Post by CJ Phoenix on Feb 6, 2016 7:39:36 GMT -5
February 1st
Exiting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
One day removed from Fifteen. One day removed from January. I must say, aside from the headache I have right now, I feel great! Fifteen was amazing. I pissed off a lot of people. Henson's reeling. Some random group of people trying to step up to Beach Krew or whatever they call themselves. Kat girl's meowthing off got her axed. Then, she came back calling herself "Head of Cookie Relations". People showing up out of nowhere. This just gets better and better. Though it could be going even better, no plan's perfect. Hell, I didn't even see all of that coming. I can't even think out loud in this truck since Henson had that monitor installed in it. Guess he doesn't trust me. I wonder how long it'll take for him to pieces things back together.
Phoenix arrives at Harrah's Casino in Cherokee, NC. He checks in for a few nights before heading into his hotel room. An hour later, he exits the room with a black suit on and heads down to the casino area. He spends some time on a slot machine before heading up to a poker table to play Texas Hold Em. He was seven drinks in, though the last one wasn't alcoholic, before he sat at the table, and ordered another drink and $2,000 in chips as soon as he sat down. He played a few hands and seemed to be a bit drunk as he was conversing with the other players. He would attempt to tell stories that wouldn't make sense. They took advantage of this, bluffing him out of small pots. Then, one hand got intense. There were numerous bets and raises, including the remaining $1,100 that Phoenix had left in chips. After the river card was turned, it was just Phoenix and two other players. The pot was over five grand. The five cards showing on the table consisted of a pair of red tens, a pair of black aces, and a king of spades. Both players revealed their hands. One had an ace and a five. The other had an ace and a jack. Since only the best five cards mattered, they were tied.
Player 1: Looks like we're splitting the pot.
Player 2: Yeah. Unless Phoenix has something over there, but he's too drunk to play smart right now.
Player 1: And to think he calls himself a mastermind. He's about to be out two thousand bucks.
Phoenix: You guys wanna hear a story!?
Player 2: Oh boy. Sure. Why not.
Player 1: Let's see if this one makes sense this time.
Phoenix: There once was a kingdom that was known for two things: treasure and thieves. Of course, with there being so many thieves out for the treasure, the king needed a way to protect it. So what did he do? He had a stone dragon guard the entrance to the place where the treasure was. Of course, since it was a stone dragon, the thieves that were't scared off decided to keep taking the treasure. However, one day, the king replaced the stone dragon with a real dragon coated with stone and put all of the kingdom's treasures, including his own, inside of the treasure room. Instead of arresting the thieves, he took what they stole and placed it in the room as well. He announced that he win all-in with this stone dragon plan of his. Later that night, the thieves went to steal the treasure. They had agreed to split what they took 50/50, but then they heard a noise. It sounded like an angry dragon stomping towards them. Ten steps with the left foot. Ten steps with the right. The stone coated dragon was now in sight. With a black flame, it burned the thieves with all its might. And the treasure was safe ever since that great night.
Player 1: That was actually pretty good.
Player 2: Yeah. That was the first time you told a story that made sense all night. I'm guessing you sobered down.
Player 1: I think you told that story just to give yourself time to sober down 'cause you saw how much you've lost.
A smirk grows on Phoenix's face. He reveals his cards. They were the ten of spades and the ten of clubs. This gave him four of a kind, winning him the pot. The entire table, including the dealer, was in disbelief.
Phoenix: As you can see, there's quite a bit of comparative truth to my story. Sometimes, you have to lose a few battles in order to win wars. I've ordered five drinks since I sat here. In fact, you all saw me finish a drink and order another as soon as I sat down. The truth is, the last six drinks I've had have been non-alcoholic. I just sold the impression of being drunk to see if anyone would try to take advantage of it. Simply put, I'm the king. You two were the thieves. My fake drunken play was the stone dragon, and when the pot got big enough, I switched from pretending to be drunk to playing like a pro, which was the real dragon. Good game. Color me out dealer. Please and thank you.
Phoenix takes the money that he won and heads back to his hotel room a few hours after midnight. He checks his phone calendar and notices that he has an interview online in 12 hours, so he decides to call it a night and get some rest before the interview.
February 2nd
Cherokee, NC
Phoenix wakes up five hours before his scheduled interview. He decides to head down to the casino floor to get some food at the buffet. Afterwards, he spends some time on the slot machines. An hour before the internet meeting, he heads back to his room to watch TV. When the time comes, Phoenix sets up his laptop to get ready for his interview. He calls the interviewer to let her know he's ready, and she sets up the internet chat.
Maria Paris: Hello and welcome to the Paris Podcast. I'm Maria Paris, and today my guest is WCF superstar CJ Phoenix. Welcome, Phoenix.
Phoenix: Pleasure to be here, Maria.
