A House Divided Cannot Stand Pat (Joint Dirk/Jack Tag RP)
Jul 8, 2016 10:32:41 GMT -5
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Post by jackdiamond on Jul 8, 2016 10:32:41 GMT -5
On Camera
Opening our scene all we see is black and white. No, not a thinly veiled metaphor for good versus evil. Or hero versus ‘the man’. Or Man versus God, versus machine, versus God-Machine, or whatever Corey Bull ranted about last. Instead our scene is literally black and white - a piece of legal paper imprinted with Times New Roman.
Public dissemination of the following minutes must occur no later than fifteen (15) days after adjournment of this meeting in order to be in compliance with:
Regarding: Diamond Club; part of Zenith Entertainment; a subsidiary of the Venture Holdings Inc.
Subject: Corporate Reorganization and Asset Re-Capture
Stakeholder Attendees:
Synopsis: Motion for emergency meeting filed by multiple board members (Chekov, Gunther; Punansky, Illya; Redher, Ringo), hereby known as the Motioning Party, which represents forty-seven percent (47%) of interest in the Diamond Club. The Motioning Party seeks to end the affiliation between a member of the board (Diamond, Jack), hereby known as The Member, due to an alleged conflict of interest stemming from the Member’s professional relationship with New Generation Wrestling (NGW). Conflicts include:
*Specific Instances highlighted in supplemental report along with meeting transcript
A rustling noise can be heard as the events described in type move left and disappear, leaving us examining another page of exposition.
Member participation with both parties creates an undesirable transitive affiliation for all subsidiaries of Venture Holdings Inc. Specifically the Diamond Club: an exclusive membership-only gambling venue that caters toward clientele with good community standing. Continuing a relationship with the Member causes irrecoverable damage to the Diamond Club and its business interests.
The Motioning Party prepared a severance package of [details redacted] and agreement to purchase the Member's five-and-one-tenth percent (5.1%) stock in Zenith Entertainment at current (5-July-16) market value to terminate affiliation between the Member and the Diamond Club (and all other Venture Holdings Inc. assets); in exchange the former will not pursue legal action against the latter. Meeting resulted in the Member accepting these terms with a contingency that the Member receive one-and-a-half (x1.5) market value for stocks re-captured. The Motioning Party agreed to these terms and the meeting was adjourned.
After a moment the camera zooms out, a rich red wood border growing around the legal paper. Tilting up we see Jack Diamond, hunched over the document. His fingers grasp the edge of a large semi-circle cocobolo desk - it resembles the marriage of an executive workspace and poker table with Diamond in the dealer’s spot. All eyes are on Jack, who continues to stare at the file without actually reading it.
Dirk: I still can’t believe your ass got canned from your own casino.
Following the sound of the cowboy’s cackle our camera gets a glimpse of the rest of the office. Matching wooden bookcases behind the desk flank it on either side, offering a warm glow from inlaid lighting - lighting unencumbered as the shelves are almost all now completely bare. Dirk Bentley has propped a cowboy boot on one of the shelves, boosting himself up so he can grab the what remains toward the top.
Jack: Diamond Club was not named after me slick. The board spun the name together as a play on words - two different suits in a deck.
Dirk: Ahhhhhh I see it now. Yea I guess Heart Club would have sounded like a tittie bar. And Spade Club….yea
Jack: Yea….we obviously couldn’t roll with that one.
Dirk: Still hilarious to me though that you got the axe. What isn’t funny to me is why you asked me to help pack up all this shit
Pivoting from his perch, Dirk throws a few hardcover books from the top shelf into a cardboard box resting on a black leather couch against the wall.
Dirk: I could go around the corner and find three guys in front of Home Depot to do this work for the change between those couch cushions.
Jack: (sarcastically) Yes but they wouldn’t do a top-notch job like you.
Bentley ignores the comment, hopping down from the bookcase and walks over to Jack with a framed picture. He smirks and shows his find to Jack as the camera peeks in over their shoulders. In the photo we see Jack and Dirk, along with an incredibly attractive hispanic woman and a generic looking white guy with tousled hair. All four reside in a ring, raising their arms in victory.
