closing of the WTF and the suicide of former RPW owner, Buzz Stone.

Michael: It’s hard for everyone to swallow, especially Buzz’ death.

Eric: Tonight we will bring to you one of the final interviews Buzz had conducted only a few days before his death.

Michael: We were hesitant to show the footage as we can clearly see now that the signs were there, but in tribute to Buzz we’re going to show it to the fans at home.

Eric: That’s one thing for sure. I only met Buzz once, but I knew he was dedicated to this industry and to the fans out there. Buzz would have wanted the fans he loved to have seen it. But first we have a very special guest.

Michael: A Chicago native who’s been faithful to the WTF since the beginning.

Eric: An old friend of mine, an old friend of yours. He’s the mouth piece of the WTF, folks, Adam Effler!

(All smiles, out walks Adam Effler who wears the usual casual black suit. He approaches Eric and Michael, giving them each a hand shake and a hug. He sits down on the couch and smiles.)

Eric: So, for the first time in wrestling history you’re on the other side of the mic.

Effler: I believe so. Nice set, by the way.

Eric: You like it? I had no part in designing it.

Effler: Just collecting a check, huh?

Eric: You could say that.

Michael: Sounds like your WTF career.

Eric: Watch it, buddy. What do you think of my show?

Effler: It’s nice, actually. I always thought that interviews conducted by wrestlers were great because they actually know what they’re talking about. Every one always sounds either lost, confused, or just unknowledgeable when it comes to the subject matter. That is unless you’re me and you have a degree in broadcasting.

Eric: Ha, ha. So, Adam, how long would you say you called matches for the WTF?

Effler: Since 2002 when the place first started, but we took quite a few breaks over the years to recharge our batteries only to come back stronger than ever. Within the past seven years, I’d say five of that was spent with the WTF.

Eric: But you didn’t just call the matches, did you?

Effler: No, a lot of people don’t know this about me but I actually did help with some of the promotion back stage. All of those pretty graphics you see on commercials, the web sites, the fliers…

Eric: All you?

Effler: No, mostly my assistant but I’ll take full credit for them.

Michael: Man, you’re fired up with the humor tonight.

Effler: Most of the time I’ve so busy calling the matches, trying to be a professional while rubbing elbows with the likes of Jesse Kingery and then… **shudders** John Ralph… I never get to relax and just shoot the *bleep*.

Eric: Adam, I’m shocked.

Effler: Hey, I’m a guy like everyone else around here.
Eric: Well, since you’re a guy like everyone else I’m going to have to ask you to be clearly honest with me like any guy would. After seven years of the WTF, whose matches were your favorite to call?

Effler: You know, the WTF has always produced and attracted so many great names over the years. I can’t pick one.

Eric: What? That’s a cop-out answer!

Michael: Eric was expecting you to say him.

Effler: Eric had some great matches. The Punx match ups were classic, of course, and through out the years he’s reinvented himself and stood with everyone else around him. Then again, “The All Star,” Shawn Anderson is the greatest pure athlete the WTF has, bar none. I still get shivers every time I see the High Heat or one of his many other moves like the High Light of the Night. Let’s not forget the insane violence that we saw from our Xtreme TV Title matches or when it was the Ultra-Violent Title. So many great names from Haggis, Tank, Sniper, or Viking bled buckets for those belts. Then there were the many great feuds over the years. Vance and his brother Brandon, of course. Then there was Blade and Darren Revel and Deadmarsh and Harlin. The great factions we saw from the Rat Pack, to the MVP’s, DoC, Anarchy Reborn, and the Fallen Ones. The WTF has given me many great memories and I always had the best seat in the house up at the Crow’s Nest.

Michael: When you put it like that, it really is too much to just wind down into one simple little answer.

Eric: I would have taken Titan 3. Audrie McLaughlin or Andrew O’Reilly were also acceptable.

Michael: How about the matches? Anything that stands out in your mind?

Effler: I’ll never forget Xtreme Consequences 2003 when the cage fell. Bodies flew everywhere, fans were almost crushed, lives almost lost… To this day I’ve never seen anything like it since and I don’t think the wrestling world will ever see anything like it again. But when it comes to one on one competition I liked Shawn Anderson VS Blade in the Last Man Standing Match from the 2004 March Massacre. I think you remember that night very well.

