Liv In The Moment (Liv Morgan x OC)

The Interview

August 28, 2021

Orlando, FL
Jake was sitting at home with not a whole lot to do. WWE had suspended him until the investigation into Liv's accident was over. Everyone involved was sure that Jake would get off, it was just a matter of finalising paperwork until he was considered a "free man".

With all this free time on his hands, Jake decided to study up on a few matches for the past few months. With everything being so hectic, Jake had almost forgotten how to be a fan of wrestling.

Jake sat on the couch in his apartment and pulled out his phone. He opened up YouTube and started browsing some of the matches that were on his recommended page. There was a few to choose from, but he decided to start with an AEW tag team match between The Young Bucks and The Best Friends.

Jake watched a few other matches from Ring of Honour and other independent promotions before something in the sidebar caught his eye. It was a video titled "Best of the Super Juniors, WWE, and Blade Controversy - Bell to Bell. The title of the video was enough to persuade Jake into watching it.

When clicking on the video, Jake found out that it was an interview by Jimothy Jones, the same guy that interviewed Jake before Summerslam a year ago. This time his guest was none other than Jake's long time friend, Eddie Smoke.

****

"Hello everyone, welcome back to Bell to Bell. I'm your host Jimothy Jones and I'm joined today by, and I quote, the best junior heavyweight in the world, Eddie Smoke. Eddie, how are you doing today?"

"I'm alright, Jimothy. Thanks for having me", Eddie replied.

"Of course. I want to start off by talking about the nickname, best junior heavyweight in the world. Obviously, you won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, what about a month ago now?"

"Yeah, that's correct"

"So I'm guessing that's why you consider yourself to be that?"

"What? The best? I don't consider it, I know it for a fact. There's a reason it's called the BEST of the Super Juniors tournament, and there's a reason that I won it."

"Because you're the best?"

"Exactly."

"It's a fair statement to make, and I can't think of anyone that would argue that with you. But let's talk about the match, the tournament final. How did it feel to be in the ring with someone like Hiromu Takahashi?"

"It was amazing, he's one of my favourite people to wrestle because he's so high octane and goes all out every time and still finds ways to top himself. Every time we fight we just seem to get better and better and this time was just the both of us at our best going full at it. I'd even say he's almost as amazing as I am. Almost"

"I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment really. I've watched Hiromu for many years, and I remember when he first broke his neck. Is that not something that you're afraid of doing given the way you both wrestle?"

"Yeah I'm terrified dude, think of the medical bills. For real though, I think it's in the back of every wrestler's mind especially with this style. But I think the fear is a good motivator for just doing better, it keeps you on your toes. And if I die in the ring then it's a good weekend"

"I want to quickly talk about the finish of that match before we move on. Your new finishing move, the Black Powder, I believe? How did that come about?"

"Well I've been doing the dynamite plunger as my finisher since I started my wrestling career and I felt it's time to add something new into the mix. I got the idea for it from Kenny Omegas one winged angel and from Naomichi Marifuji's Pole shift. I figured I could take the first half of the dynamite plunger and add the driver bit from those moves as the end bit"

"So you're somewhat of an innovator?"

"I don't mean to toot my own horn but TOOT FUCKING TOOT. All the greatest wrestlers have innovated moves and I'm glad to add my name to that list"

"I hope you don't mind me moving on, but you were fired from WWE about two and a half years ago, I think now. There was lots of speculation on why exactly that was. People say there was an issue with behaviour and management. Would any of that hinder your chances of ever going back there, and do you even what to at this point?"

"First to clear it up a little, on Wrestlemania day another wrestler caused a scene when they'd learnt of a mistake I'd made. At the time I was young and immature and I had sexual encounters with around 30 members of the NXT roster and eventually I spent a night with a married person under the pretext they were in an open arrangement. This was false and when their partner found out they caused a stink on mania day backstage. Vince heard half the details and before I could tell my side of the story I was out the door. If they're sorry, they'd tell me, but here we are years later and nothing. I'd say management has a long way to go before I'd even consider going back. For the foreseeable future I'm very happy where I am, plying my exceptional skills to a promotion that actually treats their talent well."

"There we go folks, an inside scoop here on Bell to Bell about the inner workings of WWE's treatment of wrestlers. One such wrestler I wish to talk about is your former tag team partner, Jake Blade. I'm sure you've heard some of the reports that have come out recently of him allegedly assaulting his peers backstage. And just yesterday, there were some rumours circling of reports of domestic abuse. Now, I'd say you know Jake better than anyone in the wrestling business. What's your take on these reports?"

"I've known Jake since high school and I've personally never known him to be physically aggressive to anyone, but people change and who knows the mental state he's in right now. I don't care about him assaulting his peers. I mean I'm all for a good fight, but it's the possibility of domestic abuse that scared me. I certainly hope these reports are false, but I don't know. I haven't talked to him about it so I don't know anything more than you guys. Until I personally know the details about it, I'm not ready to write off my oldest friend as a bad guy. Of course if they're true he's dead to me."

"Well I do hate to have to end this on a sour note, but that's about all the time we have left. Just quickly, is there anything you want to plug to the audience of Bell to Bell?"

"Marlboro reds, smoke em now and die later"

"Good, keep the sponsors happy. I like that. Thank you very much for your time, hopefully I can have you back soon."

"It would be a pleasure. For you, obviously."

****

Jake finished the video and closed the app on his phone. He thought about what Eddie had said. He wasn't an aggressive person. He had changed. Something about what Eddie said just stuck with Jake, and that was the moment he knew he had to fix things. And for real this time.

He unlocked his phone again and decided to text Eddie and thank him for making him see what an idiot he was being.

Jake: Hey man, I just saw one of your interviews. Just wanted to let you know that the domestic assault charge rumours were false and the police are actually just finalising up paperwork to prove that. Also, I'm kinda annoyed I missed your match with Hiromu because it sounds like a barnstormer. I'll be sure to check it when I've got some more free time. Hope you're well, talk soon.