Post by Dean Wolf on Oct 14, 2018 20:28:33 GMT -5
Best of the Best, September 8, 2018
Dean Wolf is standing in the middle of the ring with a steel chair raised over his head. He’s looking down at the man he’s supposed to hit- Cliff of Doom- at the bidding of his boss, Headmaster Bernard Core. Some in the crowd gasp. Others are yelling to try and stop him. Cliff’s wife, Tina McManus, is sitting in the front row crying. Core is smiling in the corner. Cliff looks up at Wolf defiantly, defenseless at this moment. They had shared a moment of respect just two weeks before when they took each other to the limit in a no disqualification, no countout tiebreaker to qualify for the Sixth Dimension Championship match. Wolf didn’t like Cliff, but he beat him fair and square. Now, Wolf is about ready to bash Cliff’s skull in so that Core can have the glory of becoming the Sixth Dimension Champion. The staredown between Wolf and Cliff is intense.
Bernard Core: Do it. DO IT!
Wolf hesitates for what seems like forever. He starts playing back the words he’d heard from Cliff and Core throughout the tournament.
Are you going to fight like the wolf that you are, or are you just going to lay down and roll over like an obedient...little...puppy?
You’ve failed me, Wolf! How could you cause me to lose to Biff Mustache?!
You’re still just Bernard Core’s BITCH.
Dean Wolf will do what I tell him to do!
You think he gives a shit about you? Huh? You think he cares about you? He’s been using you. He’s been using you ever since he laid eyes on you.
I don’t need you! I can win the Sixth Dimension Championship all by myself!
SEEK THE WOLF IN THYSELF!
He looks over at Core, who does not like the look of contempt on his protégé's face.
You want it done? You do it yourself.
Bernard Core: What are you doing?
Wolf brings the chair down to his side and walks into the middle of the ring. He stares at Core...and drops the chair. The crowd cheers.
Wolf gets out of the ring and walks up Cliff’s aisle. Core has a wide-eyed look on his face. He gets to his feet and stumbles across the ring.
Bernard Core: Wolf! Wolf! Please! Wolf, I beg you!
The ref comes to as Core gets on his knees and folds his hands. Wolf gets to the top of the ramp and looks back at the ring to see Core pleading with him. Wolf just stands there motionless. When Core realizes Wolf is not coming back, he hurriedly turns around to grab the chair. He reaches out for it but Cliff stomps his foot down on it. Core slowly looks up to see Cliff towering over him with a pissed off look on his face. Cliff slides the chair out of the ring with his foot.
Core slowly gets to his feet and now tries to reason with Cliff, backing away as Cliff steps forward.
Bernard Core: You know what? Wolf’s out! I don’t need him! You and me, we can run The Core Institute together! I’ll make you co-Headmaster! How does that sound? How does that s----
Core charges at Cliff, who fends him off with a superkick so devastating that Core flies back into the corner. Cliff lifts him up and crotches him on the top rope. He climbs to the top turnbuckle and gets Core to his feet. He wraps his left arm across Core’s body and brings him down to the mat with the Cliffhanger.
The fans are going mental. Cliff immediately gets to his feet and locks in the No Leaf Clover.
The crowd starts yelling for Core to tap. Cliff is yelling as he tightens his grip and sits back in the hold more and more.
Cliff of Doom: TAAAAP! TAAAAP!
Core looks straight ahead towards Wolf and sees Wolf staring back at him. Core reaches his hand out.
Wolf stares for a few more seconds, wondering if what he was about to do was the right thing. He sees the pathetic sight of his headmaster literally reaching out for help from 50 feet away, but contrasts it with the words he heard just one week before.
I don’t need you!
He makes up his mind.
Fuck this guy.
He turns around and heads back through the curtain. As he walks past the Gorilla position, he can hear the sound of Core’s hand slapping the mat and the crowd exploding. “No Leaf Clover” plays as ring announcer Gordon Gould announces Cliff of Doom’s victory.
