“Is this thing running?”
The scene is slow to rise, possibly at half the speed of a regular scene coming to light. As it is, Gavin Taylor, “The All Star” and to those who listen and believe him, one of the best talents in the wrestling world, sits in front of his logo draped down on a tarp behind him. Licking his thumb, he uses his reflection in the flip camera to flatten his eyebrows which were temporarily a slight bit out of alignment as he perfects his look. Finally, he sits back, satisfied with his work. A voice can be heard clearing her throat opposite the camera.
“Are you ready yet?” a young woman asks. Gavin shoots his head over, almost surprised to have another presence. In actuality, he’s just surprised that the woman would have the audacity to interject on his preparation ritual.
This was the first time that Gavin Taylor would be sitting in front of camera since Rise to Greatness weekend – the first opportunity for any wrestling media to get his thoughts on the event that Gavin had redubbed for himself “Rise to Gavin”. As Gavin sits back, he pulls at the bottom of his Rise to Gavin baseball jersey, ensuring it didn’t look unkempt or wrinkled on camera. The jersey was a special order – only a limited number sold prior to RTG, with many more being sold following the event. Gavin adjusts his collar, making sure the microphone clipped was in good order before dusting his shoulders off.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Gavin nods in acknowledgement before adding… “This is the scoop of your life. Your career, Ms. Sierra, is going to change forever.”
“Well…” the young woman, Sadie Sierra, doesn’t sound entirely convinced of that. But, since her website was able to crowdsource the funds to pay for this interview, she wasn’t taking the opportunity lightly. “So to begin, Mr. Taylor, what happened at Rise to Greatness?”
“Going right to the heart of the matter, I see…” Gavin responds without really responding. He knew the topic of Rise to Greatness would come up, but was expecting more pleasantries beforehand. Oh well… when in Rome…
“It’s what our viewers want to know about,” Sadie reacts with an apologetic shrug, one that Gavin waves off immediately.
“No, no,” he says, dismissing her apology. “I floated the idea of getting payment for this interview. I should have expected this question right off the bat.”
“And yet you’re not answering,” she points out correctly.
“Ah,” Gavin laughs. “All to build suspense. In my field, you don’t blow your load right off the bat.”
“Is your field porn?” She raises an eyebrow and immediately causes Gavin to reconsider his word choices.
“…Fair,” he concedes. “BUT YOU GET THE POINT. Look, Rise to Gavin…”
“Rise to Greatness,” Sadie corrects Gavin, who refuses to sell it…
“Rise to GAVIN,” he corrects her back. “What can I really say about that night? No, I did not walk away from the four-way elimination match as the Interim United States Champion. I didn’t. It happens. But you know what I did? I went out to the ring against three former World Champions in SCW… sure, Glory may have only had the title for like ten… fifteen minutes tops… but that doesn’t diminish the accomplishment. I went out there against three former World Champions and I stole the show, okay? You watch back that match and tell me that anything different happened. You can’t do it. When I entered out there, the crowd was solidly… SOLIDLY against me. There were boos. I’m pretty sure there were obscenities that SCW had to bleep out. There was even one yahoo who tried to jump the barricade but was too fat to get over it.”
Gavin puts a hand up, stopping his story in it’s tracks. “Not the point. When I entered the ring, the crowd was against me. But did you hear the reaction when I dropped Glory Braddock with the Highlight of the Night? There wasn’t a jeer to be heard… by that point, through sheer power of will and talent, I had the crowd eating out of the palm of my hands! No, I may not have won the match, but what I did was steal the show! There may have been passing celebrations for Christy Matthews winning the interim Championship, but I promise you that I was what was on the minds and the mouths of everyone leaving that arena when they thought back to that match.”
“Mouths?” Sadie asks, half under her breath.