Dirk: Wow you kept a photo of Avarice. This brings back memories. The fun we all had kicking ass and taking names in this group.
Jack: You got that right slick - we tore up every carpet joint from Connecticut to California back in those days. Even with that dupe Terry Marvin riding our coattails; man that guy was a characters. (Clearing his throat) I mean character.
Dirk: (Chuckling) You know Jack, every group has to have a weakest link. We had Marvin just like AoD has Corey Bull.
Jack: Pretty sure AoD is flush with weakest links.
Dirk: (Chuckling a bit louder now) Too true! None of those fucking AoD clowns could even lace Terry’s boots, let alone the rest of ours. Sadly for them….I truly believe Corey pictures himself a Leader. Which isn’t hard when you lead a guy like Gray Malone; he’s the suckiest one of that team.
Jack: Hey slick, did we run into Corey at one of those two-bit federations during our Avarice days? Sucker threw out some details during his last promo; seems to know our history better than his own families.
Dirk: Honestly couldn’t tell you; maybe he was one of the nameless dipshits that we trampled. Or maybe he was some punk ass watching us on TV - baby Bull, face all up in the boob tube trying to get a glimpse of Avarice through his little mask.
Jack: You sure we never crossed paths with him? Sounds like at least you did, he claims that you two used to party together.
Dirk: What?
Jack: Oh yea, during your supposed years on the road together. So come clean Dirk, did you two paint the town red? Or I guess with Corey Bull (he puts on a patronizingly deep voice) paint the town crimson and black like your souls?
Dirk: Fuck you Jack, you know I wouldn’t even give that punk the time of day. I pick better folks to party with then some deranged prick that had sexual relations with his mother.
Jack: Hey I ain’t gonna judge who you partied with - just Dirk next time let me know when you need company. There is a place just outside city limits where you can pay for a better ‘friend’ than Corey Bull - and they live on a ranch, it is right up your alley.
Dirk: Fucccck you Jacky Boy. What really pisses me off is he claims he holds victories over me in the past.
Jack: Really? I bet I would remember that - and never let you forget it.
Dirk: (Shrugs) Funny thing is I would remember someone who bested me….yet I can’t really place him. Guess he really wasn’t that influential in any part of my past. It is kind of ironic actually….
Jack: Well don’t leave me in suspense, what makes the cowboy pull out a word like ironic.
Dirk: He claims I hang my hat on recent victory over him - within about the last month - yet he comes out trudging up shit that happened years ago in some fed that nobody remembers. Must be the delusional side of the family kicking in again. Doesn’t matter either way though. Fact is, in TODAY’s world, he couldn’t even hold my Jock.
Quickly Jack takes a step away from reminiscing about their former stable and opens a phone. Dirk doesn’t seem to notice.
Jack: True, AoD could never stack up against the run Avarice strung together. And Corey, their self-imposed leader, that cat talks about being a one of a kind. But with every turn he tries pairing up with someone - AoD, allegedly partying it up with you….speaking of let’s check if you are bluffing.
Patting his side Dirk looks up at Jack with a pissed off scowl on his face. Jack reacts with a sly smile.
Dirk: Did you lift my fucking phone?
Jack: Sure did - all good though, your story checks out. No contacts under Corey, Bull, or Angel of Hate, HateBringer, The Monster,
Dirk: You done?
Jack: I wish...nothing under Hard Kore, or The Pittbull….there I think I’m done now. Oh wait, there is something here. Seems this chump is following you on Twitter. He really can’t stand on his own can he? Did you hear him say earlier this week that we live through that jazz?
Dirk: Didn’t you just download it?
Jack: That’s correct - I always lived by the mantra ‘What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas’ Not ‘Stays all over the Internet’. Only reason I even jumped on was a contractual obligation to NGW. But while we are here, it seems AoD’s fearless leader follows you.
Bentley tosses the Avarice picture into the box and now both men look at the phone, scrolling through Corey Bull’s Twitter rants. Diamond shakes his head and sighs
Jack: That joker tells us we live for social media, and here he is with over two-thousand tweets. Do the math Dirk, that is nearly two-hundred-and-eighty-thousand characters from a dupe with zero personality.
