Post by Roberto Verona on Sept 14, 2013 14:54:10 GMT
The early morning glow of the sun peers through the blinds of Hannah Reed's office, sparying across the relatively large room whose size is betrayed by the chaos of files and polystyrene coffee cups. Roberto Verona stands by the window, staring out at the car park below as Hannah's eyes dart to and fro over a document which she clutches in her hand, her glasses pushed to the brim of her nose. Hannah looks up, removing the spectacles before tossing them aside as she reluctantly addresses her long term lover.
Hannah Reed: You’re sure about this?
Roberto Verona: Positive.
Hannah Reed: You know once I submit this, there is no turning back, right? If you’re wrong…
Roberto Verona: I’m not.
Hannah Reed: I just want you to understand what the risks are, if this turns out to be false we’ll be liable to pay damages for defamation of character, the company’s image will be dragged through the mud…
Roberto Verona: Money doesn’t come before justice, Hannah.
Hannah sighs, accepting defeat.
Hannah Reed: Ok, you’re the boss. Literally now…
Roberto Verona: Hey you wanted this gig tutz, you knew there’d be risks involved. You used to enjoy pursuing justice.
Hannah Reed: I did, and I do, but this just feels…
Roberto Verona: Vindictive? Unnecessary? Abusive?
Hannah Reed: In a manner of speaking, yes.
Roberto Verona: You may not see it, and he may not see it, but I am doing this not only because it is the right thing, but because he needs to face reality.
Hannah Reed: There’s better ways of helping him.
Roberto Verona: Is there? By giving him a hug? Maybe excusing all his trespasses because “boys will be boys”?
Hannah Reed: That isn’t what I am saying, this just feels risky.
Roberto Verona: He will never face his demons if we mollycoddle him. I am not going to stand by and facilitate his repeated urges to bury his head in the sand. He is an employee of my company, there is standard I expect of everybody and those who do not meet it will be made an example of. It is for the best.
Hannah Reed: Just promise me that you won’t destroy him.
Roberto Verona: This isn’t about ruining his life, Hannah, this is about what is right for the company and what is right for Joe Everyman. If I have to break him to make him accept he has issues and to punish him for allowing them to deprecate the image the of IWF then I will do everything in my power to do so. Do you think I should allow him to just run around here accusing me of contract fraud and lying?
Hannah Reed: Well…
Roberto Verona: Am I just meant to sit here and continue to be the pariah for everybody’s problems just because it is easy and convenient to blow the corporate trumpet and blame the big bad Verona again. I put up with that crap for years in NCW, I am not going to just let people paint me as the villain of the piece when I gave them a home and continued the legacy of the company they all professed to love. Joe Everyman let me down, Joe Everyman let his family down and most of all, in his moment of triumph, Joe Everyman let himself down.
Hannah Reed: I just don’t want to see this get nasty…
Roberto Verona: I am not a monster, Hannah, merely an agent of personal evolution. IWF isn’t about turning up and cashing your pay cheque at the end of the month, I care about the roster, I care about the company. I don’t pretend to be a saint, but there are too many people clamouring to see the worst in me.
Hannah Reed: Well, you did nearly snap his head off.
Roberto Verona: Because I have a penchant for the theatrical, it’s all smoke and mirrors, people sit up and care when you betray the hero after months on the scrapheap. It drew attention to Joe’s issues, it achieved its purpose.
Hannah Reed: If you think its right, then you have my support. Although, on a separate matter, I hope you’re going to keep an eye on Jess this week, that complete psycho and her skank nearly put her in the hospital.
Roberto Verona: I don’t think even Mike Laszlo would hit a girl, although if it gave him a reason to brag…
Hannah’s eyebrows begin to furrow as she frowns at Verona.
Hannah Reed: I’m being serious, I don’t want to find my sister laying on my office floor with blood coming out of her head.
Roberto Verona: I’ll keep an eye on her, you know I will. She’s tougher than you think…
Hannah Reed: That’s what worries me, she’ll just keep going back for more, she just wants this so badly, but I don’t want to see it break her in the process.
Roberto Verona: If anybody hurts her again, there will be repercussions. You have my word.
Hannah Reed: Promise?
Roberto Verona: Promise.
Hannah Reed: You’re sure about this?
Roberto Verona: Positive.
Hannah Reed: You know once I submit this, there is no turning back, right? If you’re wrong…
Roberto Verona: I’m not.
Hannah Reed: I just want you to understand what the risks are, if this turns out to be false we’ll be liable to pay damages for defamation of character, the company’s image will be dragged through the mud…
Roberto Verona: Money doesn’t come before justice, Hannah.