Eric: How could I forget? Anyone you hated calling a match for.

Effler: Not really. Like I said, the WTF has turned out some great talent over the years so its been a privelage to call all the matches. Though, now that I think about it, I regret calling Aramis’ matches and putting him over the way I did. Sure, he was a monster, but he sold t-shirts because I helped build him up with my words. After seeing what he’s done to Vance and the company I’d take it all back in a heart beat if I could.

Eric: Speaking of Vance and the company—

Effler: I know what you’re going to ask. I don’t know where the WTF goes from here. We had untelevised shows, ESN forced us off of TV at the behest of Jordan Keyser, and the Bonesteel family is left penniless from this. The money just simply isn’t there for the WTF to continue on. Worst of all, Aramis is getting off light in spite of it all. Is there no justice in this world?

Eric: Only the kind you bring with your fist, Adam. Only the good kind.

Michael: What will you do now that you find yourself with out a job again?

Effler: I still run an internet based show much like this one. I get all the inside scoops so that makes it easy. I’d probably go back to doing just that so I can just work straight out of the home. If anyone else would like to hire me I’d give it a shot as their play by play man, but the WTF is and will always be my first home to me. If it weren’t for that entity we knew as Wrestling’s Toughest Federation I would still be up to my ears in debt from college.

Eric: Well, you never know. I might have to replace this guy on your other side and , voila, a position just opened up for you.

Michael: Hey!

Effler: Thanks, Eric. I appreciate the gesture, but I wouldn’t want to do that to Mike.

Eric: I forget how far y’all go back. Two side kicks, then? Do I dare?

Michael: As the play by play guy you had to check out rival competition from time to time, it’s only natural. Was there anyone within the AWA you would have liked to see face off against in the WTF?

Effler: Don’t ask me this. This is where my nerdy side comes out. When the AWA picked up the WTF my mind went into over load with the possibilities. Of course I wanted to see Eric Dillinger go up against Valora in the WTF environment, but at the same time I’d have liked to see our tag champs take on the tag champs from other places as well. Belt for belt.  I know there was a risk there with us losing our title to WRF, Ricochet, or what have you, but I had faith in our champs.

Eric: I’d have be up for it. Why the hell not?

Michael: Just as long as the money’s right, eh, Eric?

Eric: You know me all too well.

Effler: Other than that, Adam Pyre taking on Viking. Maybe Johnny Royal against Andrew O’Reilly. Johnny Douglas to fight a recuperated Vance Bonesteel. The possibilities were endless. Of course, now, things are different.

Eric: There’s been rumblings within the AWA that there might be a one night tournament to crown the AWA champion. What are your thoughts on this?

Effler: Obviously it’s a good idea. What better way to make the AWA worthwhile than to pit fighters against each other in dream matches the fans would never be able to see otherwise. Think about it. It would be someone’s chance to truly be an undisputed champion. Otherwise, you or anyone else would be stuck in their respective place of business being unable to
Eric: You know, talking to you is making me miss the WTF.

Effler: I don’t blame you. It was fun… but what about you, Eric? What’re you going to do?

Eric: For now just this show. I don’t have it in me to fight anywhere else at the moment and don’t really care to. I mean, I left the WTF holding the US Strap and one half of the Tag Team straps. Where could I go and honestly expect to be handed the same glory and gold?

Michael: Haha, now Adam’s turned the tables.

Effler: Hey, it’s a hard habit to break. I’ve been doing it for forever now.

Eric: It’s fine.

Effler: You’re right, though, many of the guys in the WTF were there for years and had to scrape out a living the hard way. No one, I don’t care who you were, could just walk into the WTF and be given everything on a silver platter. You had to earn it.

Michael: Just look at Viking. Took him YEARS to finally win the big one. He had so many other shots, held so many other belts, but never the big one and finally it happened.

Eric: You never know, though. Rumor is that someone high up in the WTF was in Cleveland recently. Who, I don’t know. Wasn’t Vance, that’s for sure.