Continues scrolling Jack reads aloud
Jack: “Dear Haters, I have so much more for you to be mad at. Be Patient”. Nice enough to cite his source, some place called sharepicshub. Couldn’t even string together a joke himself - he calls for individuality and then deals in memes.
Angling the screen toward Dirk
Jack: That is a meme right, I honestly have no idea. Despite his claims I’m not too high on the online jazz.
Dirk: (Chuckles now are at full on cackling). Stick around Jacky Boy and you will see that Corey Bull...or BULLY as I like to call him, is a walking contradiction. He will talk shit about something and run someone down and then do the same exact thing. I gave up watching his promos. Once you seen one Bully promo, you seen them all.
Jack: Well hopefully after this week I’ll be lucky enough to never deal with such a loser again.
Dirk: All his promos are about killing someone, or maiming them if he’s having a quiet week. I’m doing pretty good for someone that was literally suppose to Die during my match with him. Just ask him how I won? Go ahead, I want to watch his blood pressure rise.
Jack: Based on all these tweets about chips and pizza, I don’t think you need me to do that for him.
Dirk: This asshat makes it too easy to find reasons to make fun of him. I believe if you look hard enough you’ll find he bought a tombstone and engraved it for me. Some tired symbol to signify the end of my career and life. Spoiler alert...it didn’t end that way. I went on to face the NGW and he fell further into obscurity.
Handing the phone back to Dirk, Jack just rolls his eyes.
Jack: Hard pass, already wasted enough time on this thing. Enough Corey Bull, let’s get back to real work - packing. You take the credenza and I’ll deal with the desk drawers.
Bentley starts pushing the pictures and knick-knacks on top of the credenza into a cardboard box at the end - dragging his open hand across like a mischievous child at a grocery store knocking everything in an aisle over. His hand passes over one, a facedown framed picture. Noticing his oversight Dirk’s hand hovers back over and picks it up. Dust obscures the audience view - barely visible is Jack Diamond and what appears to be a woman next to him. Both are smiling ear to ear in the picture; which Dirk now does as well.
Dirk: Well well, what...or who do we have here.
Jack: That’s nothing, just throw it in the box Dirk.
Dirk: Now now, I want to make sure this is who I think it is…
A sharp inhale and then Dirk spits on the picture as makeshift solvent, which he uses in tandem with the edge of his sleeve to wipe off the dust.
Dirk: Well I’ll be, it is her!
Diamond has already moved across the room and snatches the photo from Dirk; his grasp blocks the woman’s face. He chucks it in the box.
Dirk: What the hell is that still doing here Jacky Boy?
Jack: Nothing, thought I discarded it years ago.
Dirk: Bullshit. You were saving it for your spank bank weren’t ya, you old dog you?
Jack: I’m not bluffing, didn’t even know I still had it.
Dirk: Calling double bullshit. I know your timeline Jack and that is from way before you got involved in all of this. So either you still got a soft spot or a hard on for her.
Jack: Drop it Bentley
Dirk: Which is it Jacky Boy? Maybe it is both, maybe your hard on has a soft spot - they got pills for that Jack.
Jack: Dirk
Dirk: Insurance usually covers it - even Obamacare!
In a rare lapse of composure Jack snatches the photo back from the box and heave it across the room - the glass from the frame shattering upon impact with the wall. He stares, seemingly disconnected momentarily from the world around him, at the scuff it put in the wall.
Jack (Mumbling): Judas
Dirk: Whoaaa, harsh thing to throw out there. I didn’t cause any of your problems Jacky Boy, and I certainly didn't betray you.
Breaking from his trance, Jack turns to Dirk. His tone still seems a bit flatter than before
Jack: What? No, no not you. I mean Dean Judas slick. What’s his deal, his match - and vignettes - against some tomato can at the pay per view didn’t provide many tells. Well except that he has a bone to pick with you.
Dirk: Dean Judas is a cocky little prick that got lucky against me a few weeks ago and managed to get the biggest win of his fucking career. Then like a true noob the very next week immediately went and lost to some jobber. Dean is someone that likes to play mind games - he likes to make you THINK he is better than some roster filler nobody. But realistically if he’s on Corey Bull’s sack and fucking flirting about joining AoD? What type of badass would consider running in that circle? He reminds me of Axle Vengeance from back in the day, remember him? He’s a poor man’s version of that twat.