Everyone just stares at him as he walks by. The wrestlers, the production staff, they’re all in awe as they just witnessed Dean Wolf take a bold step and escape from the control of Bernard Core. Wolf doesn’t stop to acknowledge them.. He just keeps walking at a deliberate pace to the dressing room. He enters the room, grabs him bag, and is out just as quickly as he went in. He leaves the Sixth Dimension Arena through a back door and finds the car that brought him and Core to the arena. He opens the back door, throws his bag in, and enters, slamming the door.
DW Wolf: Take me to the airport.
Driver: Where’s Headmaster Core?
Wolf growls.
DW Wolf: JUST FUCKING DRIVE!
The driver turns the ignition on and steps on the gas, speeding away.
The car drops Wolf off at the airport. He buys a ticket back to Albany, NY, and boards the plane. The plane touches down at the Albany International Airport. He makes sure he’s the first one off the plane despite being all the way in the back. He steps out of the airport and finds a taxi. He orders the driver to bring him to the Core Institute in Hyde Park.
When he arrives, he tells the driver to wait for him. It’s now 2:00 in the morning. He opens the school with his key. When he enters, he turns off the security alarm by punching in the security code. He walks to his office, puts a few belongings in his bag, and walks back out to the car. He gives the taxi driver the address to the Core Mansion, where he had been staying ever since Core took him in and made him part of the Core Institute. 45 minutes later, the car pulls up in front of the mansion. Wolf gets out and pays the driver. He walks up the doorstep of the gigantic house that he called home for three years, pulls the house key and the keys to the Core Institute off of his keychain, and leaves them at the door. He finds his 1989 Dodge Viper Concept VM-02 and gets in the driver seat. He takes a second to stop and think before he turns the ignition. He looks at the rearview mirror and gets a shot of his own eyes. They’re bloodshot from the late night journey he’s taken from the Sixth Dimension Arena.
This was it.
After this, there was no turning back.
You don’t just leave Bernard Core and expect to come back with arms wide open.
He continued to look at himself in the rearview mirror before asking a question he hadn’t thought of before this night began.
DW Wolf: So now what?
WCF Studios, October 12, 2018
Zach Davis and DW Wolf are sitting in the WCF Studios for a WCF Network exclusive interview. Oddly enough, they are sitting ten feet apart from each other.
Zach Davis: Welcome to another WCF Network exclusive interview. Please welcome my guest, who is making his return this Monday on Slam, the man who now calls himself DW Wolf. Welcome back, DW.
DW Wolf: Zach, why are we sitting so far away from each other?
Zach Davis: Um, well, the last time I interviewed you here in the WCF Studios, you attacked me with a discus clothesline.
Wolf smirks.
DW Wolf: Oh yeah.
Zach Davis: First thing, why have you dropped “Dean” from your name?
DW Wolf: Well, I’m not the dean of a school anymore, and frankly, I want to drop any memory of being associated with the Core Institute, so I got rid of that title.
Zach Davis: But why not just go back to being Wolf like you were when you first debuted in the WCF back in August 2015?
DW Wolf: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Zach , but there’s another Wolf in this company now- James Wolf, and as much as that irritates me, I have to live with it; so, I decided to give myself a first name. Problem is, I don’t like the name my parents gave me, so I just went with DW.
Zach Davis: What is your real name?
Wolf shoots him a look.
DW Wolf: None of your fucking business.
Zach is frozen with fear for a few seconds before getting up and moving his chair five more feet away. The camera pans out so that Zach can fit in the shot. He’s no longer in front of the backdrop with the WCF logo on it.
Zach Davis: S-so DW, the one thing everyone wants to know, why did you leave the Core Institute?
DW Wolf: Did you watch the Sixth Dimension, Zach? Headmast--- you know what? Fuck that shit. BERNARD Core was treating me like shit. I watched that guy’s back 24/7 for almost three years, enforcing his rules in the halls of The Core Institute, doing his dirty work in the ring, and he thinks he’s going to talk to me like I’m a little kid in front of the entire world to see? I don’t think so. Then, he had the audacity to tell me that he didn’t need me to beat Cliff of Doom. And after all of that, when the ref was knocked out and he had the opportunity to cheat, what did he do? He called me, begging and pleading for me help; and when I walked into that ring and was a second away from smashing Cliff with that chair, I thought to myself, I have a choice. I can either hit Cliff of Doom and forever tie myself to Bernard Core’s will, or I can throw down this chair and walk down my own path, just like I did when I entered this business, before Bernard Core’s name ever entered my mind. The rest is history.
