Briskout Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Good Night, Wrestling My Wife and I Need to Talk Time to go to sleep. Big Smack Scott is a Chode --- Good Night, Wrestling September 15, 2015 The last meeting with agents before the show began had ended without a hitch. It had been almost a year since "Black Wednesday," and while we were now the solid #2 company in the States, I had no doubt that I think there were about six different occasions in my SWF career where Richard Eisen kept me behind before the show began. My first Supreme Challenge, how Richard wanted me to deal with Cornell/Nemesis, the night we went back on the air after 9/11, when Sam Keith left and I took over, the Tuesday after Black Wednesday... and now this. "Under Control," Richard begins, with a sorrowful look on his face, "Under Control is not getting the reviews we wanted Peter. The buyrate is low. We are barely keeping up with USPW and now we're losing to TCW? This isn't good Peter..." "Well," I begin but Richard holds up his hand. No excuses today. The writing was on the wall. The stubborn bastard didn't even want to call Tommy Cornell to make amends. Want a ratings boost? Bring in your rival. Before USPW or 21st Century get him, you dumb stubborn old bastard... "Under Control really shows that I have lost control Peter." Eisen's eyebrows furrow. A look I have seen a hundred times. As VP of Talent Relations and as the Head Booker, I have been in the room when Eisen has fired people before. "I lost control of you, and lost control of my product. I took a hands off approach and it failed. Not a single good match on the card, you have Tom as World champion and it just seems... it seems like you're out of your league right now. Look at what's happened with TCW since Cornell sold. The new booking team revitalized them. Look at USPW since Strong sold, revitalized. I need to take over again Peter and, unfortunately this means I need you step down." Not even a tear. Before he lets me speak, he continues. "It also means, I need you to step down tonight. Step down from the booking committee, step down from the announce team. Head back to Vermont, pack your desk and move on. Jerry will be taking over, beginning tonight. We just think it's best you move on." "Can I say good bye?" I can't believe that was all I had to say. No expletives running through my head. No big moment, no ground breaking losing it moment... "No, we have security waiting for you." Richard sticks out his hand. "And don't forget, 90 days no compete clause, 180 days no television appearances, 1 year without being in production of any wrestling company." F*** you, old man. I brush by Eisen, notebook in hand. Jerry is standing there, looking for my notes perhaps. Just to spite him, I toss in the garbage can as hard as I can as I hear the footsteps of two men. Presumably security guards, I don't bother to look as I march to the car. The footsteps stop once I step into the garage confirming my thoughts. "Twenty years," I yell at the guards, "twenty years down the drain!" I get in my car, thanking God I never agreed to a company car. The phone rings. It reads "LOIS." Pre-show good luck phone call. I answer it. "I'll be home in three hours." Good night Hartford. Good night arena we couldn't sell out that minor league hockey has packed every night. Good night, wrestling... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briskout Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 My Wife and I Need to Talk December 6, 2015 "And the Red Claws beat the Bayhawks 110 to 97, for Terry Dawson, I'm Peter Michaels on 96.3 The Big Jab! We're sending it to the studio for the post game show, so stay tuned for more!" The voice of the Maine Red Claws signs off. It would be a 45 minute drive home and then an early morning driving to the university to teach Basics of Live Broadcasting. I thanked the producers of the game and I looked at the reality of my situation. No pressure. There was barely any real NBAers in the D-League. During the summer I was down in Connecticut doing WNBA games. During the school year I was an adjuct professor at UNH and UConn, alternating between Fall and Spring... It was great. The most traveling I did was between Portland and Uncasville. I was either eating lobster or I was gambling. My wife saw me 5 days a week, as opposed to 2. My kids saw me almost every day. It was truly the life. It's why when I got a phone call from a 617 area code, I answered it. I didn't expect anything of it, maybe Danny Ainge was calling me up to announce for the Celtics. I expected literally anyone. Except... "Peter Michaels, this is Allen Packer, of Dream." Despite living in New England for 20 years, there was such a distinction when I heard that Bostonian "PETE-AH." While the Eisens didn't have it, being from Vermont, some of the producers would. I would convince them to call me Pete because of it. This Baltimore native can only take so much broken English... "Uh, well... hello." A thousand thoughts began to run through my head. Why would a search engine guy be calling me? Had he seen my search results? Dream.com was the biggest search engine in the world, and while it probably wasn't smart everyone used it. Despite data mining, despite selling such data to the highest bidder, despite not being a trustworthy company... I waited... "As you may know, my company Dream purchased United States Pro Wrestling last year. We are currently using it to add original content to our Reverie streaming platform. Currently, we are looking to create a second show. A studio show. I have heard your announcing work. I think it's a shame you are no longer on my television. I am wondering, if you would be interested in hosting