Jack: Right a little bird told me Axle helped train this sucker. Only move Axle could teach anyone though is how to deliver a mean needle to the forearm. Whether Dean is half the wrestler or two wrestler as Axle Vengeance won’t make a difference - he will wish he was back on his meds before that bell rings twice.
Dirk: Honestly we will be lucky if Dean even shows his face for this match - probably will find a way to conveniently end up in a padded cell for a week. After all, he has to rely on Corey Bull to pull his weight - if he thinks that will happen he really is insane. Enough about all that though, can we wrap up this packing bullshit - I got six Buds at home and that party can’t start without me.
Jack: Almost done slick, just help me grab the last stuff off the walls.
Both men head behind the desk. A shadow box hangs between the two bookcases, proudly displayed above everyone in the room. They dislodge it from the wall and bring it down, placing it on the desk. Getting a better view ourselves, the audience sees three titles - a Heavyweight belt goes horizontally across. Vertically though goes two other golden belts; both tag team titles. They each read ‘The Drifters’. After bantering and cracking jokes all day the two men take a moment of quiet reflection.
Jack: Now that I’m back in the fold, I have to ask - you think about throwing our hat in the two team race for tag team champion?
Dirk: Honestly Jack, no. Not just because NGW lacks anything discerning a tag team division. But I just came half a second away from winning the Heavyweight Title. I’m not ready to take my eyes off that prize.
Jack: I second you on that. No doubt the Drifters would be the odds on favorite for tag champion right out the gate. When I came back though I didn’t do it for some fun little side pot. Ten years ago that seemed like enough, but the stakes should be higher this time around. Maybe once we both get a good run as the top card in this deck we can take a crack at it. But for now I think the best bet is we focus on the big prize.
Dirk: Right, that being said you know I’ll always have your back.
Jack: Of course, and same deal for you.
Dirk lifts the shadowbox and moves it toward the door. Underneath is the portfolio with the minutes from the earlier meeting. Jack stares at the portfolio; noticing the distraction Dirk shows a brief look of concern.
Dirk: Look Jacky Boy, I am gonna take this to the truck along with the last of the boxes. Then let’s go party like Corey wishes he could.
Bentley cracks a smile
Dirk: I heard there is a titty bar called the Heart Club nearby that’s pretty legit
Jack smirks at the joke and looks up
Jack: Sounds like a plan man, I’m just gonna wrap up here and send the cameraman on his way.
With that Bentley leaves and closes the door with his boot behind him. After a second Jack opens the portfolio; our camera catching him reading over it again. His finger lands on a single sentence, possibly for his own emphasis or to direct the camera’s view.
Looking up Jack stares at the audience, the glow of the bookshelves behind him providing a fairly ominous aura.
Jack: Now, I bet most of you dupes got lost in that document as soon as the two-syllable words popped up. Corey Bull, odds are you didn’t even make it that far; unable to distinguish English from Runes, Hieroglyphics, spray painted phalluses, or whatever your family heritage is written in these days. Dean Judas, sucker I give credit where credit is due - you proved yourself literate by pulling out a dictionary in a promo for ‘City of Sin’. Also proved uncharismatic, but reading at least means during one of your benders you managed to get hooked on Phonics.
Whether or not you sounded out the words, chances are you don’t understand what you read. I cannot tell if even Dirk knows. You interpret what went down as a loss for me. No dice. Cashing out of the Diamond Club was not a loss - consider it an ante for the game I am now dealing in. Discarding distractions like the Diamond Club, the Drifters, it is a small price to play for a pot as sweet as a heavyweight championship. After all a house divided cannot stand pat…
So now I’m all in.
He pushes a button on the bottom lip of the desk and the room goes black.
Opening our scene all we see is black and white. No, not a thinly veiled metaphor for good versus evil. Or hero versus ‘the man’. Or Man versus God, versus machine, versus God-Machine, or whatever Corey Bull ranted about last. Instead our scene is literally black and white - a piece of legal paper imprinted with Times New Roman.