Maria Paris: Coming out of Fifteen, you suffered a brutal post match attack by Dag Riddik. How do you feel about the assault?
Phoenix: It's a disappointment that he waited until after the match to sneak attack me. Although, I can't say I'm surprised.
Paris: Speaking of Dag, he's now a part of the ToT. He claims that they're out to destroy BeachKrew. How do you feel about this team, and do you think they can do it?
Phoenix: BeachKrew is, in my opinion, King Henson's royal guard. They're arrogant, but they're a unit. They're a well-oiled machine. They know what they're doing. I'll give them props for that. It's not to say that they can't be beat, but it's gonna take a cohesive unit to get the job done. As for the other guys, Price is champ, and that's great for him. He's gone through a lot, and he's honestly any group of people's best bet of matching up against BK. On the other end of the spectrum, there's Dag and Charon. Honestly, I think they have great potential. Problem is, one has his head up a girl's ass, and the other has his head up his own ass. They're trying to fight arrogance with arrogance, when they need to fight it with self-control. That's my constructive criticism. How they take it will more or less dictate their chances of taking down BK. I don't know who else is in their group, and that's fine with me. No compliments. No negative comments. I think they kicked out one of their own already anyway. Long story short, the Tater ToTs may have potential, but right now, overall, BK is better.
Paris: I see. So if there was a line between the ToT and BeachKrew, which side would you take?
Phoenix: I'd take the line. This is their war. I have a different agenda. Personally, I'd prefer to grab a chair and a milkshake so I can watch the fireworks.
Paris: That sounds like fun. I might do the same.
Phoenix: You should.
Paris: I will. You have a triple threat match against "Mister Average" Lee Roberts and "Your Life Coach" Corey Flemming. You've been in the ring with both of these guys. They both seem to believe that you're an evil, disrespectful motormouth. How does this effect you heading into that match?
Phoenix: I honestly think it's hilarious. They want to peg me as this bad guy just because not every thing I say is nice. In reality, that logic makes them just as bad as I am because they do the same thing. I like messing with my opponents. I say many things that piss people off. I tip more cows than I do waitresses. I park the prod truck in two handicap spots at once. I've thrown people out of windows. I beat up mall Santas in front of kids and tell them that Santa ain't real. Maybe all of that's true. Maybe some of it isn't. Does this grind your gears, Lee? Does this aggrivate you, Corey? Insert generic "Below Average" remark about how I don't deserve to be in the company and how I'm gonna get shut up and yadda yadda yadda. Then, follow it up with some generically questionable "Life Coaching" about how I'm gonna get punked out and how all I do is trash talk and I how I'm gonna get my ass kicked. I'm not saying I don't talk trash. I talk plenty of it. It's the closest I can get to speaking the universal language of Bullshit that's spoken by my opponents. They don't understand. I do this for the people. This may sound cocky, but without me, that free-for-all at Fifteen would've been dropped down to a house show or something. Seriously, look back at Charon and Corey's promos. They take more shots at me then they do at anyone else in the match, including each other! They wanna make it seem like it's because I said something first. I had to! No one else had the balls to strike first. Travis just kinda stepped out of the shadows for a second before stepping back in. He has his own plans apparently. Aside from that, I waited just to see if anyone was bold enough to make the first move. Unfortunately, no one did. No one wants to see a damn pillow fight at a WRESTLING PPV. If I wouldn't have said anything, most of the arena would've been empty the entire match. It might as well have been renamed the "Piss Break Match". In fact, I might have to do all the work again and build up hype for my upcoming match. Oh how I just can't wait to hear how they verbally ride each other's nuts and talk about how I'm not gonna win the match. They're not going to say anything bad about each other because they're scared that they might hurt each other's widdle feewings. If they do, it's only because I just called them out on it. I'll tell you what's gonna happen. They'll come across this interview. Once they do, they're going to listen to it over and over and over again. Then, they're going to go through it and pause it after every sentence I say and spend five whole minutes trying to think of a creatively witty response, only to give up and write down something generic on a little notebook. Each of them will do this for hours and even days until they come up with a lazy comeback attempt. Hell, I'd do a better job cutting a promo on myself and giving them credit for it.
Paris: Wow. You seem quite confident that you know what your opponents will do. Is this why you call yourself a mastermind?