Zach Davis: Shortly after Best of the Best, Core sent out a tweet that read “I hereby place Dean Wolf on an unpaid suspension.” Why hasn’t he just fired you yet?
DW Wolf: I don’t know. Maybe he thinks I’ll come crawling back to him or maybe he just doesn’t have the balls to fire me, but you know what? I’ll make it easy on him.
He looks into the camera.
DW Wolf: Bernard, you can take your unpaid suspension and shove it up your ass. I QUIT.
Zach Davis: Whoa. Well, you heard it here first, folks. DW Wolf has officially quit The Core Institute. How does that feel, DW?
DW Wolf: It feels pretty fucking good, I’ll tell you that.
Zach Davis: Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about your return. Why did you decide to come back to the WCF after being gone for almost three years?
DW Wolf: It’s pretty simple, Zach . I’m here to pick up where I left before I got hooked on pills and booze. I was on the verge of doing something great here in the WCF. A lot of people didn’t take me seriously my first month in the company, and the War XIV came, and you know the story.
Zach Davis: That’s right. You entered #1, lasted 2:07:11, and eliminated three people. You really opened a lot of people’s eyes that night.
DW Wolf: I did, and there were rumblings that I was in line for a title shot of some kind. I was on my way up. I was on my way to being a serious contender in this company, but I derailed it. Imagine if I had never gotten addicted to all those substances. I wouldn’t have made a fool of myself against Occulo on national television, I wouldn’t have been found in a bar by Bernard Core, I would have never taken that job as Bernard Core’s Dean of Discipline, and I wouldn’t have missed three possibly productive and successful years of my career. I’m here to fix all that. I’m here to make up for lost time. I’m here to show everybody that I wasn’t just a flash in the pan back in October of 2015. I’m here to be the best wrestler in the WCF, and I don’t care how long it takes me. There’s a lot of people in the WCF that are considered the best, that have accrued accolades that should have been mine, that I know I can beat. When my career in the WCF is over, I’m going to be considered the best. I’m going to win the Wars, the Ultimate Showdowns, all the titles the WCF has to offer. I’m going to be the one that people step up to when they want to prove themselves. I’m going to show everyone that I am the best in the WCF.
Zach Davis: Does it unsettle you how much has changed since you left? Corey Black is now the owner. The Mexico Incident almost brought down the company. Most of the people on the roster from three years ago are no longer here.
DW Wolf: I don’t care if Corey Black or that shitstain Seth Lerch is signing my checks. I don’t care about what trauma this company has gone through. I don’t care if I’m standing across the ring from Occulo or James Wolf. I’m just going to walk into that ring and do what I do best- beat people up.
Zach Davis: Speaking of James Wolf, you and him have been really going at each other on social media as of late, and you two will be having Electrified Cage Match at Helloween. What is the source of the animosity between you two?
DW Wolf: I don’t think you have enough time right now for me to explain why I hate James Wolf so much, so I’ll just say this for now: James Wolf is a fucking prick.
Zach Davis: Ok then. Two people I would like to talk about right now are your opponents in the Triple Threat Match this Monday on Slam, Ultimate Destroyer and “Jazzy” John McCarty. How do you think you stack up against these two?
DW Wolf: I’ve actually found that I’m similar to each man. Me and McCarty are both men that have come back after our first WCF runs ended in unspectacular ways. The difference between him and me is that I have a foundation for which to build my comeback on.
That moment at War XIV was the foundation that I laid for my legacy. I may have stopped constructing my legacy temporarily, but the fact remains that the foundation will always be there. No one can take that away from me. No one can say that it didn’t happen.
Maybe if I didn’t have my breakout performance that night, there wouldn’t be any reason for me to come back to the WCF and show that I’m the best. Maybe I would have realized that I just didn’t have what it took to make it in this business and left to do something else, but that’s not what happened, and just because I fucked myself in the immediate aftermath, it doesn’t mean that War XIV didn’t happen. That night is still there to use as the launching point for what I’m going to do in this company in the months and years to come.