“You have a dirty mind, but we’re not here for that,” Gavin tries to set her down gently. Sadie throws up in her mouth just enough to be noticeable but not obstructive to the moment. “It’s no coincidence that sales of these Rise to Gavin jerseys spiked following the show. Those who saw what I brought forward at the pay per view, whether in person or through the magic of their televisions, understood maybe for the first time that I am someone special. I’m not a run of the mill “talent” that will pass by night and be forgotten. As a talent, I am generational. I’m not the type of wrestler you can turn on any wrestling program and see. I’m an attraction. I’m an SCW-exclusive. I don’t go to other companies looking to pad my resume, because I’m already a top-tier talent in the top company in the world. That’s just what it boils down to. So if you want to know what happened at Rise to Gavin? People started to understand just how important of a talent Gavin Taylor is.”
“You’ve had a lot of things going on in your life around Rise to Greatness time,” Sadie begins leading into her next question. “Perhaps one of the most… off-beat… is the legal woes around former media mogul Michel Corbeau and his imprisonment.”
Gavin laughs.
“What a fucking knob,” he exclaims. “You know… I apparently knew Michel Corbeau for a while, but to actually catch him attempting to blackmail me… ME!… and for that to be the thread that unravels his entire criminal enterprise? It’s actually kind of cathartic.”
“So what happened with you and him?” Sadie asks.
“I helped get that jackass who wanted to steal my trademark, my life, my family, everything…” Gavin leans forward, relishing in this part of the conversation. “And I made sure… I did my part within the United States justice system… to ensure that he sees time for what he did. Most of all, I’m glad that I no longer have to look over my shoulder for his annoying wail… I no longer have to worry about when he’s going to creep in and cause this little burrowing headache to come about in my head. AND! And, thanks to my gorgeous and brilliant wife, Maddie, I managed to get onto the Network creditor list so, when the assets get liquidated, I’ll actually get paid for the headaches I had to endure instead of having it put back against a previous agreement. I don’t even know how they finagled things to get free labor out of me to begin with, but that’s not for me to worry about anymore. I’m looking forward to moving on from that saga.”
“What about the people you began associating with in that time?” Sadie asks, her head tilting.
“Well, it is a new season for the All-Star,” Gavin nods his head. “Of course, you’ll still be hearing from Ava St. Claire, my agent, and my A.S.S. … er… All=Star Security – we don’t want you getting too turned on again – Jack and Karl Barker are still going to be watching my back. Sofi de Fabiani… she didn’t really want to be involved in this world to begin with. She’s going to be a huge TV star somewhere, but that’s her dream. Avery Anders, the woman who they tried to tack onto me as a new “All-Star”, she’s going back to compete in UCLA, just as I did, and complete her studies. I wish them both the best in their future endeavors.”
“I’d ask what’s next for you then,” Sadie begins to lead into the next question, looking at the tablet resting on her lap. “But it seems that your “what’s next” has already been let out of the bag.”
Sadie lifts up the tablet and turns it towards Gavin, pressing play…
The crowd erupts in cheers. Ricky rolls over and looks down at him. He then fumes as he poses over him. The crowd cheers for him as the crowd starts to make more noise before we see Gavin Taylor sliding into the ring. Ricky turns and Gavin runs at him and nails him with the Gavin Taylor Lariat. Ricky hits the mat and rolls over, holding his head and neck. Gavin then turns back to him.
Gavin: “No! You’re not off the hook for everything you did! Not off the hook at all!”
Gavin then stomps him in the head once and then again as the crowd boos a bit. Gavin then turns back and turns to Rudy.
Gavin: “And screw you too you fat toad!”
Sharper: “You hear that?’
Lyman: “Clearly he’s not fully sold by Ricky’s change of heart. Or his own personal reality check!”
Sharper: “Or more wants some more accountability. Ricky targeted Gavin as one of the first target of him and the Silent Majority’s slander last year!”
Lyman: “Clearly he’s not fully sold by Ricky’s change of heart. Or his own personal reality check!”
Sharper: “Or more wants some more accountability.
http://www.supremecw.com/results/breakdown/breakdownaug262021.htm
Gavin laughs. Sadie lowers the tablet. “What was that about?”
“You know,” Gavin begins. “We had this conversation earlier about not giving everything away right off the top, so I’m going to let that one sit and percolate for another couple of days. At Breakdown, maybe I’ll give you a bit of insight towards what I did there, but until then, I just want to say one thing: Not a lot of people give Adam Sharper credit as someone who knows what the fuck is going on, but maybe they should.”