Phoenix: One of the many reasons. You see, they set themselves up for this to happen. They essentially have no choice in how they respond that doesn't benefit me. Corey could yap about how he absentmindedly believes that he'll beat me. He'll probably try to say that I'm not as good a mind games as I claim to be. Lee will probably spend most of his shoot claiming that he beat me already, despite the fact that I wasn't pinned, making his "victory" only 25% as impressive at the most. He'll yammer on about how what I'm saying is supposedly wrong and how he's the future of the company. They'll give each other a few compliments, and MAYBE they'll throw a light jab or two at each other. By saying and doing these things, they prove that I'm the most dangerous man in the match and that they have no choice but to try to team up against me. However, even with twice the people coming after me in the match, they still stand less than half a chance of actually winning. They both know that that's what they want to do. However, since I once again called them out on their bullshit, they'll most likely try their hardest to avoid proving me right, which would in turn prove me right about how they wait to base what they claim to come up with after what I have already said. Or maybe, just maybe, they'll try to copy what I do in a desperate attempt to try to do what I do better than me. To that, I say way to be a follower and not a leader. Regardless, I win the mind war either way.
Paris: I see. That's quite the strategy. Do you have any other plans involving Slam before your match?
Phoenix: Yep. I'm gonna spend a few more days at this casino, and then I'll head to Memphis and sing a little song.
Paris: Sounds like fun. Well, it's been a pleasure having you on the Paris Podcast. Hopefully, we can have another one of these in the future. Good luck this week.
Phoenix: Thanks. Enjoy your week.
The podcast ends.
February 6th
Memphis, Tennessee
Spending the last few days in Cherokee was refreshing. After my interview with Maria, I spent the rest of my time there checking the city out and getting to know its residents. Additionally, I bought a guitar to take with me to Tennessee. Every time I stopped to put gas, I practiced working on a song. By the time I reached the hotel in Memphis, I had it perfected. I booked a room in a nice hotel. I got asked by a dozen people if I was a country music singer. Guess I had that one coming. I first started playing the guitar when I was 17. Just about every time I had the chance, I would spend some time practicing. I'm no world class guitarist, but I have definitely gotten better at it. I told them that I wasn't a country music singer, but I did know how to play a few songs. A woman asked me if I could play a song or two for her and her friends. She seemed friendly enough, so I agreed to do so. I grabbed a chair and began playing "Awake and Alive" by Skillet. While I was singing, the group of women turned into a small crowd. I didn't notice this until I heard an applause after I finished the song. It was a great feeling, so I decided to play one more. This time, I chose "Satellite" by Rise Against. Once more, an applause followed my performance. I would've played a few more songs, but I had a plan to execute first. After taking a few pictures with fans, I made my way to my room, unpacked my suitcases, and then I went back out to get the camera out of the prod truck. I stopped by my room once more to grab my guitar. Afterwards, I took the camera and the guitar to the roof of the hotel. The roof was lit up, so I didn't have to worry about lighting. The sky was clear, and the stars had taken their seats as they waited for me to start the show. I walked over near the edge of the roof to see the city in its beauty. Even at night, sky views are amazing. It's nights like this that truly bring joy to my spirit. Finally, I sat down with the guitar and turned on the camera.
Phoenix: Hellooooooooo Memphis! CJ Phoenix here, and I have a treat for you guys tonight. As you can see, I'm holding a guitar. That's because I'm going to be singing a special song for my opponents at Slam. I call it "The Liar, the Bitch, and the Phoenix" So without further adieu, here it is.
Phoenix starts playing the instrumental of "Immortals" by Fall Out Boy.
Phoenix: You say I'm a loser and a punk, words from a "Life Coach", eh?
I'm bad behavior but I do it in the best way.
It must piss you off, knowing you're scared of me.
After I kick your ass, I'll order you some therapy.
Yooooouuuuu are full of shit.
You claim to try to show everyone the greener side of grass (grass, grass)
Yooooouuuuu are full of shit.
You're gonna have flashbacks of me kicking your ass.
'Cause we know you're a liar, a liar
Or maybe you're the bitch.
Don't know which one fits you the most.
You know, I think you might be both.
It doesn't matter which.
You're gonna be burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix,
burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix,
burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix,
burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix.
You say you're "Mister Average", I say "Average at best"
Just another brick in the wall, no different from the rest.
But you know what, I still think you'll go far
Enough to land in the middle of the mid-card.
Yooooouuuuu are full of shit.
You're stuck in Averageville while Phoenix is rising fast (fast, fast)
Yooooouuuuu are full of shit.
After I kick your face, you're gonna need a mask
'Cause we know you're a liar, a liar
Or maybe you're the bitch.
Don't know which one fits you the most.
You know, I think you might be both.
It doesn't matter which.
You're gonna be burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix,
burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix.
You know what,
It doesn't matter which is which,
Each one's a liar and a bitch,
'Cause I know you're full of shit, full of shit
And you're both hypocrites.
You're gonna be burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix,
burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix,
burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix,
burrrrrrrrrrrned by Phoenix.
Phoenix finishes the instrumental and then picks up the camera.
Phoenix: See you at Slam, fellas. Don't worry, I'll have a jar ready for each of your ashes.
He shuts off the camera.
