Wildfire1324 Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f273/JNelson1324/cooltext435014644.png April 14th, 1983: "Thank you for coming. It means a lot to me and the family. I know that wasn't a short trip for you. You know dad always thought very highly of you and your talents." "There was no way I wasn't going to be here to pay my respects today son. I don't have to tell you that your dad was a great man who was respected by all of his peers. That should be clear based on the turnout here tonight. It was a beautiful service, very fitting of his life. I know it was a tragic loss for you and the family. Heck, I'm not good at this but believe me when I say he is in a better place now." "Well thank you. Its so strange. I have known this day was coming ever since we got the diagnosis last year but part of me just thought....I don't know....Dad was always just so strong, I guess I just never...I don't know. I just hope he's at peace now. He suffered so much the last few months but somehow he still continued to drag himself to the arena. I don't know how he kept going." "Ha! We both know the answer to that one. Your dad never liked to lose in anything, let alone to cancer. He stubbornly fought it until the very end and probably hung on longer than a normal man would have. So tell me son...how are you holding up? You have a lot on your shoulders now." "Yeah. Strangely enough that was one of the first things I thought about when I finally went to bed the night Dad passed. It dawned on me at that point that I'm only thirty four years old and yet I have all these people counting on me. If I can't keep things going, an awful lot of people aren't going to be able to put food on their family's tables. That kind of pressure has kept me up the last few nights. No wonder I look like hell. Look, I need to go make the rounds plus I want to talk with Jerry and Don before they leave but I really want to talk with you some more. Before he passed, Dad told me you were someone I should talk to before I did anything. He told me you were one of the few people I could trust in this business. Is there any chance I can convince you to stick around town for another day so we can have dinner and talk?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totti Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 This sounds great mate. Your other diarys started too early for me to follow unfortunately, but i'm glad to be on board at the start for this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderndaywarrior Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Oh....man......Wildfire.......is.....doing......D.O.T.T.......too.......awesome......for.....words..........:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Final Countdown Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Ooh...two diaries at once? Think you can pull it off? I know I sure couldn't. I find my one diary rather time consuming as it is. I'll be checking this out to see if you can pull it off. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldschool Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 #1 wildfire fan right here....Will be reading (obviously)!!!!!!!! This just sounds and smells of all kinds of awesomeness!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falling_star Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Count me in (so long as NWA: Beyond The Glory stays active)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildfire1324 Posted September 26, 2009 Author Share Posted September 26, 2009 April 15th, 1983: "Great to see you again! I really appreciate you staying the extra day. I'm sure the Italian food here isn't as good as it is back east but this is the supposedly the best one in town." "I'm sure it will be fine. I've eaten in much worse places than this in my time. So did you get any sleep last night? You still look exhausted son." "Not a wink. My mind was going a million miles an hour and I have this huge knot in my stomach. I'm running on fumes right now but what choice do I have? We canceled this weekend's slate of shows but come Monday, I need to hit the ground running. I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. Business is good right now but that could easily go south if I can't live up to Dad's legacy. I guess that brings me to you sir. I'm hoping I can pick your brain for a while." "Well there's not much left but you're welcome to whatever is left up there in my medulla oblongata. Ha! I have a couple of hours to kill until I have to get to the airport so tell me how I can help you son?" "Well, I'm not sure how much of this I should be telling since you work for another company but Dad told me I could trust you regardless. Dad had his vision for what wrestling should be and for this company in general. He was a great man but he was definitely set in his ways. He and I have butted heads the last few years over this. We have a syndicated show and a national cable show but he was convinced we should stay in our little area even though people across the country have been able to watch Championship Wrestling on their televisions. We get letters from people from all over the country asking when we are coming to their towns. They want to see our stars. He seemed to think cable television was just a fad but I think its the future. I imagine that someday there won't be just a few dozen stations. In fact, I can see a time where there are close to a hundred different stations out there! These little kingdoms aren't going to last forever. Eventually someone is going to try and go national. I guess what I've been batting around in my head for a while now is why not us and why not now?" The older man stared