Post by Mercedes Carter on Feb 22, 2018 15:14:01 GMT -5
Mercedes: Welcome everyone to a very special Mercedes Cares. With Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought I would do something special, something nice. I asked a special person to me, my fiance Austen Blackwell to join me, as we both interview a couple from WCG. I thought about who would be good, along with talking with Austen, and we decided we knew the perfect couple, more so ones we were meeting up with to discuss our wedding plans with. That couple is dear friends of ours, they are WCG’s power couple, the South Bay Champion, and West Coast Champion, The Baschs.
Austen: Power couple for sure. West Coast and South Bay Champs. This is awesome. And I am excited to be here.
Danielle and Donovan Basch sit with their championship belts draped over their respective shoulders, smiling at Mercedes and Austen as they nod their heads.
Danielle: As are we. It’s been… well, a kind of surreal couple of days. Probably more so for the new champ over here than me.
Donovan: Indeed. I woke up the morning after Hype thinking I had been dreaming, but then I looked over and saw the West Coast Championship sitting just a few feet away….
Mercedes smiles, as she nods her head.
Mercedes: It is great you guys feel that way. Did either of you ever feel like you would both be title holders at the same time?
Danielle giggles a little as she glances at her husband.
Danielle: It was something I could easily imagine. Especially with me in the South Bay division and him in the West Coast division.
Donovan: An idea that I’m delighted actually came to fruition.
Mercedes: Are you nervous about your upcoming contenders, Donovan? Danni, do you feel like you are doing as well of a job as South Bay Champion, as the previous champion Ruby had done?
Danielle nods her head.
Danielle: I certainly hope so… I mean, I haven’t had as many defenses as she has, but then again, I know there are plenty of challengers looking to have a shot at my title. All I know is that in everything I do, I do my best to represent the company and the division.
Donovan: Nervous? No. Anxious is more like it. With both Melina Garrison and Jason Hunter vying to see which one of them will be my first challenger, I have no doubt that I'm in for a worthy challenge. But that's what I want, Mercedes. I WANT challenges like this. They validate everything I've worked for up to this point. I want this title to mean something again, not be viewed as a fashion accessory for some spoiled little girl.
Austen: Definitely. Mercedes brings up Ruby… piggybacking off of that… Danni… thoughts on the South Bay Division? Is it as strong as ever? Do you like the job you are doing as champ? And where do you see the division going?
Danielle: I certainly think the division is as strong as it’s ever been, and it’s only going to get even stronger as the company moves forward. And while I’m not the type to brag, I’d certainly like to think I’m doing a good job as champion. The South Bay is where I was born and raised, so for me, being South Bay Champion means a lot more than just being at the top of the division. The way I see it, I’m not just repping the company; I’m repping an entire community of people, and I want to do them proud.
Mercedes: Bringing up Melina, and Jason, who would you rather defend against first? Both have a #1 contendership match coming up to face you. Both are excellent wrestlers, very talented, and have rights on their own to be first challengers.
Donovan: To be honest, I don't have a preference as to whom I face. I agree with you on the point concerning their talent. I've faced each of them before, so I'm quite aware of what they bring to the table. Conversely, both of them cannot dispute what I'M capable of. I'll be damned if I lose this championship in my very first defense.
Austen: And Danni, who do you want to face to defend the South Bay?
Danielle: Honestly, if anyone in the division wants to step up, I’ll be more than happy to take them on. I mean, what good is being the champion if you don’t take on all comers?
Austen nods, loving her tenacity and wanting to defend the title.
Austen: What if the both of you faced off… who would win?
He plays devil’s advocate and looks at them both. Danielle glances at her husband and smiles.
Danielle: Simple. The fans. Far too often, I’ve seen couples in this industry fall apart at the thought of having to face each other. That’s not us. In this business, you never know who you’ll be standing across the ring from. It could be your worst enemy one week, and your best friend the next. If you truly trust in the love you have for your partner, it shouldn’t matter if you have to face them in the ring. Business is business, and it has no bearing on what happens outside of the ring. Yes, we love each other, but when we’re in the ring, we’re there to do our jobs, and that’s to entertain the fans.
Donovan: We aren’t blessed with an infinitely large talent base, so the possibility of us facing each other was going to come up sooner or later. As we could debate who would come out on top until we're blue in the face, I’d rather not spend my time on such speculation, so I agree with my wife that if we were to wrestle each other, it would be a blockbuster match. After all, our manager and trainer have faced off against each other more than once, and their relationship hasn’t suffered for it.
Mercedes: You guys do make it very tempting to book the match. Who do you see moving up to NGW between Melina, and Julianna with their upcoming match? Also are there plans for you two to move up eventually?
Danielle: That first part is kind of a loaded question, to be honest. After all, no matter who I choose, the other side is likely to get upset. That said, I will say that Melina is a lot more pleasant to deal with in the locker room than, well… you know who. As for if we ever plan to move up to NGW any time soon, I suppose anything could happen, and that’s certainly the goal for a lot of people on the WCG roster. That said, Donovan and I still have a lot to do here in West Coast Genesis, so I think we’ll be sticking around for a while.
Mercedes: Either one would be excellent addition for NGW. Some people have mentioned, or well Julianna has accused me of favoritism with Austen, and yourselves. What are your feelings on that?
Donovan: If that were the case, I wouldn't have had to wait so long to fight for the title that I now hold. But seriously, people will start throwing around baseless accusations whenever they don't get what they want. To me, it's pointless.
Danielle: Not only that, but if you were truly playing favorites, you could have stacked the deck against Julianna so high that there was next to no hope of her retaining the championship against my husband. But you didn’t. So no, I don’t think you’re playing favorites at all. Frankly, I think she’d be like this no matter who was in charge.
Austen: Thank you both for allowing me to take part. And thanks to Mercedes, too. One last from me. If you could book one match in WCG. Any opponents. Who? And why?
Donovan: Hmmm, very interesting question, Austen. I would have to say that I would book a 3-way match pitting Jason Hunter vs Zakari Phoenix vs Nite Stalker. I feel that the fans could really get behind a hard hitting match like this one.
Danielle: Hmm… for me, since we just had a scramble to determine the number one contender for my championship, I thought about a similar concept. How about a Beat the Clock Gauntlet match to determine who’s the next contender for the Long Beach Championship? That way, not only do you have to beat the other person, but you have to beat them within a certain amount of time. This would go on until everyone in the division has had a chance to “beat the clock” of whoever won the match before them.
Mercedes: Interesting idea. Trust me, I am taking them under consideration. Is there anything else you would like to say before we finish our talks of the wedding?
Donovan: Yes, there is. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I just want to assure the fans of West Coast Genesis that I won't follow in the footsteps of the previous holders of this championship. I wear this title with pride and I will do my utmost to bring dignity and respect to it.
Danielle: Spoken like a TRUE champion, my love!
Mercedes: Thank you both for taking time to do this. I think though, back to wedding talk.
They start to talk about the wedding as the scene fades out.