this studio show?" "What?" "Pete-ah... I am offering you a job. I know you've got commitments to finish out. Minor league basketball, women's basketball, teaching - whatever. I will buy out your commitments and fly you and your wife down to Nashville, tonight. We'll record 26 episodes over the next two weeks, ready to go live in January." "Uh..." Again, a thousand thoughts. "How did you get my number?" A hearty laugh. Actually, almost insulting. I had no idea how to react to this laugh. "Do you use a Motorola DreamCatcher V?" As I looked at my phone, I realized why he was laughing. Damn you Big Brother. "So what will it be?" "My wife and I need to talk," I muttered. "Well... you've got 2 hours. That will give you 1 hour and 15 minutes to talk with Lois. She's awake right now, watching Touched by an Angel on Reverie... Really? Wow, what bad programming choice... Then again, she's the type of woman we target with Reverie." It was clear Allen didn't care about my privacy and was having a separate conversation. I hung up on him as I exited the arena. Maybe I should get an iPhone and switch to Netflix? As I approached I-295 to get home, I tossed my phone out the window as I went 75 MPH. Hopefully Allen got my decision... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briskout Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 Time to go back to sleep. January 14, 2016 Bzzt. I groggily rubbed my eyes. The alarm clock said 3:27 AM. I looked at my phone which had just buzzed. Normally a text, or an email in this case, wouldn't stir me. But for some reason, I was stirred. I looked at the subject that read "Proposal." From Mac Smith. I had no idea who this was, but they emailed me at my faculty email through UConn. Perhaps a student proposing direct study... And... And my aging prostrate beckoned me to get up. I took my phone with me. While I psis, I might as well be entertained. My new iPhone was still taking some getting used to, but using it for a month now has made use of it so much smoother than when I first got it. I clicked the email app as the words popped up on the screen. FROM: Mac Smith (djmac@weirdwrestlingnetwork.com) TO: Peter Michaels (michaels.peter@uconn.edu) SUBJECT: Proposal Dear Mr. Michaels, I am sure you won't read this until you wake up. I just came out of 4 and a half hour recording session with JK Stallings. I am not sure if you have heard, but JK and I are hosts of one of the most popular wrestling podcasts on the net right now: "Going Hollyweird with JK Stallings." On it, JK and I discuss what the early years of HGC/TCW look like, sometimes discussing key events of the 90s wrestling scene, sometimes particular shows. It's brought Stallings back to the wrestling eye over the past year and brought an insight that I think a lot of people haven't seen before. Over the past few months, since you left SWF, your name has come up quite a bit. JK has funded a complete podcast network. Dread hosts a show where he interviews guys in the business as well as outside, Sam Strong is looking at us, the Demons of Rage do an interesting show where they discuss the state of tag team wrestling and Big Smack Scott hosts one of the most successful podcasts where he talks wrestling, movies and music with a variety of people. I mention all of that to say this isn't a mom and pop shop, or a couple of marks talking wrestling. With that stated: here's the format. We'd discuss a topic or particular memorable show over the past 20 years of SWF and maybe even some Texas stuff, go ahead and record it and go from there. You would have complete creative control to decide what we discussed and how we discussed it. I just believe the wrestling world isn't done with you yet. Let me know and contact me if you want to talk! Mac Smith Swipe. Delete. Time to go back to sleep... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CobheadJake Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 I really like how you're setting this up. Looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Historian Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Very interesting start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briskout Posted April 10, 2018 Author Share Posted April 10, 2018 Big Smack Scott is a chode. February 1, 2016 As I walked into class that day in Storrs, CT I noticed a group of jocks surrounding a smaller student. Ah, college hazing and bullying... The classic rights of passage. As this was an introduction class and a 3 hour block on a Monday morning, this was the Easy A jocks took to boost that GPA. And if they were surrounding an unathletic, uninspiring student - it probably was one of my Journalism students. Introduction to Broadcasting saw freshmen deal with athletic scholarship juniors and seniors, and I had to remind both groups - they may be making or breaking their pro careers down the road so they had to get along. Except... I heard a familiar voice. "Yeah brothers! Now, you know here on the World Wrestling Radio Federation we have the biggest exclusives and TONIGHT - on MY PODCAST, BIG SMACK TALK WITH BIG SMACK SCOTT - you will hear from the legendary Colorado Rapids player ROSS HENRY and his run-in with me at the Supreme Challenge last year and his future endeavors!" The crowd turned to see me standing and listening. The smaller kid surrounded had a phone out, his name was Lenny Badman. He was a small, yardtard who tried to show me flips off of a trampoline once. I looked at him with disdain. "Big Smack Scott is a chode," I muttered as class began. But a mental note had to be made. Podcasts seemed to be doing him well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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