at him for a moment before reaching into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a small cloth and proceeds to clean his glasses although he was clearly deep in thought, almost as if he was very carefully choosing his next words. "Son, I definitely shouldn't be telling you this because its not public knowledge yet but my boss is very sick. Cancer, just like your dad. He probably has a couple of months, maybe a year at most." "Oh God. I'm so sorry. What is going to happen to the company? Has he made arrangements yet?" "Its all very up in the air right now. I know his son wants to take over but I doubt if he can raise the money to do it plus I'd be worried about it if he did. I'm not sure if he's cut out for this business. Listen please don't mention this to anyone. Obviously the company would suffer if there is even the perception of uncertainty. I'm not sure what's going to happen or even where I'm going to fit in." "No, no....of course. I won't say a word." Suddenly, its as if a light bulb goes off in the younger man's head. He begins to speak quickly with great enthusiasm. "Wait, what about this? Hypothetically speaking and I'm just thinking aloud here. I can't handle the day-to-day business of running this company plus being an active wrestler without some help. Dad thought highly of you and I do as well so it really could make a lot of sense for us. I was just thinking that maybe....." The younger man pauses as if he is trying to piece together the whirlwind of emotions in his head into one cogent thought. "What would you think about coming to Minnesota Mr. Monsoon?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildfire1324 Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 Early Morning April 16th, 1983: As Gino Marella pulled into the Hertz rental car lot, he was grateful to finally get out of the hideous pea green 1979 Ford Fairmont he had been driving and stretch his cramped legs. The car was too small for a man of his size but at least it held up for the seven hour drive from Minneapolis to O' Hare airport in Chicago. He couldn't get a direct flight from Minneapolis back to New York on short notice so he was grateful for this Pan-Am flight from Chicago into JFK. The drive was long, the car was cramped, the meal he had at some roadside greasy spoon outside of Madison, Wisconsin was lousy but it did give him time to think, a lot of time to think. Time that he needed. He had traveled to Minneapolis to pay his final respects to Verne Gagne, promoter of the American Wrestling Association and a man that he had worked for on various occasions during his career. He wound up leaving Minnesota with an unexpected job offer from the AWA. Verne's son Greg who was a midcard talent in the company now had complete control of the company but clearly was overwhelmed. He had offered him a job as the new main play-by-play man for AWA television and gave him final say over who his partner would be. Even more important than that however, he was offering him a chance to be the head booker for the company. Greg wanted to continue his wrestling career and tend to the business end of the company but felt he couldn't give the necessary attention to the booking end of the business on top of everything else. Gorilla couldn't deny that he had always wanted to try his hand at the book, the one major duty in the business that he hadn't performed yet in his career. A quick scan of the roster showed a plethora of talent to work with including the Incredible Hulk Hogan who's popularity had skyrocketed after his appearance in Rocky III, World Champion Nick Bockwinkel and the Road Warriors. Greg's offer was exceedingly generous so security wouldn't be an issue but convincing his wife Maureen to leave New Jersey for the chilly Minneapolis winters would be a challenge. Gino wasn't thrilled about the cold either but deep down relished the possibility of taping weekly television shows from the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He was pretty sure couple of hands of poker and a nice buffet a few times a month could help make those Minnesota winters more bearable. What he was struggling with in his external occipital protuberance however, was the question of if he could essentially abandon Vince during what were, barring a miracle, going to be his final months on earth. Vince had been very good to him the last couple of years, even giving him a small stake in the company as a sign of gratitude for his work as an announcer, road agent and confidant. Something about leaving the WWF didn't seem right but in the back of his head, he just didn't trust Vince's son if were to get control of the company. This was not going to be an easy decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldschool Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hoagn, Bockwinkle, Road Warriors and I'm assuming, Ray Stevens, Wahoo, Baron Von Raschke, High Flyers plus if AWA goes national could that mean we see Hanson, Brody, Freebirds, Fabulous Ones, Zbyszko a bit earlier than their actual AWA run Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderndaywarrior Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Wildfire is AWA'ing it.....cool! They do have a pretty good talent pool,plus they can bring in SWCW guys like the Dynamic Duo (Tully & Gino) or Memphis guys like Lawler and Idol because of their working relationships. Really all that SHOULD be needed is to do the opposite of what Verne did: Open up the wallet a little and to a reasonable extent,modernize the product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildfire1324 Posted September 30, 2009 Author Share Posted September 30, 2009 Late Afternoon April 16th, 