Effler: Maybe Jesse?

Michael: The real question is why were they in Cleveland.

Eric: I hear rumblings of a buy out. That could be good for the Bonesteel family as they’d get some sort of income coming in, but it could spell disaster for many guys on the roster.

Effler: Imagine if a few guys didn’t get picked up.

Eric: Or worse, they get picked up and WMW forces them to change.

Effler: WTF guys changing for the suits in the back office? Never in a million years.

Eric: You’re right. Well, Adam, it’s time for the question I ask everyone who comes on this show. Anyone in the world you could punch in the face who would it be and why?

Effler: Let me think… There’s a few names that come to mind, actually. Dan Anderson, James Weck, BPT, Jacob Frost, Oliver Orchard, Salem Jade, and Julian York for not reaching their full potential.

Eric: That’s quite a list.

Effler: I’m not done.

(Adam takes out a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolds it, and begins reading.)

Effler: This next group of people are people I just want to hit because I hate them. Australian Invader, Kid Mayhem, Seven, Shorty/Cannonball—

Eric: Shorty?

Effler: One of my favorite WTF moments was when you beat him senseless with a chair. But, anyway, Zerou Omega, Justin Zaine, Kid Extreme, Dane Gerous, Canon and Sharp Xerox, Zendertaker, Jonathan Nathaniel Escobar III, Renegade Master, and Pelican Man. I would punch them all not just in the face, but the balls as well.

Eric: Well, there you have it. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s it for us. For now, we leave you with the Buzz Stone’s last interview before his untimely death. I have to warn you, it might be a little tough to watch.

Effler: I think Buzz would want the folks at home to watch though.

Michael: He was about the fans.

Eric: A true show man. Ladies and gentlemen, Buzz Stone.

(The feed changes as Adam disappears through tv magic and Buzz Stone, former owner of Ricochet Pro Wrestling, steps out onto the stage. He is surprisingly unkempt for his first appearance on the show. He is wearing an older style RPW black t-shirt and it appears as of he hasn’t shaven in a few days. He takes his seat, slouching down, almost giving the impression that he doesn’t want to be there, something not unnoticed by the hosts)

Eric: Welcome to the show, Buzz.

Michael: Welcome.

Buzz: Hi.

Eric: So the wrestling world knows what’s going on. RPW is having problems making ends meet which has been a problem for some while now. Mind giving us the back story on that?

Buzz: The economy sucks, simple as that. One little thing after another, and they add up to big things. Then the big things start to add up, and it’s a *beep* snowball effect.

Eric: That’s got to put you in an odd situation. Do you ever regret buying RPW? Would you go back and change your decision knowing what you know now?

Buzz: Ricochet is the most important thing in my life. It’s been a part of my life for nearly a decade. Someone had to step-up and do something, because if it wasn’t for me making the near impossible decision and deal with the devil, we wouldn’t be here right now. Ricochet would have closed, simple as that. People want to tell me I made a stupid decision, but I would do it again. I would do anything to keep RPW open.

Michael: What do you plan to do to get RPW out of its current situation?

Buzz: I’m doing everything I can. I’ve done everything I can. There’s only so much I can do before it’s just too much. It wasn’t good enough that I saved Ricochet from closing down last year. It wasn’t good enough that I kept it from going into bankruptcy this year. It’s never enough. Just one more thing after another. I made a deal with the devil. I knew what I was getting into, but I didn’t think he would pull this. Not with me. He’s never been the most scrupolous guy, but I also wasn’t one of the guys who thought he was doing a horrible job running RPW either. In a lot of ways, he’s the reason RPW is the name it is today in England and even here in the states. He took RPW as a local promotion with just a local television deal and made it into something that is seen all across Europe and parts of the US, Canada, and Mexico. I refused to believe he really wanted to screw something up he helped rebuild so badly. I was wrong. And we’re in this situation again because of me.

Eric: And if you can’t recover, what will you do from here on out?

Buzz: I don’t know. I really don’t know. I can’t think straight about this stuff at the moment. I’m only looking to today. I’ll worry about tomorrow when I wake up in it and see what other *beep* happened overnight for me to try to fix.

