Last week was the end of the Upper Echelon. Wrestling insiders are still speculating as to what happened and what will happen in the future. Many have thoughts on why they broke up and why things went as they did. Few imagined the stable could last as long as it did. Still fragmented the members of the Upper Echelon are deadly. Now there are less distractions……

Look at the members……

The leader of the Upper Echelon Jason Hughes has been a man beyond driven lately. He has taken sadistic mind games to a new level. It doesn’t bother him to go after a man’s family or anything else he cares for. To him winning is all that matters and to win and to keep what is yours you must be willing to pay any price even part of your soul if need be. That price is steep but many in this sport are willing to pay the price to have what they want and are willing to accept the consequences just to hold the brass ring everyone in this sport strives for. Few are this obsessed.

Neil Whittaker is one of these men. March 11th was the last day Neil drank. He came face to face with his demons that day and nearly lost it all. The pull of a trigger the sound of the shotgun blast and the feel of the blast shredding the leather of his jacket and denting the metal plates and mesh. It wasn’t fear of dying it was fear of losing. He ended up killing that man in the bar. Even now it hangs over his head. He has no regrets and even has been cleared of all charges in that incident. It caused him to reevaluate his whole life as he saw it flash before his eyes. Neil was tired of the BS. Hell he never put up with BS before and after seeing his life before his eyes but now he was more focused on being done with it. Neil wasn’t alone.

Gideon Fontaine is another man tired of the games. Doing the dirty work of Jason Hughes was a means to an end. By working with him as a thug that proved to be a distraction. As hated as NEW was Jason Hughes was even more of an asshole then they ever thought of being. When you deal with the devil you have to read the fine print. Gideon knew that. When it was stipulated that he must respect them. It was a perfect escape. Does a handy man ever respect his tools? Even when he hits his thumb with a hammer it is not his fault it is the fault of the tool. There comes a time when the handyman no longer has the tool he needs for the job.

The tools of the trade vary by each athlete. For Hughes it is intimidation and mind games. For the Alliance it is preparation and brutality. These styles don’t often mix. The Alliance weren’t about to attack Alinie Fanco with bats. Hughes was right there. What happens next? In the tag match with Mendez and Adam’s Hughes was there. Normally it would be work a limb or weak point but there were distractions. The longer the match goes the more things would be able to go wrong. Neil got locked in the Lying Beneath. Here is what goes through your mind. 1: Where is my partner, 2: Can I get the ropes, 3: Can I reverse it, 4: Where is Hughes, and 5: Is it worth the effort to risk injury before the PPV. Neil tapped because it was better to get out of there and plan their next step.

The next step was easy. The Alliance left the Upper Echelon. They had several days to plan and to talk it over with Ed and Stephanie. They made sure that whatever was planned by Jason they would have at least half the roster ready. Leaving was easy. They no longer had the distractions of fighting Hughes enemies like Finale and Willie. Well that is not totally accurate they still find Finale to be annoying. It is now for fun instead of business. The Upper Echelon was fragmented into oblivion and The Alliance, Black Widow, and Ed Gesumaria were known as NEW now.

Many have wondered what it means to be NEW.

NEW is known for pride. In the Upper Echelon things were done that the other members weren’t overly proud of. While NEW works with the same gameplan and the same tactics there is always pride in what they are doing. It isn’t because they aren’t driven but they have learned a long time ago that the means are as important as your pride. Long after your career is over your pride will be what makes you who you are.

How can William Tremaine and Alex Seeves totally lack pride then?