Hannah sighs, accepting defeat.
Hannah Reed: Ok, you’re the boss. Literally now…
Roberto Verona: Hey you wanted this gig tutz, you knew there’d be risks involved. You used to enjoy pursuing justice.
Hannah Reed: I did, and I do, but this just feels…
Roberto Verona: Vindictive? Unnecessary? Abusive?
Hannah Reed: In a manner of speaking, yes.
Roberto Verona: You may not see it, and he may not see it, but I am doing this not only because it is the right thing, but because he needs to face reality.
Hannah Reed: There’s better ways of helping him.
Roberto Verona: Is there? By giving him a hug? Maybe excusing all his trespasses because “boys will be boys”?
Hannah Reed: That isn’t what I am saying, this just feels risky.
Roberto Verona: He will never face his demons if we mollycoddle him. I am not going to stand by and facilitate his repeated urges to bury his head in the sand. He is an employee of my company, there is standard I expect of everybody and those who do not meet it will be made an example of. It is for the best.
Hannah Reed: Just promise me that you won’t destroy him.
Roberto Verona: This isn’t about ruining his life, Hannah, this is about what is right for the company and what is right for Joe Everyman. If I have to break him to make him accept he has issues and to punish him for allowing them to deprecate the image the of IWF then I will do everything in my power to do so. Do you think I should allow him to just run around here accusing me of contract fraud and lying?
Hannah Reed: Well…
Roberto Verona: Am I just meant to sit here and continue to be the pariah for everybody’s problems just because it is easy and convenient to blow the corporate trumpet and blame the big bad Verona again. I put up with that crap for years in NCW, I am not going to just let people paint me as the villain of the piece when I gave them a home and continued the legacy of the company they all professed to love. Joe Everyman let me down, Joe Everyman let his family down and most of all, in his moment of triumph, Joe Everyman let himself down.
Hannah Reed: I just don’t want to see this get nasty…
Roberto Verona: I am not a monster, Hannah, merely an agent of personal evolution. IWF isn’t about turning up and cashing your pay cheque at the end of the month, I care about the roster, I care about the company. I don’t pretend to be a saint, but there are too many people clamouring to see the worst in me.
Hannah Reed: Well, you did nearly snap his head off.
Roberto Verona: Because I have a penchant for the theatrical, it’s all smoke and mirrors, people sit up and care when you betray the hero after months on the scrapheap. It drew attention to Joe’s issues, it achieved its purpose.
Hannah Reed: If you think its right, then you have my support. Although, on a separate matter, I hope you’re going to keep an eye on Jess this week, that complete psycho and her skank nearly put her in the hospital.
Roberto Verona: I don’t think even Mike Laszlo would hit a girl, although if it gave him a reason to brag…
Hannah’s eyebrows begin to furrow as she frowns at Verona.
Hannah Reed: I’m being serious, I don’t want to find my sister laying on my office floor with blood coming out of her head.
Roberto Verona: I’ll keep an eye on her, you know I will. She’s tougher than you think…
Hannah Reed: That’s what worries me, she’ll just keep going back for more, she just wants this so badly, but I don’t want to see it break her in the process.
Roberto Verona: If anybody hurts her again, there will be repercussions. You have my word.
Hannah Reed: Promise?
Roberto Verona: Promise.
Does anybody here have a sense of déjà vu?
Mike Laszlo is being a hypocrite and demanding something he doesn’t deserve. Is this 2012 all over again? It’s nice to see that some things just never change.
Now Mike, Mikey, Mike-o, let me just get this out of the way first. We both know that the thing everybody is going to immediately focus on is the three month period where I made you my bitch and you got a token victory once by being punched in the face. Luckily for you, I’m not, I proved that I am your superior and I proved I was better than everybody else for four more months after that. It really isn’t debatable, I am better than you.
Statistics prove it, common sense proves it, hell I am sure that some obscure 15th century prophesier probably proved it too, maybe even a German octopus.
So, are we good? Can we just skip past the futile attempts to explain how you’re going to win and prove something to somebody somewhere somehow? Yes?
Good.
Let’s move on to something that is far more interesting, something that fell out of that mouth of yours last week that caught my divine attention as the arbiter of fate in IWF.
“It is time for me to rise to the top”, well, that in itself wasn’t overly alien to your usual diatribe you present on a weekly basis, but you decided to add something that peaked my interest, prodded my curiosity if you will…
“Where I belong”.