Public dissemination of the following minutes must occur no later than fifteen (15) days after adjournment of this meeting in order to be in compliance with:
- NASDAQ By-Laws IM-52050-I
- Code of Federal Regulations 5.1206.7-13.
Regarding: Diamond Club; part of Zenith Entertainment; a subsidiary of the Venture Holdings Inc.
Subject: Corporate Reorganization and Asset Re-Capture
Stakeholder Attendees:
- Bates, Michelle
- Chekov, Gunther (Representing Venture Holdings, Inc.)
- Diamond, Jack
- Maijong, Lin
- Punansky, Illya (COO Diamond Club)
- Redher, Ringo (Representing Zenith Entertainment)
Synopsis: Motion for emergency meeting filed by multiple board members (Chekov, Gunther; Punansky, Illya; Redher, Ringo), hereby known as the Motioning Party, which represents forty-seven percent (47%) of interest in the Diamond Club. The Motioning Party seeks to end the affiliation between a member of the board (Diamond, Jack), hereby known as The Member, due to an alleged conflict of interest stemming from the Member’s professional relationship with New Generation Wrestling (NGW). Conflicts include:
- Relationship between business domain
- NGW (Professional Sports Product)
- Diamond Club (Provides games of chance involving professional sport outcomes)
- The ethos of NGW, as evident in its hiring practice and products, are in direct conflict with the ethos of Venture Holdings Inc. and all of its subsidiaries. NGW partakes in:*
- Employment of Mentally Unstable Individuals And/Or Convicted Criminals
- Excessive and Unsanctioned Violence
- Misogynistic Language And/Or Actions
- Homophobic Language And/Or Actions
- Racially Insensitive Language And/Or Actions
*Specific Instances highlighted in supplemental report along with meeting transcript
A rustling noise can be heard as the events described in type move left and disappear, leaving us examining another page of exposition.
Member participation with both parties creates an undesirable transitive affiliation for all subsidiaries of Venture Holdings Inc. Specifically the Diamond Club: an exclusive membership-only gambling venue that caters toward clientele with good community standing. Continuing a relationship with the Member causes irrecoverable damage to the Diamond Club and its business interests.
The Motioning Party prepared a severance package of [details redacted] and agreement to purchase the Member's five-and-one-tenth percent (5.1%) stock in Zenith Entertainment at current (5-July-16) market value to terminate affiliation between the Member and the Diamond Club (and all other Venture Holdings Inc. assets); in exchange the former will not pursue legal action against the latter. Meeting resulted in the Member accepting these terms with a contingency that the Member receive one-and-a-half (x1.5) market value for stocks re-captured. The Motioning Party agreed to these terms and the meeting was adjourned.
After a moment the camera zooms out, a rich red wood border growing around the legal paper. Tilting up we see Jack Diamond, hunched over the document. His fingers grasp the edge of a large semi-circle cocobolo desk - it resembles the marriage of an executive workspace and poker table with Diamond in the dealer’s spot. All eyes are on Jack, who continues to stare at the file without actually reading it.
Dirk: I still can’t believe your ass got canned from your own casino.
Following the sound of the cowboy’s cackle our camera gets a glimpse of the rest of the office. Matching wooden bookcases behind the desk flank it on either side, offering a warm glow from inlaid lighting - lighting unencumbered as the shelves are almost all now completely bare. Dirk Bentley has propped a cowboy boot on one of the shelves, boosting himself up so he can grab the what remains toward the top.
Jack: Diamond Club was not named after me slick. The board spun the name together as a play on words - two different suits in a deck.
Dirk: Ahhhhhh I see it now. Yea I guess Heart Club would have sounded like a tittie bar. And Spade Club….yea
Jack: Yea….we obviously couldn’t roll with that one.
Dirk: Still hilarious to me though that you got the axe. What isn’t funny to me is why you asked me to help pack up all this shit
Pivoting from his perch, Dirk throws a few hardcover books from the top shelf into a cardboard box resting on a black leather couch against the wall.
Dirk: I could go around the corner and find three guys in front of Home Depot to do this work for the change between those couch cushions.
Jack: (sarcastically) Yes but they wouldn’t do a top-notch job like you.