“Speaking of Breakdown,” Sadie begins. Gavin puts up a hand to stop her question dead in it’s tracks.
“I know what you’re going to ask,” he responds. “You’re going to point out Kimberly Williams’ shots towards me, her gif threats, her general insanity. You know, the usual. And it’s kind of evident that someone within SCW thinks I’m going to be fresh meat for her. And maybe that was the intention, but if it was, it was intended by someone who doesn’t know Gavin Taylor. They think I can’t withstand psychopaths? Think about Rage Blackwolf, a seven-foot tall piece of crap who wanted me dead so badly he actually broke through a wall just to get his hands on me. I beat his ass, and now he’s a nobody. Remember Xander Valentine? Injuring opponents left and right. Not only did I survive him, I left him being CARTED out of the arena while I walked. Okay? So everyone who wants to look at Kimberly Williams’ instability as a threat to my well-being need to look back and realize that again – Gavin Taylor is not this run of the mill wrestler. I can weather Williams’ violence. I can do more than weather it, I can overcome it! Do you know why I can overcome it? Because as a wrestler, when you get down to the mechanics, I am better than Kimberly Williams. I am a better technical wrestler. I am a more charismatic wrestler. She may be good. She’s good enough to get by in any wrestling company in the world. But this isn’t any company. This is SCW. And SCW is Gavin Taylor country. And maybe that’s the biggest takeaway from everything… from Rise to Gavin, to Breakdown last week, to this week…”
Gavin grins, sitting forward just a bit as he ruminates.
“Maybe not becoming the interim United States Champion is actually a good thing for me. Because when I win that Championship… and God knows that I’m more than capable of it… I don’t want some silly interim tag thrown on. I’m going to win the Championship for real, without dispute. And beyond that, maybe the United States Championship is me aiming a little too low. Knowing who I am and what I’m capable of… don’t you think I can do so much more? Don’t you think for a second that maybe I’m World Championship material?”
He sits back, letting the question linger in the air. Sadie nods along with his points out of politeness.
“You see Sadie, I’ve fought for a long time to get to this point. I’m not about to squander everything I’ve built when I’m so close. So right here, right now, in the most American way I can think of… every year Supreme Championship Wrestling gifts a World Championship match to someone based on a fan vote to someone who’s never had the one on one shot. And I’m declaring now… I want that shot. I need that shot. And Goddammit, I deserve that shot!”
“That’s a bold proclamation,” Sadie remarks. Gavin nods.
“Fortune favors the bold,” Gavin says with a grin. “You put the energy out into the universe that you want to come back… well, I just put it out there. And I don’t care if I have to go through Kimberly Williams, Ricky James, or anybody to prove what I say is true. I’m an honest man… so when I say that I’m among the best, you know it’s the truth. End of the Year, give me the chance to prove it. That’s all I ask.”
“Well, this has been enlightening, Gavin,” Sadie says, closing out the interview. “Thank you for your time.”
Gavin nods his head, but is clearly too wrapped up in his mind thinking about everything he had gone through before, and everywhere he’s looking to go in the future, to really acknowledge her presence…
The TV screen turns off. A hand tosses the remote control onto the table. The voice of one woman can be heard, but no image is seen.
“You think he belongs with us?”
A second woman chuckles a bit.
“He certainly does have the right attitude. Perhaps we ought to pay him a visit.”
“The Society aren’t friendly with people who try to encroach on their people though… or so I’ve heard.”
“Dear Mariah…”
The scene pans around, showing GCW wrestlers Isabella Harker and Mariah Starr, the Global Elite, as the sit in side-by-side chairs, the remote set next to Harker, flanked by two glasses of wine.
“When you’re Global Elite, you don’t worry about how others feel about your growth. Domination is our right.”
“So when do we go?”
Harker and Starr pick up their wine glasses, clinking them together,
“When the time is right…”
They take drinks in stereo as the scene cuts…
"The All-Star" Gavin Taylor 