Both men are traditional faces. They do their fighting in the ring and focus on being the best. Not a mere gimmick or something that sells the T-Shirts. That is an old school work Ethic. "Pain is Temporary. Pride is FOREVER" is one of the oldest slogans. "Semper Fidelis" drives the men of the US Marines to perform acts of heroism beyond the normal man’s endurance. It is a belief in a higher ideal and a dedication to doing what is right……

- Obey the law
- Lead by example
- Respect yourself and others
- Maintain a high standard of integrity
- Support and defend the constitution
- Uphold special trust and confidence
- Place faith and honor above all else

Where is the pride of Seeves and Tremaine now? One man preaches about being fair and honest. Yet with a crack of steel on bone Gideon was laid out by Alex Seeves with a steel chair. Skill Willie complained about Gideon having the chair saying it was cowardly yet where is the pride? Winning the titles by outside interference and a chair is perfectly acceptable by Tremaine now. All the Pride at being better then the Alliance forgotten by the lure of gold belts. What about the man who attempted to steal the titles from the Alliance? Seeves and Tremaine cursed Eugene Fitzpatrick for overruling the decision but what did Eugene do? He said you can’t have a friend come to ringside during your match and lay out someone with a chair and expect to have the belts handed to you. The death of Pride is a terrible thing but even worse is not having any pride at all.

Jake Finale is the spoiled kid of Core Wrestling. Everything comes easy to him. Title shots are handed to him. He is given matches where the deck is blatantly stacked in his favor. In this business there is a term for matches like the type he is given. They are called Screw Jobs. If you do not live in Lake Charles or Orlando I’ll have to explain the term. They are matches so lopsided and rigged by the people in charge that the outcome is never in jeopardy. The Alliance were the victims of 2 such matches. The first was where Finale teamed with Jason Hughes. After a tap out that never happened Jake Finale was given a win over the Alliance by Matt Lanier. The next was where Alex Seeves kicked a steel chair into the face of Gideon stunning him enough for Finale to pull off the upset. What happened when the titles were taken away from Finale by Eugene Fitzpatrick? Anyone who has dealt with a spoiled child know exactly what happened next. Crying……

3 men crying as one.

Seeves: Since when do you have any authority around here!? This is my call, and I say that Skill and Finale are the new Tag Champions. However, the rematch for the Tag Titles will take place at our next PPV.

Finale: Gideon is a coward and obviously just can’t live up to face the consequences. Good thing for him big daddy Fitz is here to look after him.

Skill: He allows two cheating bastards, who have been trying to destroy this company since they set foot in the ring, to steal a victory……… Matt Lanier can address this situation and fire FitzPatrick as soon as he can find him, or he can let this hypocritical injustice stand. If he chooses the latter, then God help Core Wrestling.

Reality…

Lanier: As you can see Willie, that was a blatant disqualification on the part of Alex Seeves. Which is why I, yes Willie, me, sent Gene to the ring to take care of this matter. This is the exact reason why I brought Gene back to Core. To take of Alex’s mistakes. Like the mistake of even booking you two in a Tag Team Championship match to begin with.

Now the distractions are over…

Now it is time for reality to set in……

::Neil and Gideon enter the Core Arena. They are heading to the interview area. Now it is time for the battle of words to begin.::

Neil: Can’t believe the jackass had a monkey throw shit in your limo.

Gideon: They do seem to have a fondness for slinging feces. It must be a bonding instinct of some sort.

Neil: As long as the little F$%ker is out of our hair.

Gideon: Mini Finale or Jake Finale.

Neil: Tough call on that one.

Gideon: I think we should avoid talking about Jason Hughes in the promo.

Neil: Why?

Gideon: He is even more obsessed then I thought. You look into a man’s eyes and you can read their thoughts. There is no remorse there. If it means he keeps the Legacy belt he would crucify Alinie Fanco and drink her blood out of a wine glass smiling. We are violent predators ourselves but we still have morals and there are lines we will not cross just to win a match. That kind of threw me off my game last Monday.

Neil: Shit happens. It was a nothing match. Think there will be problems?

Gideon: Yes and No. I do not think that there will be any problems for the present because we are not a priority. Also going after us would be costly in the long run and not worth the effort. My guess is this is going to be written off as a loss and put on a to do list for later.

Neil: I can live with that.

Gideon: Plus we still have common enemies. Why give us incentive to go after him when we still can be more useful to him dealing with his other problems free of charge.

Neil: So basically we are still going to be doing a lot of his shit work anyway.

Gideon: Yes but we get to have a lot more fun doing it at our leisure.