Bentley ignores the comment, hopping down from the bookcase and walks over to Jack with a framed picture. He smirks and shows his find to Jack as the camera peeks in over their shoulders. In the photo we see Jack and Dirk, along with an incredibly attractive hispanic woman and a generic looking white guy with tousled hair. All four reside in a ring, raising their arms in victory.
Dirk: Wow you kept a photo of Avarice. This brings back memories. The fun we all had kicking ass and taking names in this group.
Jack: You got that right slick - we tore up every carpet joint from Connecticut to California back in those days. Even with that dupe Terry Marvin riding our coattails; man that guy was a characters. (Clearing his throat) I mean character.
Dirk: (Chuckling) You know Jack, every group has to have a weakest link. We had Marvin just like AoD has Corey Bull.
Jack: Pretty sure AoD is flush with weakest links.
Dirk: (Chuckling a bit louder now) Too true! None of those fucking AoD clowns could even lace Terry’s boots, let alone the rest of ours. Sadly for them….I truly believe Corey pictures himself a Leader. Which isn’t hard when you lead a guy like Gray Malone; he’s the suckiest one of that team.
Jack: Hey slick, did we run into Corey at one of those two-bit federations during our Avarice days? Sucker threw out some details during his last promo; seems to know our history better than his own families.
Dirk: Honestly couldn’t tell you; maybe he was one of the nameless dipshits that we trampled. Or maybe he was some punk ass watching us on TV - baby Bull, face all up in the boob tube trying to get a glimpse of Avarice through his little mask.
Jack: You sure we never crossed paths with him? Sounds like at least you did, he claims that you two used to party together.
Dirk: What?
Jack: Oh yea, during your supposed years on the road together. So come clean Dirk, did you two paint the town red? Or I guess with Corey Bull (he puts on a patronizingly deep voice) paint the town crimson and black like your souls?
Dirk: Fuck you Jack, you know I wouldn’t even give that punk the time of day. I pick better folks to party with then some deranged prick that had sexual relations with his mother.
Jack: Hey I ain’t gonna judge who you partied with - just Dirk next time let me know when you need company. There is a place just outside city limits where you can pay for a better ‘friend’ than Corey Bull - and they live on a ranch, it is right up your alley.
Dirk: Fucccck you Jacky Boy. What really pisses me off is he claims he holds victories over me in the past.
Jack: Really? I bet I would remember that - and never let you forget it.
Dirk: (Shrugs) Funny thing is I would remember someone who bested me….yet I can’t really place him. Guess he really wasn’t that influential in any part of my past. It is kind of ironic actually….
Jack: Well don’t leave me in suspense, what makes the cowboy pull out a word like ironic.
Dirk: He claims I hang my hat on recent victory over him - within about the last month - yet he comes out trudging up shit that happened years ago in some fed that nobody remembers. Must be the delusional side of the family kicking in again. Doesn’t matter either way though. Fact is, in TODAY’s world, he couldn’t even hold my Jock.
Quickly Jack takes a step away from reminiscing about their former stable and opens a phone. Dirk doesn’t seem to notice.
Jack: True, AoD could never stack up against the run Avarice strung together. And Corey, their self-imposed leader, that cat talks about being a one of a kind. But with every turn he tries pairing up with someone - AoD, allegedly partying it up with you….speaking of let’s check if you are bluffing.
Patting his side Dirk looks up at Jack with a pissed off scowl on his face. Jack reacts with a sly smile.
Dirk: Did you lift my fucking phone?
Jack: Sure did - all good though, your story checks out. No contacts under Corey, Bull, or Angel of Hate, HateBringer, The Monster,
Dirk: You done?
Jack: I wish...nothing under Hard Kore, or The Pittbull….there I think I’m done now. Oh wait, there is something here. Seems this chump is following you on Twitter. He really can’t stand on his own can he? Did you hear him say earlier this week that we live through that jazz?
Dirk: Didn’t you just download it?
Jack: That’s correct - I always lived by the mantra ‘What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas’ Not ‘Stays all over the Internet’. Only reason I even jumped on was a contractual obligation to NGW. But while we are here, it seems AoD’s fearless leader follows you.