Eric: Any idea of what’ll become of the wrestlers under your employ if RPW would fold? What about the titles?

Buzz: I don’t know. Honestly, I’m not sure if I care at this point. When Ricochet was about to close, only a few of them even seemed to give a damn. The rest just sat back and acted like it was no big deal. Hell, I’m not sure if some of them weren’t secretly hoping it was going to close. And now we’re in this same boat again, and once again, I’m doing the work, and they’re sitting back watching.

Eric: Do you think there would be any fall out from RPW closing?

Buzz: Who knows? The Tap ‘N’ Tin crowd would have to find something else to do every other Wednesday. People would be out of work, but in this economy, that’s just business as usual I guess.

Eric: What has the AWA had to say about this whole situation? Has anyone from there contacted you for help or anything resembling that?

Buzz: No. When we joined, they were a godsend. They gave us financing to help cover some of our expenses, put us back on the road to recovery, but there’s only so much they can do. This isn’t their problem. This is our *beep*storm and it’s ours to clean up.

Michael: I take it this all means that Daniel James is not someone you’re going to look to for more financial help?

Eric: What’s your relationship like with that man, anyhow?

Buzz: *beep* that’s what it is. James is the man who’s trying to screw us now. There’s no working with him anymore. No going back. It’s over and done with. The only question now is how to get him gone for good.

Eric: If I were in your shoes, and I’ve been there, I probably would have put a hit out on that man. I know you’re a nice guy and all, but there comes a time when you have to get your hands dirty.

Buzz: I’m not going to comment on that. I shouldn’t have to stoop to his level to get things done. But who the *beep* knows anymore? I’m just sick of everything lately.

Michael: How do you mean?

Buzz: Nothing. It’s just frustrating is all. It’s one thing after another.

Eric: Well, all this is leading up to your upcoming super card, Collision. In the past this card’s legacy has been marred by death and bad booking. Are you worried that things will be no different in 2009?

Buzz: I don’t know. The first one was screwed because of Bryan Willett’s supposed death. So that turned the whole thing on its head. And then we find out a few months later, he didn’t even die. It was all some sort of soap opera *beep* he was trying to pull off after he couldn’t handle the pressures he was under. Oddly, enough the reason why the second Collision got screwed up had something to do with Willett as well. Not entirely, but he played his part. And truth be told, people talk about it like we screwed the pooch on the second Collision, but truth be told, I think the second Collision turned out great. We held the second annual Cannibal Cup, and we saw some of the most original hardcore matches scene in Ricochet’s history, and the whole thing was booked on the fly, but that brought in a lot of publicity to Ricochet, and we had people from all over, not just Ricochet, entering to compete for the Cannibal Cup. And before the end of the year, I would love to see a return of the Cannibal Cup to see if Cain can defend it in another hardcore tournament unlike any other, and with the addition of the AWA, I could see it being bigger and better than last year’s.

Eric: Really? Any names in particular you’d be willing to sign for this tournament?

Buzz: In an event such as the Cannibal Cup, anyone would be welcome, because it’s usually the guys you don’t suspect being the ones that make the most impact. Even if you don’t win something like this, you can instantly be put on the map.

Eric: I’d ask how you see the RPW fitting into the AWA, but I see you’ve got a clear idea of where you’d like to take it. Any one else in the AWA you wouldn’t mind seeing wrestle for RPW?

Michael: Might be good for business.

Buzz: I’ll be honest. There’s a few guys I’ve seen here and there, but I’ve been dealing with so much *beep* lately that I honestly couldn’t put a face with a name and I definitely couldn’t tell you the ones I’d like to see in Ricochet.

Eric: Buzz, you’ve been a great guest and now we come to the question we ask every guest. Anyone in the world right now you could punch right in the face, who would it be?

Buzz: I don’t need to answer that, because the answer is pretty *beep* obvious.

Eric: Well, it was nice having you, Buzz.

Michael: Thanks for coming on the show.

(Buzz doesn’t say goodbye, he simply stands up and walks off the set, not looking back, leaving Eric and Michael to exchange a glance at each other. The camera fades out to the AWA logo. Copyrighted by Bastardly Press.)