Did Jazzy John have a moment like in his first WCF run that he can use as a foundation for a big come back? Did he have a moment like I had that he can use as motivation to make this run the one that people will remember? Nope. And since he’s been back, I haven’t seen anything to make me think any different. He’s still looking for that one moment. He’s still looking for the foundation to build his legacy on. Well, he’s not laying down that foundation by going through me. Nobody builds a foundation off of my back. I’m the one that builds my legacy on the backs of others, and Jazzy John is just another brick in my legacy.
Zach Davis: What about Ultimate Destroyer? How is he similar to you?
DW Wolf: Both of us use our rage to fuel us during our fights. I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody that I am just simply an angry person. I’ve been angry for most of my life, and I have memories from my past that I just can’t let go. Most of the time, it’s been a blessing. It’s helped me in the ring. It helped me when I had to discipline the kids in The Core Institute. The only time it was a curse was when it led me towards addiction, but I’ve since learned how to not let me rage get the better of me like that. No, I let my rage get the better of my opponents.
Zach Davis: What are the things that make you angry?
DW Wolf: A lot of things in my past. Some I don’t choose to share, some I have no problem sharing, like that fact that I was bullied in school until I was 15 and I finally stepped up to a group of kids that were fucking with me every day since the beginning of the school year. I sent all three of them to the hospital and got expelled from school, but it sent a message to everybody else that I wasn’t someone to fuck with, and nobody that knew any better did fuck with me again. The people that were too ignorant to know learned real fucking quick what happened when they did try to give me shit. The rage is what helped me overcome all those bullies. The rage is what has helped me keep people at bay all this time. The rage is what helped me have the moment that I did at War XIV.
And the rage is going to help me show people during this run that I’m the best in the WCF, because I’ve got plenty of new things to be angry about. I lot of people say not to live their life with regret, but the regret that I feel is just as strong as the anger. I’ve fucked up a lot in life, and what happened to me after War XIV is one of my biggest fuck-ups. People could be talking about me right now and recall how I won every major title in the WCF. People could be talking about how I won War XV or XVI. People could be talking about how I main evented One and went on to be one of the greatest World Heavyweight Champions in wrestling history. But they’re not. Whenever my name has been on anybody’s lips in the last three years, people have talked about how I turned into a junkie and then allied myself with possibly the biggest asshole that this world has ever produced. That’s something that eats at my every day, but I’m not just going to let it tear at me inside. I’m going to use the anger I feel about my mistake and use it when I’m punching my opponent in the face. I’m going to use it as I boot my opponent in the head. I’m going to use it when I take this right arm and crush someone’s larynx with The Kill.
Now, I ask, has the Destroyer been using his rage in the same way? Absolutely not. He may feel rage, but it hasn’t learned how to harness it like I have. He hasn’t learned how to nurture it and master it and use it to his advantage. He may run out to the ring and stomp around like a mad man, but that’s the only evidence that I’ve seen that he’s got some rage inside of him. The results of his matches show that he doesn’t have the discipline to use what pisses him off to get ahead in this promotion.
Then again, maybe the reason he can’t properly harness his rage is because he really doesn’t have any. Maybe when he runs out to the ring and screams and acts all pissed off, it’s just an act, something to get him some attention.
He looks into the camera.
DW Wolf: Well, Destroyer, you got my attention, but all I see is a 400 pound guy with muscles. So what? Guys like you are a dime a dozen. Go to any gym that isn’t a Planet Fitness and you’ll see guys who have the exact same build as you. None of that intimidates me in the least. I’ve fought guys bigger than you before. All the bullies I every fought off in my life were bullies because they thought their size gave them power over me. My first singles opponent in the WCF, Cletus T. Clyde, was a big dude who weighed in just shy of 400 pounds, and when he and I met in the ring, he was the one that was knocked out by the end of it. Guess what happened after that? He left, never to return. Cletus and all the bullies that ever fucked with me learned the same lesson that you’re going to learn on Slam this Monday. Your size doesn't matter. Your strength doesn’t matter. Do they help? Sure- for people who know how to use those things to their advantage. For most of your time here in the WCF, you haven’t been able to do that, nor have you been able to use your supposed rage to your advantage. So far, you’re all cosmetics and no substance, and I plan on doing what most of your opponents have already done- beat you.