1983: "Keep the change." The cabbie expresses his gratitude as Gino Marella steps out onto the corner of 8th Avenue & 33nd Street, his home away from home. "Hey, what's happening Gorilla? Big show tonight! Do you think Backland can hang on to the strap again?" After shaking hands and chatting with an excited WWF fan for a moment, he grabs his bag and hurries into Madison Square Garden. The big man is moving with purpose as he barely made it to the arena on time. As he rounds the corner heading towards the backstage area, he nearly plows into a barrel chested man with slicked back platinum blond hair that seems to defy his age. "Watch where you're going you pencil-necked geek!" Two huge smiles flash across the faces of the two close friends as they exchange handshakes. "Good to see you too Fred. Hey is Vince here?" Classy Freddie Blassie shakes his head. "Negative Gorilla. Junior said he's having a rough week so he stayed home tonight. The kid's in charge. Hey, how was Verne's funeral?" Gino already continued making his way towards the backstage arena. "Nice service. Hopefully I get half as many people to say nice things about me when I go. By the way, I saw John Tolos there. He said you still owe him five hundred big ones!" Blassie mumbled something to the effect of "The Golden Greek can kiss my..." but Gino was already too far away to hear him. He stopped to get himself a cup of coffee before heading to the office. Gino needed the caffeine to keep him awake after a long day. He finally got to the office which had a fairly pretentious nameplate on it that read "Vincent Kennedy McMahon". To a veteran like Gorilla, it seemed like the kid was putting the cart before the horse. His dad wasn't in good shape but he still was the boss and it wasn't a given that he was going to sell his son the business even if he could somehow come up with the backing to buy him out. Gino had an idea how they could both possibly help each other out. He needed to talk to Captain Lou and some of the other smaller shareholders first but Gorilla Monsoon definitely had an idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianaJones Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 What he was struggling with in his external occipital protuberance however, was the question of if he could essentially abandon Vince during what were, barring a miracle, going to be his final months on earth. Classic Gorilla! This almost made me spit my drink out all over my keyboard when I read it! Are we going to see Monsoon and Heenan in the AWA announcers booth hopefully? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildfire1324 Posted October 1, 2009 Author Share Posted October 1, 2009 Post Show, April 16th, 1983: "You ungrateful son of a bitch! After all my old man has done for you over the years, you want out just because he's sick? And for what? A chance to work with Verne's scrawny little kid? God, there is nothing I hate more than someone sticking their no-talent kids in front of the camera! I don't know what the hell Verne was thinking but Greg better thank God for nepotism! I would never do something like that!" Gorilla calmly sat and listened to the younger McMahon rant and rave. He certainly lacked the quiet strength and character of his father but that actually worked Gorilla's advantage in this situation he thought. "Are you finished? Because if you are, I would like to discuss business like adults. I'm not walking out on your father. Vince knows how I feel about him and I am only a phone call away if he needs anything. He knows that. This meeting is about you, me and a handful of your father's smaller partners. You want control of this company but we all know that the odds are that Vince won't sell it to you." Gorilla was bluffing. He really had no idea what Vince would do but given his weakening condition, it would make sense for him to sell it to his son. He just didn't need to let Junior know that. "If and when he passes, we all know you're only going to inherit a fraction of the company unless you can buy him out which seems less and less likely. If you agree to my plan, you won't have full control yet but you will have the largest stake in the company when he does pass. Its a winning deal for you son. You get control of the company at a bargain basement rate paid out over time to myself, Lou, Fred and the others. In exchange, they all receive guaranteed lifetime contracts from you and I receive my unconditional release with an agreement that I can return at any time for a lifetime contract of my own, a nice retirement package so to speak. My last condition involves family and I know family is important to both of us. I want my son Joey to be granted his unconditional release as well so he can work with me in the AWA. So what do you say Junior?" Vincent Kennedy McMahon bristled at being called "Junior". There really was nothing that a man with his healthy ego liked less. He had great respect for his father, but he was his own man, a man with a vision. This might not be exactly how he envisioned taking over the World Wrestling Federation, but it could work and he wouldn't need to scrape up all the capital up front that he had expected. That would leave him more money to spend on cherry-picking the best talent he could find, maybe even some from the AWA, but there was no need to mention that to Gorilla. As for his kid, referees were a dime a dozen so that was no great loss. He smirked ever so slightly and extended his hand. "Let's get the lawyers to draw up the papers. You drive a hard bargain Gino but I think we can do business." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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