Bentley tosses the Avarice picture into the box and now both men look at the phone, scrolling through Corey Bull’s Twitter rants. Diamond shakes his head and sighs
Jack: That joker tells us we live for social media, and here he is with over two-thousand tweets. Do the math Dirk, that is nearly two-hundred-and-eighty-thousand characters from a dupe with zero personality.
Continues scrolling Jack reads aloud
Jack: “Dear Haters, I have so much more for you to be mad at. Be Patient”. Nice enough to cite his source, some place called sharepicshub. Couldn’t even string together a joke himself - he calls for individuality and then deals in memes.
Angling the screen toward Dirk
Jack: That is a meme right, I honestly have no idea. Despite his claims I’m not too high on the online jazz.
Dirk: (Chuckles now are at full on cackling). Stick around Jacky Boy and you will see that Corey Bull...or BULLY as I like to call him, is a walking contradiction. He will talk shit about something and run someone down and then do the same exact thing. I gave up watching his promos. Once you seen one Bully promo, you seen them all.
Jack: Well hopefully after this week I’ll be lucky enough to never deal with such a loser again.
Dirk: All his promos are about killing someone, or maiming them if he’s having a quiet week. I’m doing pretty good for someone that was literally suppose to Die during my match with him. Just ask him how I won? Go ahead, I want to watch his blood pressure rise.
Jack: Based on all these tweets about chips and pizza, I don’t think you need me to do that for him.
Dirk: This asshat makes it too easy to find reasons to make fun of him. I believe if you look hard enough you’ll find he bought a tombstone and engraved it for me. Some tired symbol to signify the end of my career and life. Spoiler alert...it didn’t end that way. I went on to face the NGW and he fell further into obscurity.
Handing the phone back to Dirk, Jack just rolls his eyes.
Jack: Hard pass, already wasted enough time on this thing. Enough Corey Bull, let’s get back to real work - packing. You take the credenza and I’ll deal with the desk drawers.
Bentley starts pushing the pictures and knick-knacks on top of the credenza into a cardboard box at the end - dragging his open hand across like a mischievous child at a grocery store knocking everything in an aisle over. His hand passes over one, a facedown framed picture. Noticing his oversight Dirk’s hand hovers back over and picks it up. Dust obscures the audience view - barely visible is Jack Diamond and what appears to be a woman next to him. Both are smiling ear to ear in the picture; which Dirk now does as well.
Dirk: Well well, what...or who do we have here.
Jack: That’s nothing, just throw it in the box Dirk.
Dirk: Now now, I want to make sure this is who I think it is…
A sharp inhale and then Dirk spits on the picture as makeshift solvent, which he uses in tandem with the edge of his sleeve to wipe off the dust.
Dirk: Well I’ll be, it is her!
Diamond has already moved across the room and snatches the photo from Dirk; his grasp blocks the woman’s face. He chucks it in the box.
Dirk: What the hell is that still doing here Jacky Boy?
Jack: Nothing, thought I discarded it years ago.
Dirk: Bullshit. You were saving it for your spank bank weren’t ya, you old dog you?
Jack: I’m not bluffing, didn’t even know I still had it.
Dirk: Calling double bullshit. I know your timeline Jack and that is from way before you got involved in all of this. So either you still got a soft spot or a hard on for her.
Jack: Drop it Bentley
Dirk: Which is it Jacky Boy? Maybe it is both, maybe your hard on has a soft spot - they got pills for that Jack.
Jack: Dirk
Dirk: Insurance usually covers it - even Obamacare!
In a rare lapse of composure Jack snatches the photo back from the box and heave it across the room - the glass from the frame shattering upon impact with the wall. He stares, seemingly disconnected momentarily from the world around him, at the scuff it put in the wall.
Jack (Mumbling): Judas
Dirk: Whoaaa, harsh thing to throw out there. I didn’t cause any of your problems Jacky Boy, and I certainly didn't betray you.
Breaking from his trance, Jack turns to Dirk. His tone still seems a bit flatter than before
Jack: What? No, no not you. I mean Dean Judas slick. What’s his deal, his match - and vignettes - against some tomato can at the pay per view didn’t provide many tells. Well except that he has a bone to pick with you.