::They enter the interview room and wait out the last few minutes before their promo. They get a countdown 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…::

Gideon: Another day another set up. Still this marks off a very very rare occasion. I agree with something that Jake Finale said on Smash. He said "My prediction is that by the end of the match, we’ll only have one conscious referee.". He is absolutely right and the conscious referee will have decided who wins the match.

Neil: It you were a betting man would you be betting on Fitzpatrick or Seeves? We like Fitzpatrick’s style. Doesn’t mean that we are going to go out after the match and knock back a few beers. Guys an asshole that is why he gets results.

Gideon: We are professionals but this is a bad match. There are two many variables to come up with a concrete gameplan. Still all the fuss about a steel chair. You forget we are heels. Bad guys cheat all the time. Do you both even understand how to work a tag match? While the ref and the both of you are distracted by me with the chair no one was watching Neil.

Neil: If you ever get blindsided by 359 pounds you know you are in for a bad day. All that whining about Willie hitting Gideon with his finisher. If it did so much damage then why did Gideon tag back in instead of taking the breather. He was setting up an opening for me to plant Finale with a Gore, Fracasplex, or Fracasline. I take them down. Gideon tosses the chair and locks in a submission.

Gideon: I don’t even have to hit someone with a chair to get the advantage. Just having the distraction works wonders. Now to talk about our tag match against Adams and Mendez. We lost the match. An L in the record books but what did it cost us? A little bit of pride and we go into our tag title defense at 100%.

Neil: The titles weren’t on the line, Ryan and Adams aren’t likely to team up again, and to get out of the Lying Beneath I could have got injured doing it.

Gideon: The important match is our rematch with Finale and Tremaine. We could have kept struggling and won the match. Why would we risk losing the important match where the titles are on the line? The Pay Per View is called "Second Chances" for a reason. Marley and Fanco lost their matches but they are right back in the Intrepid title hunt while the other brackets were eliminated. Finale and Willie are going after the tag belts after failing to steal them the first time.

Neil: And go figure that Alex Seeves is going to be there giving his boy Finale a second chance to try and steal the titles again.

Gideon: The easiest solution to these problems would be to put Seeves in the hospital as soon as he enters the building. Make sure he is not involved in our title match and lock the Commissioner match for Fitzpatrick.

Neil: We don’t need to do that. You boys wanted to talk shit about us how we couldn’t beat you about how we haven’t got heart and we cheat to win. They are euphoniums for the fact that when push came to shove you didn’t have what it took to beat us without your safety net Seeves doing a run in.

Gideon: Now we are free to concentrate on our tag match without distractions. We aren’t planning on hospitalizing Seeves. He will be facing Eugene Fitzpatrick and he is more then able to handle Seeves. It is about time that we started reminding people in Core why we are dangerous. We know when to take our shots and when to cut our losses. Others have been driven by ego. Others have been driven by greed. We are driven to prove we are the best.

Neil: Run down the list. Great British Heroes, Twisted Reality, Underachievers, Tribulations, and 420. We are the only team left and we have the belts. Next on the scrap heap will be Finale and Willie.

Gideon: We may have lost a battle last week but we know who will win the war. As for history. Well the winners write the history. The losers get forgotten.

Neil: And I’m looking forward to forgetting about that chump Finale.

Gideon: Train and cut your promos. Plan your best and ask daddy Seeves how you are going to get the tag belt Jake. William look in that mirror and realize that you took a man that won the Legacy champ and turned him into a place holder champ for Jason Hughes. We go in knowing we are the best. It isn’t a gimmick to sell shirts it is because we are pros. Are we unbeatable? No. We plan to win and will accept set backs if necessary to make sure we win the important battles.

Neil: Seeves got you a second chance. Lets see if you chumps can show some balls or are you just going to rely on Seeves to give you more gifts.

Gideon: PPV time approaches. Count down the minutes. You know when a heel cheats to get ahead he is still called a heel. When a face cheats to get ahead he isn’t a face anymore he is called a hypocrite. Think on those words as the camera fades to black.

::The interview ends and the camera fades to black.::