Well, somebody still has lofty ambitions well above his station, don’t we, Mike? Now don’t get me wrong, you’d be a pitiful excuse for a man and a pathetic excuse for a wrestler if you didn’t believe you have what it takes to be on top and I would rightly tell you to develop a pair of testicles or stop leeching of my fiscal teat. Ambition is important, granted you have a habit of letting yours exceed your respective position at the time, but I digress.
Who are you to determine where you do or do not belong to be?
You can declare you’re going to start fighting your way up, you can even say that it is your goal to become the Imperial champion, but to state that you belong somewhere?
Once again you have leapt well above your station to pontificate about your rightful place in the food chain when the fact is that isn’t for you to decide, hell it isn’t even for the guys who’ve lined up opposite for you to decide. Only one person in this company has the right to declare where you rightfully belong.
Here’s a clue, he’s standing in front of this camera and let’s face it Mikey boy, nobody is more qualified to make an objective decision about your merits than me. I have wrestled you at your peak and quite honestly… you’re well below that.
When I wrestled you, you were the rising star, the guy everybody was looking to as the next big thing. A double champion, a man on a hell of a tear, and then you hit a road block and you’ve never been the same since. Where you once were unstoppable, you became fallible. Even if we forget everything that came before, what have you done for me lately?
You’ve flattered to deceive since day one, for every impressive victory there is a myriad of failures snapping at its heels.
Yet, despite what people say about me, I am here to offer you a chance at redemption. You want to show the world where you “belong” to be? You want to make that step up finally from the cusp of greatness to a man who achieves it with ease?
I am the litmus test that will determine what you deserve, win or lose.
Show me what you’ve got this week, Mike. Cut the bullshit, don’t treat me like a babe in your arms that will whimper at whatever sweet lullaby you choose to whisper in my ear. I don’t want to listen to same shit I’ve heard before from you, I don’t want to sit here and just watch you reply to what I’ve said and trot out the same crap everybody does.
Show me something that proves to me that you’re not just another number in the crowd.
Make me sit up and take notice of Mike Laszlo instead of nodding my head indifferently. Show me why you are the man who I should put all my houses on, why I should put your face on all of our merchandise.
Stop talking and start acting. Impress me this week, and I’ll give you your opportunity to stake your claim to a better place at the table.
Do not waste my time, these opportunities will not come along often. If you fail to make the most of this there will only be one man to blame and that will be you. You have cried for a chance, and I have listened, I fully expect you to make the most of it whether you win or you lose because if you don’t the flickering embers of respect anybody has for you will be starved of oxygen and burned out.
This is your moment, your Alamo. The wolves are at the gate Mike, you’ll either be consumed or you will be a man. What will it be?
We all know the talent is there, it’s time to see the application instead of hiding it behind layers of egotistical absurdity and the constant insecure need to get the last word in. I want to see a statement, not a response. I want to see you dictate the future or this company instead of feed off the scraps.
Step up and be counted or get back in the rank and file and keep your mouth shut.
As for your partner? Ashley, I have kept an eye on you since the day you walked into this company, granted in a far less perverted way than it sounds. You were one of the bright eye young pups who were added to our women’s division and to your credit, you’ve outlasted the tested veterans who have come and gone and failed to replicate their successes.
That is a credit to you, many rookies would have been consumed by the star power but you’ve persevered and your time will no doubt come.
Women’s wrestling is important to this company, I believe it can be just as exciting, just as engaging as the male divisions and it will take pioneers like you, Jessica, Tifa, Amber and Eternity to help make a mark on this business alongside the more experienced heads in Ayla and Kathy amongst others.
Just like Mike, this your moment to seize your destiny, only you have the benefit of being able to have a few more chances, this isn’t the last chance saloon.
But it is a chance to cement yourself as a force inside this company now instead of later. Destiny waits for nobody and many men and women have missed their moment and lived to regret it. Opportunity is there for those with the spine to take it, you are wrestling the last true world champion and the current Diamond’s champion.
Win or lose this can make or break you, the pair of you.
I want to see your hunger Ashlie, I want to see how much this business means to you, how much being a success is important to you. I want to see a girl who lives, eats and breathes professional wrestling, somebody I can trust to form a pivotal role in a division I am passionate about.
A leader, not a follower. An innovator, not another ant in the colony.
It is time for many of you in this company to step up to the plate, mediocrity will not be rewarded with riches, weakness will not be rewarded with undeserved strength. The Kingmaker has returned and it is time to build the kingdom to what it deserves to be.
Those who fail to grasp the opportunities presented to them to the full will be made an example of.
Just ask Joe Everyman.
Well howdy there pardner.