Zach Davis: One last question, DW. The wolf that you always talk about- that wolf that you’ve always told people to seek within themselves- is it still within you, or are you going to have to find it again after all this time?
DW contemplates this question for a second. He thinks about what’s happened in his life over the last three years. The wolf to him represented change, just like the wolf in the Metallica song that inspired him to go from being a scared kid to a man who fought the world.
Over the last three years, he changed a few times. Wrestler to junkie to school administrator and back to wrestler. Now that he’s back in the WCF, he hopes that he can change his reputation. He doesn’t want to be known as the guy who could have been the best. He wants to be known as the guy that is the best, and there’s only one way to do that.
DW Wolf: Zach, you never stop seeking the wolf. You never stop trying to be better than you are. Once you do, you might as well be dead.
Zach pauses and nods his head slowly.
Zach Davis: Well said. Speaking as someone who has felt the effects of The Kill, I can say for certain that Ultimate Destroyer and John McCarty have their work cut out for them. DW Wolf, on behalf of everyone here in the WCF, I want to welcome you back and thank you for giving up your time to do this interview.
DW Wolf: No problem.
He looks at the camera.
Zach Davis: And I’d like to thank you at home for tuning in. I’m Zach Davis. Have a gr---
DW Wolf: Hold on a second, Zach.
Zach looks over at Wolf worried.
Zach Davis: What’d I do?
DW Wolf: Aren’t you going to shake my hand? Isn’t that customary at the end of an interview?
Zach Davis: Um...well, I, you know, um…
DW Wolf: Zach, stop pissing yourself. If you think I’m going to clothesline you again, don’t worry about it. You haven’t done anything to piss me off.
Zach Davis: Um, o-ok.
He holds out his hand.
DW Wolf: Are you serious?
Zach Davis: W-what?
DW Wolf: Zach, I’m YOUR guest. You’re really gonna make me walk all the way over there for a handshake?
Zach Davis: Um, I m-mean, I g-guess I c-could.
DW Wolf: Look, I’ll meet you halfway. Will that put your mind at ease?
Zach Davis: Um, s-sure.
DW Wolf: Good.
Wolf gets up and walks to the point in between him and Zach. Zach gulps. Unlike Wolf, he gets up and walks slowly, cautiously, and stiff as a board. He holds his hand out the entire length of the walk. He stops a few feet from Wolf. His hand doesn’t quite reach Wolf’s. He leans over, almost on his tiptoes. Wolf suddenly grabs Zach’s hand and shakes it hard. He then pulls Zach in to give him the bro hug.
DW Wolf: See, this isn’t so bad, huh?
Zach Davis: N-no. Not bad at all.
The hug ends and Zach goes to walk away, but Wolf holds on to his hand and pulls his right arm back.
Zach Davis: AHH!
Zach falls to the floor while Wolf still has his arm cocked back. Wolf smiles and laughs while still holding Zach’s hand.
DW Wolf: Zach, I’m messing with you, man! Boy, did I miss you.
He pats Zach on the head, pulls him up to his feet, and pulls him in real close to the point where they’re almost nose to nose. Wolf goes from smiling to serious.
DW Wolf: Seek the wolf in thyself.
He smiles again and pinches Zach’s cheek before walking off camera. Zach rubs his cheek and looks at someone off camera.
Zach Davis: You couldn’t have gotten Hank Brown to do this?
Wolf exits the studio and finds himself on the streets of New York City. He looks out at the world ahead of him. It doesn’t matter how many people walk by him, crowd around him, or acknowledge him. He’s by himself again. He’s on his own journey again. He will succeed and fail on his own merits.
The result in the end, however, will be success.
No one will stop him.
No one.
He steels himself up, takes a deep breath in and out, and starts walking through the city’s streets to his next destination.
Still seeking, always seeking...