Dirk: Dean Judas is a cocky little prick that got lucky against me a few weeks ago and managed to get the biggest win of his fucking career. Then like a true noob the very next week immediately went and lost to some jobber. Dean is someone that likes to play mind games - he likes to make you THINK he is better than some roster filler nobody. But realistically if he’s on Corey Bull’s sack and fucking flirting about joining AoD? What type of badass would consider running in that circle? He reminds me of Axle Vengeance from back in the day, remember him? He’s a poor man’s version of that twat.
Jack: Right a little bird told me Axle helped train this sucker. Only move Axle could teach anyone though is how to deliver a mean needle to the forearm. Whether Dean is half the wrestler or two wrestler as Axle Vengeance won’t make a difference - he will wish he was back on his meds before that bell rings twice.
Dirk: Honestly we will be lucky if Dean even shows his face for this match - probably will find a way to conveniently end up in a padded cell for a week. After all, he has to rely on Corey Bull to pull his weight - if he thinks that will happen he really is insane. Enough about all that though, can we wrap up this packing bullshit - I got six Buds at home and that party can’t start without me.
Jack: Almost done slick, just help me grab the last stuff off the walls.
Both men head behind the desk. A shadow box hangs between the two bookcases, proudly displayed above everyone in the room. They dislodge it from the wall and bring it down, placing it on the desk. Getting a better view ourselves, the audience sees three titles - a Heavyweight belt goes horizontally across. Vertically though goes two other golden belts; both tag team titles. They each read ‘The Drifters’. After bantering and cracking jokes all day the two men take a moment of quiet reflection.
Jack: Now that I’m back in the fold, I have to ask - you think about throwing our hat in the two team race for tag team champion?
Dirk: Honestly Jack, no. Not just because NGW lacks anything discerning a tag team division. But I just came half a second away from winning the Heavyweight Title. I’m not ready to take my eyes off that prize.
Jack: I second you on that. No doubt the Drifters would be the odds on favorite for tag champion right out the gate. When I came back though I didn’t do it for some fun little side pot. Ten years ago that seemed like enough, but the stakes should be higher this time around. Maybe once we both get a good run as the top card in this deck we can take a crack at it. But for now I think the best bet is we focus on the big prize.
Dirk: Right, that being said you know I’ll always have your back.
Jack: Of course, and same deal for you.
Dirk lifts the shadowbox and moves it toward the door. Underneath is the portfolio with the minutes from the earlier meeting. Jack stares at the portfolio; noticing the distraction Dirk shows a brief look of concern.
Dirk: Look Jacky Boy, I am gonna take this to the truck along with the last of the boxes. Then let’s go party like Corey wishes he could.
Bentley cracks a smile
Dirk: I heard there is a titty bar called the Heart Club nearby that’s pretty legit
Jack smirks at the joke and looks up
Jack: Sounds like a plan man, I’m just gonna wrap up here and send the cameraman on his way.
With that Bentley leaves and closes the door with his boot behind him. After a second Jack opens the portfolio; our camera catching him reading over it again. His finger lands on a single sentence, possibly for his own emphasis or to direct the camera’s view.
“The Motioning Party seeks to end the affiliation between a member of the board (Diamond, Jack), hereby known as The Member, due to an alleged conflict of interest stemming from the Member’s professional relationship with New Generation Wrestling (NGW).”
Jack: Now, I bet most of you dupes got lost in that document as soon as the two-syllable words popped up. Corey Bull, odds are you didn’t even make it that far; unable to distinguish English from Runes, Hieroglyphics, spray painted phalluses, or whatever your family heritage is written in these days. Dean Judas, sucker I give credit where credit is due - you proved yourself literate by pulling out a dictionary in a promo for ‘City of Sin’. Also proved uncharismatic, but reading at least means during one of your benders you managed to get hooked on Phonics.
Whether or not you sounded out the words, chances are you don’t understand what you read. I cannot tell if even Dirk knows. You interpret what went down as a loss for me. No dice. Cashing out of the Diamond Club was not a loss - consider it an ante for the game I am now dealing in. Discarding distractions like the Diamond Club, the Drifters, it is a small price to play for a pot as sweet as a heavyweight championship. After all a house divided cannot stand pat…
So now I’m all in.
He pushes a button on the bottom lip of the desk and the room goes black.